Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

Chapter 1

Doom and gloom didn’t even begin to describe the atmosphere that was prevalent among the students of Canterlot High. And for once Sunset Shimmer wasn’t the cause of that. Actually she downright dropped any and all attempts of trying to monitor and control the student body a few weeks ago. Ever since the riots began all across the country everyone were on edge, so much so that even the slightest provocation could spark a violent conflict, and Sunset did her best to keep a low profile.

There were fewer and fewer students attending the school with each passing day. Today almost all her classes were half empty, and those students that were present couldn’t really concentrate on their studies. They mostly spent their time in the small groups, discussing the latest news about the riots or apprehensively watching the livestreams.

Sunset’s eye twitched when she heard the screaming coming from the speakers of someone’s phone. Two months back there was some kind of a new trend that caught on among the meme community. They scared everyone by disguising themselves as zombies and some sort of bloodied, feral looking people, and going nuts on the streets while their accomplices record everything and post the videos on the internet as an actual reports. And they were good. If not for the unedited versions of those videos, that usually were uploaded soon after, people would have been in the full-panic mode by now.

But there was that one video...

In it a young woman violently bashed a child’s head into a pavement all the while screaming the bloody murder. Sunset accidentally saw it about two weeks ago and she still had occasional nightmares. It was way too real...

As she exited the school, Sunset’s eyes fell upon the statue that stood in front of the building. In just a few months the portal back to Equestria will open once again. And for the first time in years Sunset actually considered going back home and begging the Princess for forgiveness.

Sunset stopped and shook her head. The last three months were actually getting to her. Things would eventually get better, they always do. The humans of this world took things to the extremes from time to time. And that was just it - one of those times. As for her, she still had her goals, she wouldn’t admit defeat and let a few bad months break her resolve! With these thoughts Sunset went to the bus stop.

Canterlot City was lucky enough to not be hit by the sudden rush of riots and the spontaneous uprisings, so the local government didn’t declare the state of emergency, like in almost every major city across the country. However there was a noticeable increase in the number of violent crimes and the general feeling of hopelessness and hysteria, so the curfew was practically mandatory to keep the situation in check. The young people were not allowed to traverse the city on their own, so if they didn’t have their own vehicle or a guardian with them, they had to use the public transport system that was now scheduled and monitored by the police.

There were only a few people at the stop. Several high school students stood waiting for the next bus. Sunset's eye fell on the one particular girl. Fluttershy set on a bench and, as always, did her best to look as small as possible. Why did this quite girl, who was seemingly afraid of her own shadow, keep coming to the school despite everything that was going on, was beyond Sunset.

There was a soft buzzing sound that was getting closer. Fluttershy raised her head to look around, but as soon as her eyes met with Sunset's, she flinched and immediately averted her gaze.

Sunset looked in the direction of the sound and saw a small surveillance drone flying over the road. Eyebot - that's how people called these fusion-driven machines, they were a part of the government's new mechanized law enforcement initiative that was introduced at the end of the last year. People didn't like the idea of the battle ready, AI controlled robots patrolling the streets, but the officials assured them, that these machines were only to be used in the active combat zones. However the events of the last few months were a good excuse to deploy them in the cities to support the riot suppression units.

Despite the grim implications, Sunset couldn't help but admire the human ingenuity. These machines were far superior compared to even the most advanced golems back home. It was incredible what humanity managed to achieve despite their lack of any magical abilities. However, she once heard a saying that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. And she was inclined to agree.

The Eyebot was clearly heading towards the bus stop so Sunset instinctively lowered her head and tried to cover her face without looking too suspicious about it. The Eyebots had a good face recognition software and though Sunset was pretty confident in the quality of her forged documents, after all they let her to enroll in CHS no problem, but she didn't want to test her luck.

Usually an Eyebot just flys by, carrying on its patrol routines, only stopping if some kind of illegal actions take place or it notices someone on the wanted list. This Eyebot hovered over the bus stop, scanning the students below. The longer it stayed there the more agitated the students at the bus stop became.

“The fuck is it staring at us like that?” One of the students muttered.

Sunset recognized him, his name was Fido and he was a member of the “Diamond Dogs” - one of the school’s “gangs”, although Sunset used that word rathe loosely. He put a hand to his forehead, as if trying to shield his eyes from the sun, to hide his identity from the flying drone, despite the sky being completely overcast.

“Can you act any more suspicious, you idiot?” His friend, Rover, asked. He was pretending to be reading a random pamphlet that was glued to the wall of the bus stop. “You didn’t do anything stupid recently, did you?”

“I might’ve broke a few noses, but that shit is too low profile to make those things so curious all of a sudden.” Fido stopped covering his face and instead became very interested in his boots.

Rover muttered something unintelligible under his breath and switched to the next pamphlet, turning his back to the Eyebot.

Some students, those who apparently had nothing to hide, were looking right at the drone with unmasked curiosity, others simply ignored and just stood waiting for their bus.

Suddenly there were several sharp bangs somewhere far off that caused several people at the bus stop to jump a little. The Eyebot immediately lost all interest in the students below, as it turned in the direction of the sound and quickly flew away.

“W-w-were those... umm... g-gunshots?” Asked Fluttershy in a shacking voice, but she was completely ignored as everyone were looking for the source of the sound.

Thankfully a moment later a bus showed up from behind a street corner and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Oh, thanks Celestia!’ Thought Sunset as she took her favorite seat near the end of the bus. The last few minutes were way too stressful for her likeing. All she wanted right now was to get home as quickly as possible, lock the door and simply forget that the outside world even existed.

As the doors closed and the bus started to move, Sunset reached into her pocket and pulled out her earbuds. She was ready to put them in when a sudden sound of something hitting the window right next to her almost made her jump out of her skin.

“Please, stop the bus!” Sounded a muffled voice from the outside as a delicate looking girl’s hand continued to knock on the window.

Sunset, heart still racing, looked outside and saw one of her classmates, Rarity, running after the departing vehicle and calling out. Sunset smirked at her and returned back to her sit. That was petty, Sunset knew that, but it served her right for scaring her like that.

Unfortunately someone else seemed to notice the girl outside and notified the driver. The bus stopped and opened its doors to let Rarity in.

“Thank you, darling.” She said to the driver, huffing slightly. “I wouldn’t want to be stuck there, waiting for another bus.”

As Rarity made her way through the bus, looking for a place to sit, her eyes met with Sunset for a brief moment and the alabaster girl averted her gaze with a loud “humph” and a look of disdain on her face. That only made Sunset to roll her eyes.

“Drama Queen.” She muttered and proceeded to insert her earbuds in her ears. A moment later the sounds of the bus and its passengers were drown out with a melodic rock music.

The bus continued on its route, making several more stops to let people in or out. Sunset paid them no mind, she simply stared out the window at the dreary overcast sky. She hated rainy days and this April was full of them so far. Although those rain collectors she had installed on the roof really helped her to lower her water bill, not to mention it was much easier to get the rain water ready for drinking, she only needed to boil it, unlike that brownish slosh that was usually coming out of her tap.

Soon the sky was blocked by many highrises that were indicative of Canterlot’s downtown.

‘It usually takes a lot more time to get here.’ Sunset thought as her gaze returned back to the streets. It seemed that the city was really light on the traffic this day, there were practically no cars on the road other than some trucks. Military trucks. And the further they got the more military vehicles she saw. Some were even parked right on the adjacent roads effectively blocking them. There were a lot of soldiers too. They were running around, creating more roadblocks using the sandbags that they were unloading from some of those trucks.

Perplexed by this turn of events Sunset removed her earbuds and listened to the surprised murmurs of the passengers.

“What the hell is going on?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think that there were any announcements.”

“Oh no! That’s not good! Soldiers on the streets are never good!”

“Hey, they are mounting a machine gun!”

“Holy shit! Is that a walker!?” That got everyone’s attention.

People got out of their seat and crowded near the left side windows to get a better view. When Sunset unceremoniously shoved aside one of her schoolmates she could see the city plaza. To say that it was fortified was an understatement. The soldiers have erected a real labyrinth of sandbags and barbed wire, there even was a couple of half constructed towers. The machine guns were mounted on top of many defensive positions and armed men were patrolling the the aforementioned labyrinth. And there, near the center of it all, stood a massive, heavily-armed and armored robot on a pair of reverse-jointed legs.

As everyone were looking at the walker, no one noticed when the soldiers blocked the road in front of the bus. The driver, who was also staring at the robot, turned his head in the last moment and had to slow down and stop so quickly that people almost fell. Several soldiers surrounded the bus as soon as it stopped completely. When the doors opened a pair of soldiers walked inside.

“Ladies and gentleman,” one of them began to talk. “I am lieutenant Combined Arms of the Fourth Motorized Infantry Division. This vehicle is now under the military control. There was a biological attack” - almost everyone gasped when they heard that - “and we are starting the evacuation of the city.”

People erupted in questions and exclamations, some, like Fluttershy, just sat there shocked, some started to cry.

“Order!” The lieutenant barked. That had a desired effect as everything got really quiet. “Thank you. Now! I want you to leave this vehicle in orderly fashion and proceed to...” He suddenly trailed off and put a finger to his earpiece. “Control? Please repeat that. Who’s coming?”

There was a shot on the outside. Then another. Then the whole hell broke loose as the soldiers manned the machine guns and started firing at something that was obscured by the buildings from the passengers, who once again looked outside along with the two soldiers. Even the walker started to ready its two guns only to turn around and start firing in the other direction. Some soldiers followed its suit to man the defenses on the other side of the fortified position, but they weren’t quick enough as the attackers rushed them from behind. Those were people. Not some foreign soldiers but the citizens of Canterlot.

Sunset stared in a wide eyed horror as people, armed with anything they could get their hands on, run towards the gunfire, seemingly ignoring the bullets that were ripping through their flesh unless they tore their limbs off or blew out their brains.

There was a scream that came from behind them. Sunset dashed back to her seat, as some people also turned around, and looked outside. There she saw one of the soldiers, who stood near the bus, when it stopped. He was lying on the ground, blood gushing out from a huge wound in his chest. A half naked man with a bloody fire axe stood over him. With an animalistic grin he raised his weapon and chopped down, splitting the poor soldier’s head in half.

Someone screamed, Sunset wasn’t sure who it was, it might’ve been her. The man looked up, his bloodshot eyes focusing on the bus full of people right in front of him. He swung his axe at the window and smashed it in one hit, showering Sunset in a cascade of broken glass.

Other soldiers on the outside finally took notice of what was going on and opened fire on the mad man. But as he fell on the ground many more crazed looking people rounded the corner of the nearby building and rushed towards them.

“Fuck! Hit the gas!” Lieutenant Arms shouted to the terrified driver. “Get us out of this city!”

The driver didn’t need to be told twice. The doors shut and the bus jerked into motion, leaving the soldiers on the outside to fend for themselves.

“Lieutenant! We can’t just leave our boys out there!” The second soldier shouted over the screams of the passengers.

“We have a whole bus of civilians on our hands, private! We can’t take any risks! The evacuation order is still in effect!” The lieutenant shouted back.

The bus drove at the breakneck speed through the streets of the city that was quickly falling into chaos. Gunshots rung from everywhere, people were screaming, several explosions rocked the air as the grenades were used. The driver clung to the steering wheel, knowing too well that his life and the lives of everyone in the bus were dependent on his driving skills.

The road was a complete mess. The road blocks, established by the military, didn’t help much as many cars just rammed into the sandbags and even trucks, as the other people were doing their best to escape the city as well, or lost control because of a stray bullet hitting their wheels or drivers themselves, or because of the crazy people, who jumped and walked in front of the moving cars.

The driver did his best to avoid as much collisions as he could, and thankfully he was able to dodge most of the cars that were in the way of his bus, merely bumping and scraping them. People however... they were simply walking and running on the road, some were clearly heading straight towards the bus, it was next to impossible to avoid all of them. The driver shot a quick glance at the lieutenant, who was clinging to a pole near the driver’s seat and shouting directions over the frightened screams of the passengers.

Lieutenant Arms understood the silent question and nodded. “Go! I gave you the order!”

The driver looked back at the road and pushed the pedal further. The engine roared and the bus continued to speed up. Several moments later there was a loud bump on the hood of the bus quickly followed by several more and a blood splatter on the windshield as the crazed citizens of Canterlot, completely disregarding any and all self preservation instincts, didn’t even attempt to step out of the way of the heavy machine.

As the bus continued to weave and ram its way through the road, the passengers did all that they could to not be ragdolled across its interior. Among all these commotions and the panicked screams, Sunset clung to her seat for her dear life. ‘Oh sweet, merciful Celestia! What’s going on!?’ She thought. As the bus shook once again, her head swung to the side and for the first time since they started to move again Sunset accidentally looked outside.

It was an absolute carnage.

She saw a group of people on the ground sinking their teeth into a screaming man.

A crowbar wielding maniac smashed a window of a parked car, trying to get to the terrified family inside.

A surrounded cop, desperately unloading his gun into a group of bloodied shambling people that were converging onto him.

She watched in horror as a window was smashed on the upper floor of a highrise as a woman in a wedding dress fell to her doom, followed by a real stream of people, who were throwing themselves after her.

Suddenly a radio that was hanging on the private’s uniform hissed to life and a panicked voice began to shout, “To all units, central plaza is completely overrun! We need to pull back everybody! Pullback from central NOW!”

“Do not! You are to hold position!” Sounded a stern commanding voice from the radio a moment later.

“They’re killing everyone! It’s all over!” When the first voice returned it was muffled by the sounds of heavy gunfire. “We’ve lost central! I repeat, we have lost central!”

Tears were streaming down Sunset’s face, blurring her vision. She shut her eyes and started to mumble. “It’s a nightmare. It’s just a nightmare. Wake up Sunset. You need to wake up! Oh Celestia, let it be a nightmare!” She whimpered. At that moment she was ready to give up everything just to open her eyes and see the loving and concerned face of her mentor. The Princess would hug and comfort the frightened little filly, tell her that she was safe and that the bad dreams can’t hurt her. “Please, Celestia, help me.”

“A-A-A-A-ARGH!” A sudden shriek of pain tore through the cacophony of the bus. And it sounded like it was close.

Sunset’s head shot up as she looked around. There, just a few seats ahead, one of her schoolmates, Cloud Kicker, bit into the neck of a guy sitting next to her, all the while landing a blow after blow to his torso.

Sunset was about to scream for help, but as she looked towards the two soldiers, she saw that it wasn’t the only fight that broke out in the bus. Several students were swinging their fists at each other as others did their best to hold them or just to get as far away as possible. Someone jumped onto the private’s back, as the solder tried to break one of the fights, and was trying to claw through his army helmet.

“What’s happening!?” Sunset screamed, unable to handle everything, that was going on around her, any longer. It was madness! Pure madness! In just one moment her whole world became insane!

That was when she heard a guttural growl to her left. She slowly turned her head and saw Fido. He was sitting in a sit across from her, clutching his head. His whole body shook in a series of violent spasms, before becoming limp. A moment later his head snapped to the side and his blood-red eyes stared right at Sunset. The time seemed to slow down. As Sunset looked into his rage filled eyes, she could see how something black was swirling around his scleras.

A second later Fido bared his teeth and lunged at Sunset with such speed, that the girl barely had any time to react. She shifted on her sit and threw her leg forward, hitting Fido in the chest. That broke his momentum but didn't stop him completely, he continued to move forward raising his fist for a strike. Sunset desperately tried to shove him back, but the member of the Diamond Dogs was much bigger and stronger than her, he continued to push against her leg until it buckled.

Sunset’s life in the human world never was peaceful, especially during her first year, she had to quite literally fight for her survival, so she was no stranger to brawls. When Sunset understood that she was not able to push Fido away, she used whatever little time that she had to brace herself for the upcoming punches. She pulled her head closer to her chest and raised her forearms to shield her upper torso and face and when Fido’s fists came crashing down on her, she was ready to roll with the punches. However she wasn’t prepared for the utter savagery of his attack. Each blow felt like a brick crashing into her arms and she was uncertain how long she’d be able to hold her block. She was so focused on defending herself that she couldn’t find any openings for a counterattack, not even for a quick jab.

Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed Fido by his shoulders and yanked him backwards. “Dude, what are you doing!? Chill the fuck down!” Shouted Rover as he tried to pull his friend away from his victim, but he didn’t listen. Rover wrapped his forearm around Fido’s neck, trying to put him in a chokehold, but the enraged Diamond Dog swung his head backwards and crushed the back of his head into Rover’s nose. The gray teen howled in pain and fell back to his sit, clutching his broken nose.

The whole thing took only a few seconds, but that was enough time for Sunset to get up from her seat and ready her own attack. As Fido lunged forward once more, Sunset caught him with a left swing to his opened jaw. There was a sickening crunch as Fido’s jaw was dislocated. Hits like that usually knock out the opponent, but Fido remained standing, however he did look disoriented, so Sunset decided that it was a good opportunity to move into the space between the rows of seats to allow herself some better mobility. Just as she managed to squeeze past her attacker, he swung his fist blindly and, catching Sunset by surprise, hit her in the chest, knocking the wind out of her. She stumbled backwards, desperately trying to breathe in. The second punch hit her on the right side of her face right next to her temple. Sunset’s vision darkened and she fell to the floor. Fido stepped over her and fell to his knees, pinning her down. Sunset’s eyes widened as she saw Fido raising both of his hands above his head, about to deliver a crushing blow. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to block this one, even if she could move.

Several loud bangs rung through the bus and Fido’s face exploded, showering Sunset in his blood. A moment later his lifeless body fell down on her. Sunset wiggled herself free and crawled backwards away from the body. She tore her gaze from the corpse and looked around.

There were more bodies. One lay on the floor, just like Fido, others were slumped over the seats. Sunset saw the guy that Cloud Kicker bit. He was still in his seat, leaning to the side, blood slowly dripping from his lifelessly hanging arm. Kicker was right next to him, half of her head missing.

As she looked up she saw the lieutenant holding a big gun in his hand, its silvery barrel still smoking.

“L-lieutenant? What...?” Started the second soldier.

“Shut up, Strike! Just shut up.” Said Combined Arms, scanning the remaining passengers with his eyes. “Keep your eyes peeled. If anyone else goes feral, shoot them.” Strike opened his mouth to say something, but the lieutenant cut him off, “That’s an order, private First Strike!” He then turned back to the driver and said, “As soon as we’ll reach the highway, pull over. We’ll dump the bodies. Then we’ll drive to the FEMA camp, I’ll show the way.”

Sunset didn’t realize that she was still crawling backwards until her back hit the wall. She sat against it, pulled her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around her legs, curled up in a ball and started to sob quietly.

Chapter 2

Sunset was hurt, confused and afraid.

She was delirious ever since she crawled up in a ball at the back of the bus.

Everything she saw was flashing before her eyes in a never ending loop of horror.

Teeth tearing up the flesh.

Madness in the blood-red eyes.

Bullets ripping people apart.

Blood gashing from the wounds.

“... Sun...”

Blood... So much blood.

“... Sun...”

It was raining down on her. Getting in her eyes, blinding her, in her mouth, leaving that disgusting metallic taste, in her nose, making it hard to breathe.

“Sunset...”

“My little Sun.”

Something touched her!

Sunset jerked her head up and threw her arms forward to shove away whatever it was. She tried to open her eyes but they refused to open! Confused, Sunset tried to crawl backwards but her back was already pushed against the wall, so she only managed to blindly flail her arms and legs around, making frightened squeaks.

A pair of hands grabbed her by the wrists and forced her arms to stop, but there was no aggression In that grip. “Shhh. It’s okay. It’s all over.” Sounded a quiet and soothing voice.

When Sunset stopped moving the hands released her arms and she tried to open her eyes again to no avail, but at least she understood what was going on. Her eyelashes stuck together. Fido’s blood coagulated and glued them shut. Sunset raised her hand and used the sleeve of her jacket to wipe away at her eyes, flinching a little when she touched her right eye. It felt swollen.

When Sunset opened her one good eye, she saw Fluttershy kneeling down beside her, she looked disheveled and pale as a ghost. Her eyes were red, but not in the same rage filled way like those of the ferals. It was obvious that she was crying, even now her face was still wet with tears.

“F-Fluttershy?” Sunset stammered.

“Sorry. I didn’t want to scare you. I called out your name but you didn’t respond.” Fluttershy managed to keep her voice calm and soothing despite obviously being terrified by the events that transpired. “It’s okay now. We are out of the city.”

Only now Sunset realized that the bus was not moving. She looked past the yellow girl just in time to see how the two soldiers were carrying out one of the corpses, as well as several students, who were helping the injured by bandaging their wounds.

“Are you hurt?” Asked Fluttershy and Sunset nodded absentmindedly in response. “Let me see your wounds, maybe I can treat them. I-if that’s okay with you.”

Sunset looked back at Fluttershy. “Why?” She asked.

“H-huh?” Fluttershy cocked her head to the side.

“Why do you care?” Sunset found it hard to believe that the girl, she bullied on a regular basis, would willingly offer her any help at all.

“Because you are hurt.” She answered firmly, looking her straight in the eyes. There, on Fluttershy’s face, was the look of something that Sunset never saw before - the look of confidence. It lasted for a moment, but then she averted her gaze and returned to her usual meek self. “And... well.. um... n-nobody else... wanted to.” She added quietly.

‘Well, at least that last part sounds about right.’ Sunset thought. She then looked herself over. “It’s mostly bruises on my arms and chest, and my eye barely opens.” She carefully touched the swollen area around her right eye. “I don’t suppose you have any ice?” Sunset asked hopefully, although she knew that it was a long shot.

“S-sorry.” Fluttershy shook her head. “But I have these.” The yellow girl raised a package of alcohol pads and a few medical patches she got from the first aid kit, that the driver gave to the passengers. “There is an open wound near your temple, we must clean it before it gets infected.” She opened the package and took one of the pads. “Um... this will sting for a bit.”

“I know.” Sunset nodded and closed her eyes. A moment later she hissed as some alcohol got in her wound as Fluttershy worked to clean the area around it.

‘I wonder if she did that on purpose’ Sunset thought. ‘A small payback for all the shit I’ve put her through.’ She opened her good eye and looked at Fluttershy’s face. She looked focused on the task at hand, she even bit her lower lip a little. ‘No, she’s not the type for a petty revenge. Besides, it needs to be disinfected anyway.’

“There. All cleaned up.” Fluttershy finished the treatment and placed a medical patch over the wound. “It will itch for a bit, but please don’t scratch it, okay?” She stood up and looked around. “Um, you should get back in a seat, the floor is too filthy. And I better look around if anyone else needs help.”

“Fluttershy.” The yellow girl was about to walk away, but Sunset stopped her. “Thank you.” She muttered. Sunset was a little surprised to realize that she was honestly grateful to the quiet girl. She didn’t have to do that and if their roles were reversed, Celestia knows, Sunset wouldn’t even think of helping anyone unless she had some ulterior motives.

“You’re welcome.” Fluttershy responded and even managed some semblance of a small smile. Then her gaze shifted to another student. “Oh my. Rover, don’t hold your head up like that. You shouldn’t do that with a nose bleed.”

Sunset stood up and her arms ached when she leaned on them for support. She moved towards her seat, sidestepping the pool of not yet fully dried blood that was left on the floor, where Fido’s body once was. Apparently the soldiers decided to move the bodies from the floor first.

As Sunset got near her seat she felt a draft of chilly wind coming from the smashed window right next to it. She didn’t want to sit in the cold and thought that maybe it would be better to find another place to sit down. And when she saw the seat itself, she knew for certain that she didn’t want to be anywhere near it. Her seat was covered in blood and something that looked like bits and pieces of Cloud Kicker’s head and its contents.

Sunset thought that she should be sickened by it, but instead she only felt numb. And so she went forward, looking for a suitable place to sit.

Many seats were also covered in blood splatters either from the fights that broke out or as the result of shooting. Some still had corpses slumped over them, but Sunset did her best to not look at the cadavers. Other seats were occupied by the students who were just sitting there with the blank expressions on their faces, or crying, or tending to their injured friends. Sunset was near the front of the bus when she finally saw an empty seat, but it had someone’s purse on it.

“May I?” Sunset asked, only now looking up at a person, who sat nearby.

Rarity looked back at her. She looked disheveled. Her hair, that always were expertly curled, were messy as if someone grabbed her by them and shook her violently. Her mascara was running down her face, creating several dark lines on her pearl white skin. She stared at Sunset in silence for so long, that the read headed girl was about to move on, but then she blinked several times and shook her head as if snapping out of a daze. “Oh! Ah, sure. Take a seat.” She reached out for her purse and moved it to her knees. As she did so, Sunset noticed that her knuckles were bruised. Rarity definitely fought someone.

“Thanks.” Sunset muttered, sitting down.

As soon as she did so, Rarity let out a gasp, “Darling, your face! It’s covered in blood! Here-“ she opened her purse and, after rummaging for a bit, produced a handkerchief and a bottle of antiseptic, “-take this.”

“Thank you?” Sunset thanked her again as she took the things that Rarity gave her. “You, ah, have a little something on your face as well.”

“I do?” Rarity opened her purse again and pulled out a small mirror. She let out another gasp as she saw her reflection. A moment later she got a second handkerchief and started to remove her ruined makeup.

As Sunset and Rarity were busy cleaning their faces, the soldiers moved past them and took yet another corpse to carry it outside.

“You can’t just dump them on the side of a road!” Someone cried. “Please... don’t you have any conscience at all? They were our friends!”

“They will be given a proper burial once this is over. I promise.” Private Strike said to a crying student. “But for now it is too dangerous to have them here, they are contaminated.”

“Less talking and more hauling, Strike.” Muttered the lieutenant. “We need to move fast before...” He stopped himself short. “Let’s just finish this and get going.”

It took them a few more hauls to carry out the rest of the bodies to the outside. When they finished their grim task the two soldiers returned to the bus and went straight to the driver, who was nervously smoking his fifth cigarette in a row. Sunset watched as they quietly discussed something but she couldn’t hear them, the only thing she heard clearly was their decision to stick to the roundabout paths to avoid heavy traffic on the highway.

Soon the bus started to move again.

Everyone were silent. It was that kind of a viscous silence, a silence that is much worse than any noise can ever be, it was almost suffocating. And although the bus itself made a lot of sounds, going down a dirt road, it did little too dispel the gloomy haze that enveloped the minds of those present. Everything fell so surreal. And Sunset would again try to convince herself that this is all just a nightmare, but the throbbing pain in her swollen eye and battered arms was all too real.

She turned around on her seat and looked around. If she remembered everything correctly, there were about thirty people on the bus before it all started. Now there were only twelve frightened and wounded students, a couple of soldiers and a driver. Sunset looked closely at the faces of the survivors. She knew almost all of them. ‘Does this mean that I also knew everyone who didn’t make it?’ She thought. ‘Probably. They weren’t my friends, not even acquaintances, simply the students of the school I sought to control. But I knew them, probably even better than some of their own friends. What they liked, what they were hoping for and afraid of. I dug everything I could find so I could manipulate them better. And now they are all gone...’ Sunset lowered her head and rubbed it with her hands.

She remembered the time when she first fled to this world. Then it seemed to her that her former life was over. Everyone, or rather everypony, she knew were back there, in Equestria, and no longer mattered to her, they were gone from her life. But they were still alive. And this... This was completely different... These people were gone for good.

And she almost joined them on the side of the road.

Sunset shook her head, she didn’t want to think about it. It was all because of this damn silence. She needed to break it. And understand the situation in which she found herself. And who, if not the military, can know what really happened.

So, Sunset looked at the two soldiers who set on the front seats near the driver. “Hey... uh... Lieutenant? Sir?” She called out. Her voice sounded almost alien in this heavy silence, and many students raised their heads and looked around, shaking off the daze that settled in. Even Rarity, who fell back into a near-catatonic state, simply staring into her mirror, roused herself once again and looked around.

Lieutenant Combined Arms turned his head, looking for whoever called him. When his gaze met the red-haired girl, he turned to her. “What is it?” He asked.

“Sir, what’s going on?” It was a simple question, but Sunset noted with satisfaction the wave of whispers that swept through the rows of seats behind her.

"Right..." The lieutenant sighed, got up from the seat and stood between the rows. “As I said earlier! There was a biological attack...”

“What kind of a bioweapon is that!?” Someone shouted from the back rows.

“We don’t know for sure. But our best guess is some sort of a mind control agents.” He answered as if reading from the paper.

“Was that what was going on in the other cities for the last three months!?” Another shout.

“Not on the same scale but...” Arms sounded less confident this time.

“Wait! Does this mean that those videos were actually true!?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, those videos were...” He began but was immediately interrupted.

“They looked and acted just like those maniacs from the videos!”
“That was going on for months and you didn’t tell anything!?”
“What else are you hiding from us!?”
“How could you!?”

Sunset already began to regret her decision to ask questions as the situation quickly devolved into a shouting match. Almost everyone were shouting and flinging accusations at the soldier, without even giving him a chance to answer. And though Sunset most definitely managed to break the silence, that was far from the result she wanted.

It continued for almost a minute, with shouting getting louder and louder. Even private First Strike stood up and was nervously looking at the shouting students as if waiting for them to go feral at any moment and rush them. He nervously looked down at the rifle in his hands but the lieutenant gestured for him to calm down.

“ENOUGH!” Lieutenant Combined Arms bellowed over the screams. “I don’t know shit! Okay!? I am not the one making decisions! And those who do, don’t report to me! I am too low rank to have access to any important information! I am telling you what they told me! So for God’s sake, stop shouting and be grateful that we are still alive!”

His commanding voice reverberated through the bus, shutting everyone up. Maybe some were convinced or intimidated by his tirade, maybe they decide that it was not a good idea to antagonize two men with guns, but no one tried to argue with the lieutenant any further.

“What about our families?” Rarity asked in a quiet voice, barely above whisper, but it was clearly heard in the ensuing silence. Sunset turned and looked at her. Rarity was holding her phone and looking at the empty reception bar.

“I don’t know...” Lieutenant Arms suddenly sounded so tired. He slumped back into a seat and rubbed his face. “I too have a family. But right now all we can do is pray for their safety.” He then turned around and his voice regained its previous commanding qualities. “We are going to a FEMA camp, once there we will regroup with another unit, as for you, you will be given a medical check and relocated to a safe zone. That is all I know, just a protocol.”

“But I told Sweetie that I’ll be home soon.” Tears were again streaming down Rarity’s face as she moved her phone in vain hopes of finding the signal.

Sunset didn’t know what compelled her to put her hand on Rarity’s shoulder, but it felt like the right thing to do at that moment. ‘I might be a bitch, but I am not heartless.’ She thought as she tried to silently comfort the alabaster girl.

Rarity raised her head and looked Sunset in the eyes. She was used to seeing constant mockery in her eyes, to the fact that the red-haired girl looked at everyone with an undisguised sense of her own superiority. But this time there was genuine compassion in her eyes. Without thinking, Rarity raised her hand and placed it over Sunset's.

Sunset could feel Rarity shaking, and with each sob she squeezed her hand a little tighter.

At that moment, Sunset remembered the little amber filly. She sobbed softly, trying to fight the feelings raging inside her. And a large white wing that gently fell on her shoulders... That soft warm wing...

Then the Princess leaned towards her...

“Let it out.” She whispered.

Rarity shuddered once more, squeezed Sunset's hand tightly and buried her face in her shoulder, crying her eyes out.

Chapter 3

The bus rattled and clanked down the dirt road that snaked along the top of a hill, giving a good scenic view of the surrounding rural area.

Sunset wanted to look outside, to distract herself from the gloomy atmosphere that was prevalent inside the bus, but the view was partially obscured by the tousled hair on Rarity's head, which was resting on her shoulder. She fell asleep not so long ago but after one particularly nasty bump on the road she slid to the right and ended up nuzzling to Sunset’s side. Sunset felt increasingly awkward with Rarity leaning onto her, but she couldn’t find it in herself to shove her aside. And so she just sat there, looking for something to focus on.

At first, she listened with interest as the soldiers tried to establish contact with the HQ and other units, but after several minutes of vain attempts, she actually learned all of their callsigns. Apparently these two soldiers were part of a squad called "Tower Shield", other squads were called "Stelet", "Broad Sword" and "Spyglass". None of them responded.

“Control, this is Tower Shield. Please respond. Over.” The private changed the frequency on his radio and tried again to no avail. “It’s no use. All frequencies are dead.”

“Let’s just hope that we are simply out of range, or being jammed. Cause I don’t want to think of the alternative.” Muttered Combined Arms. “Keep trying.”

“Yes, sir.” Answered First Strike without even a hint of enthusiasm in his voice and returned to his monotonous task.

But Sunset filtered out any subsequent attempts. She tried to overhear what the other survivors were talking about, but those few who spoke about something, did so in whispers. The rest simply sat in silence or sometimes sobbed quietly.

A sudden gust of chilly wind from the smashed window made Sunset shiver. ‘It’s chilly, but at least it vents out the smell of blood.’ She thought and zipped up her leather jacket all the way to her neck. There was a movement on the seat behind her as someone stood up and went to the other row where the draft was not as strong.

The bus slightly jumped on yet another pothole in the road and Rarity stirred in her sleep. She mumbled something, but Sunset could make out only, "Sister is coming soon."

“How is she doing?” Sounded a quiet voice from behind.

When Sunset turned her head, she saw Fluttershy sitting on the recently vacated seat. She moved so quietly, that Sunset didn’t even noticed when she came.

“She cried herself to sleep.” Sunset shrugged, bobbing Rarity’s head slightly. “Not sure if her dreams are pleasant though.”

“Poor thing.” Said Fluttershy, looking at Rarity’s troubled face. “I know how she feels. I am also worried about my brother, but Zephyr is much older than Sweetie Belle, he can handle himself, I know he can, even though sometimes he doesn’t act like it.” She looked to the side with a warm smile on her face.

‘I guess I should be glad that I have no family. I can’t imagine what I’d be doing right now otherwise.’ Sunset thought as she looked from Fluttershy to Rarity. While she was looking at the two girls, Sunset suddenly realized the absurdity of this situation. Rarity must have hated Sunset, especially after everything the red-haired girl did to make sure Rarity didn't get the Princess title at the last fall formal. And yet there she was, leaning on her shoulder and Sunset hesitating to push her away. And then there was Fluttershy. This quiet pushover, whom Sunset usually bullied just for fun and to demonstrate her superiority, not only ended up calming her down and bandaging her wounds but was also sitting right next to her and actually talking to her! On any other day Fluttershy would do anything she could to not be anywhere near Sunset, and whenever she had to speak to her, she would stammer and shake like a leaf. ‘The world really gone insane!’ Sunset thought, barely managing to stifle a stupid giggle, and masked it as a cough. 'Well, this might as well be a distraction that I wanted.'

"You know, you are faring surprisingly well, all things considered." And that was true. Sunset never suspected that Fluttershy, of all people, would be the one to keep it together in a life threatening situation. And by the looks of it, she managed to get through that whole ordeal completely unscathed. "Ahh, you are okay, right?"

"Um... Yeah..." Fluttershy looked back at Sunset with surprise, she didn't expect a note of concern in her voice, and to be honest, Sunset didn't expect it either. "Physically I mean. But I am horrified." She whispered.

"Not you alone." Sunset nodded. "Still, you are far from quivering mess that I would expect you..." Sunset stopped herself when she realized that she was about to insult Fluttershy, by this point it was just a force of habit more than anything else. "Um, sorry about that." She muttered. Sunset really didn't want to drive away and antagonize the only person, who was willing to talk to her right now.

"That's okay. But really, I am surprised myself." Fluttershy admitted. "I guess they were right, blood and gore doesn't bother me all that much any more." She added thoughtfully.

“Huh?” Sunset’s eyebrows shot upwards at that, she shifted in her seat, letting Rarity to slide down a bit, and stared at the yellow girl. “What do you mean?”

“O-oh! Well...” Fluttershy wilted a little under Sunset’s gaze. “Y-you see, I work in an animal shelter after school. There’s also a veterinarian clinic there and I sometimes assist the vets there, if they allow me to. It used to be nothing special, and they rarely needed my help, but recently there was a significant influx of the injured animals. A-and I mean severely injured. Cats and dogs were coming in with their legs missing, bellies torn...” Fluttershy grimaced as she remembered some of the worst cases. “And the clinic is understaffed as is, they were not ready for that, so I was called forth much more often. When I first saw a disemboweled dog I fainted... Later the doctors told me that I will eventually get used to it and it will get easier. And they were right. After a week I was able to get through most of the operations without filling sick.” She paused and turned her gaze to the spatter of blood on the floor. “I guess it also worked here.”

“I see.” Sunset muttered. She raised her hand to her chin and stroked it in contemplation. ‘I admit, I’ve misjudged her. She is introverted and non-confrontational but she is not spineless.’

There was another bump on the road that made the bus jump a little. Rarity slid even lower and nearly fell, but Sunset reached out and held her back. Then she gently returned Rarity to a seated position, but made sure she would leaned to the other side away from her. And when she saw Rarity leaning against the wall by the window, Sunset sighed with relief, she was beginning to get tired of being used as an impromptu pillow.

Fluttershy watched this with a small smile on her face. If someone had told her a couple of days ago that she was going to see that Sunset could care about someone other than herself, she’d have a hard time believing it.

Now that nothing was blocking her view, Sunset was finally able to look out the window. "Wow." She muttered looking at the highway, which was not that far from them. "It seems like driving on a dirt road was the right decision."

The highway was packed with cars, and many cars looked like they crashed into each other, some even caught fire. It was also full of people, but they were in no hurry to put out the burning cars, save the victims, or at least get away from danger. They just wandered among the wrecked cars, occasionally bumping into each other and shambling further along the highway.

"D-do you think these people are like those in the city?" Fluttershy whispered from behind.

“Probably. At least they are not running towards us.” Answered Sunset still observing the people on the highway. ‘That’s a lot of them. But we are still not far from the city. I hope this hasn't spread too far, but if this has already happened in other cities for several months... Are there any safe places at all?’ She turned her gaze to the two soldiers who were still trying unsuccessfully to get in touch with someone. This was not encouraging in the least.

Their journey continued for about ten more minutes. During this time, they moved away from the highway and drove next to the forest. Soon, a thin column of smoke appeared above the tops of the trees.

“The camp is there.” The lieutenant said looking at the smoke. He turned on the radio attached to his body armor and put his finger to the earpiece, “FEMA dispatch, this is the Tower Shield squad, do you read me? Over.” He waited for a response. “Dispatch, we have a group of civilians with us, some may need medical attention. Over.” Still nothing. “Respond God damn it!” Combined Arms shouted and slammed his fist against the wall. “Shit.”

“I told you that all frequencies are dead, including FEMA.” Privet Strike noted.

“I know. But we are close enough to the camp that even a damn civilian grade walkie-talkie could pick up the signal.” The lieutenant rubbed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “I hoped... I don’t even know anymore.”

“So... Now what?” Asked the driver as he glanced at the soldier over his shoulder. “Are we still going there?”

“Yes.” The lieutenant nodded. “Besides, we are already here.” He pointed forward.

As soon as the bus rounded the last patch of trees and drove out to a large clearing, everyone saw a large area enclosed by a high concrete wall over which barbed wire was stretched. On one of the walls was an inscription that read ‘FEMA’ in big blue letters and smaller ‘Federal Emergency Management Agency’ underneath it. An asphalt road led to the camp, which most likely led to the highway next to which they passed recently. The road ended in a parking lot with about a dozen cars, including several military humvees. Also it turned out that the smoke did not come from the camp itself, but from a larger hole in the ground a few meters away from the parking lot.

“No guards at the gates.” Said First Strike as they observed the area. “No one on the towers either. Sir, are you sure we need to go there?”

“Unfortunately yes.” Answered lieutenant Arms. His eyes scanned the perimeter of the camp and his gaze lingered on the smoking pit. “I have no idea where the Safe Zone is, and FEMA is our best bet to figure it out. Check your gear, we’re going on a walk.”

Following the lieutenant's instructions, the driver drove up to the parking lot and stopped the bus in a way that in case of danger it would be easy to get onto the main road.

"Don't turn off the engine." Arms said as he prepared his rifle. "We do not know what awaits us there, so it is better to be ready for anything."

"Uh, about that." The driver pointed to the dashboard. “We have almost no gas left. You can say that we’ve been running on fumes for the last twenty minutes. I was supposed to go refuel after this round.”

“Your gotta be kidding me.” The lieutenant facepalmed. “At least tell me that you have a gas canister or something.”

“I do.” He kicked something under the seat and a dull metal clang came from there. "Only it is also empty."

Combined Arms cursed under his breath and looked at the empty gas canister that the driver pulled out from under his seat. “Shit. Well, maybe we can find some gas out there.” He nodded towards the camp.

“What if it’s overrun?” Asked the privet, looking at the parked cars.

“Then we’re fucked.” Arms stated and shrugged.

No one liked the sound of that and the people began to grumble.

Sunset didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with the empty tank and a potential danger lurking nearby. She looked at the parking lot and got an idea. “What if we siphon gas from those cars?” She asked.

The lieutenant, who was about to exit the bus, stopped and looked directly at her. “Do you know how?”

“Well, I...” Sunset hesitated. She didn’t want to stick her neck out and going outside could be dangerous. She spared a quick glance at the rest of the survivors, hoping that at least someone would say that they could do it, but Sunset was certain that none of them knew how to. Except maybe Rover, but the Diamond Dog simply set quietly, not even looking in their direction. And so Sunset let out a sigh and nodded, “Yeah, I do. But I’ll need a hose.”

While the driver was looking for a hose, the lieutenant went to Sunset and unhooked a sheath with a combat knife from his harness and handed it over to her. "Here, just in case." He said and tapped her on a shoulder.

Sunset took the sheath and attached it to her belt.

"Alright, Strike and I are going in, and you go get the gas. Work quickly, in case we'll have to get out of here in a pinch." Combined Arms summed up the plan.

"Hold up." Sunset raised her hands. "Maybe we can just wait until I fill up the tank?"

The lieutenant shook his head. "You saw the high way. That horde is moving in this direction. They might pass us, but do you want to take this risk?"

The scenes of carnage that happened in Canterlot flashed in front of her eyes. "Good point. Let's go."

"We'll go first and check behind the gates. If it's all clear, we'll go in and you can proceed to the parking lot. Got it? Good. Let's go." Arms tapped the shoulder of a private who was waiting for a command and they got off the bus with their rifles at the ready.

Sunset watched as the soldiers reached the entrance to the camp in one quick dash and took up positions on both sides of the gate. The lieutenant pushed the gate and it gave way. He slowly opened it and and got down on one knee, giving the private a better view of the other side of the gate. After a few moments lieutenant Arms turned to the bus and gave a thumbs up, indicating 'all clear'.

Sunset nodded and a moment later they disappeared behind the gate.

"Please be careful." Said Fluttershy as Sunset was about to go outside.

"Yeah, sure. I got this." Sunset said not looking back, and left the bus. To be honest, she said that more to assure herself than the yellow girl.

'By Celestia, what am I doing here?' Sunset thought as she made her way to the parking lot with the empty gas canister in one hand and a hose in the other. 'Since when did I decide to be a hero?'

"Hay, Red! Wait up!" A sudden call from behind made her stop in her tracks. She turned around and saw Rover getting off the bus and running towards her. He approached her and, seeing a silent question on Sunset’s face, stated, "It’s dangerous to go alone."

“What’s with the sudden curtesy?” Sunset squinted at him, trying to read his expression, however his broken nose and the resulting two shiners around his eyes made it a really hard task.

“Got sick of sitting around doing nothing.” The gray teen answered and looked around the parking lot. “I needed to get out of there before I go crazy.”

That sounded honest enough not to mention that Sunset could relate to ‘going crazy’ part. “Alright, let’s go.” She turned around and headed to the nearest parked car. “Ever done this?” She asked, looking for any signs of a car alarm. Even if the camp was abandoned, it would be smart to keep a low profile.

“Nah, just stole some shit.” Rover lightly kicked the front wheel of the car and it made two short beeping sounds in response. “This one is a no go.” He stated and they moved to the next one. “That was much easier. Just take a brick, smash a window, grab whatever and book it as the alarm wails. You?”

They approached the next car and Sunset repeated Rover’s technique of checking for the alarm. It reminded silent. She checked the door just in case, but of course it was locked, so Sunset moved to the fuel lid, drawing the knife out of its sheath. She slid its tip under the lid and drove it dipper with a push, then she readjusted her grip on the knife handle and gave it a twist. With a crack the lid opened, exposing the fuel cap underneath.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.” Rover muttered, looking how Sunset unscrewed the cap and inserted the hose into the gas tank. “So, where did you learn to do that?”

“I needed money. Badly.” She opened the gas canister and put it nearby. “And gasoline sells for a good price if you know the right people.” Sunset took the hose, pressed it to her lips and sucked the air out. Her mouth was immediately filled with the acrid taste of the gasoline vapors, and she silently thanked Celestia that this hose was transparent. The last time she had to do this, the hose was not only made of a normal rubber but it was also way too short, and as soon as she began the process of siphoning she got a mouthful of gasoline. She couldn’t get rid of that taste for days. So when she saw the fuel flowing over the bent part of the hose, she lowered it into the canister and let the gravity do the rest of the work.

“Say, Red...” Said Rover as they wait for the gas can to fill. “Just for the record, you didn’t have any dirt on Fido and the others?”

“What?” Sunset raised her eyebrows at the sudden question. “No, I... Wait, what are you implying? That he attacked me because I blackmailed him or something!?”

“No, no, of course not! I am not a fucking idiot.” Rover shook his head. “But lately almost everyone in the gang were on edge for some reason, they got jumpy and started stirring up shit for no apparent reason. I mean, Spot nearly got shanked by one of the Griffons’ bitches.”

“And how is that my fault?” Sunset crossed her arms.

“Well, you do have a reputation...”

“Yes, I do! This is exactly why you must know that I always stick to my word!” Sunset raised her voice and to a step closer to the Diamond Dog. “I don’t get in your way, you don’t get in mine! That was the deal!” In her early days in CHS Sunset evaluated every social group in the school to better segregate them and to determine if any of those groups are best to be left alone. The Diamond Dogs were one such group, and although taking control over them could be beneficial for her goals, it just wasn’t worth the risk. Even though they never were actually violent or even too aggressive, they were all hotheads, who preferred actions over thinking, so she formed a sort of a ‘nonaggression pact’ with the gang.

“Okay, okay. Keep your voice down.” Rover raised his hands defensively. “I just wanted to make sure, alright?”

Sunset wanted to make a snarky comment, but the sound of two shots fired, that came from behind the wall, interrupted her. Both teens turned towards the gate, expecting a crowd of crazy people to rush from inside the camp. Sunset clutched the knife handle so hard that her knuckles turned white. They stood like that for a minute, but nothing happened.

“I guess we’re safe for now.” Said Rover, looking around for any other sign of danger.

“Yeah, but we better hurry.” Sunset looked at the gas can. The fuel stopped flowing, but the canister was only half full. She closed the gas can took the hose out of the fuel tank and they went looking for the next car.

As they moved through the parking lot Sunset noticed a lot of fliers scattered around the ground. When they repeated the process of opening the gas tank and the fuel was flowing into the canister, Sunset picked up a couple of fliers.

"EVACUATION ALERT. Please make your way to the nearest FEMA evacuation shelter. Travel in groups and avoid crowds. This is believed to be a biological agent that causes violent behavior: do not attempt to engage looters or rioters." She read out loud and switched to the next one. "EVACUATION ALERT. Please make your way to the nearest FEMA evacuation shelter. Avoid crowds. Looters and rioters may turn violent against unarmed civilians. Seek protection from police and military forces if traveling in groups." She crumpled the fliers and tossed them away. “Useless.” She muttered.

“This one is kinda helpful.” Said Rover looking at the flier he picked up. “AVOID BUNKERS: Even in riot affected areas, do not attempt to flee to military bunkers or outposts. Understaffed bunkers are defended by automated turrets, which will shoot those without proper registration.” He read and looked towards the camp. “I hope our brass guy has that ‘proper registration’ thing in case we need it.”

Sunset nodded and returned back to her task. Turned out this car had just enough fuel to fill the rest of the gas can. “All right, take it and go refuel the bus.”

“What about you?” Asked Rover, taking the canister.

“We’ll definitely need more than one can to fill up the gas tank. I’ll go check those humvees, I bet they have more fuel, maybe even another gas can.” Said Sunset, pointing at the military vehicles with her thumb. ‘Maybe I’ll get lucky and even find a gun or something.’ She thought.

Diamond Dog nodded, took the canister and jogged back to the bus.

Sunset approached one of the vehicles, as she walked closer to the wall, she could hear a sound, coming from the other side. A series of dull thuds that sounded like someone was trying to smash their way through a wooden door. She really hoped that it was their soldiers making their way into a locked building, and not something trying to get out.

The first humvee was, naturally, locked. Sunset peered through the window and looked around its interior. She saw only a couple of spare helmets and a bunch of documents on a dashboard. With a sigh she stepped away from the door and looked at the vehicle’s gas lid. There was a lock on the lid and the large screws with which it was screwed to the car’s body gave it an imposing armored look. ‘I’ll sooner break my knife than force it open.’ Sunset shook her head and moved to the next humvee.

As she approached the vehicle, Sunset saw something, that made her gasp in delight. The door wasn’t completely shut! In one leap she reached the door and pulled it open. The interior of this humvee was identical to the previous one but she got a better look at an intricate looking radio that was placed between the front seats and a storage compartment underneath it. She was about to check it, when she noticed that the key was still in the ignition. “Yes!” Sunset cheered, pulling the key out. She was sure that it would fit in the gas lid lock as well. “Looks like I’m back in Celesta’s favor!” Of course she knew that her former mentor had nothing to do with it, but old habits die hard.

With her spirits up Sunset reached inside the storage compartment, half expecting to find a gun and a full box of bullets to boot, but managed to find only one clipboard. Disappointed, sunset spared it a quick glance, fully intending to throw it away, but the something caught her eye.

It was a list containing the names of major cities and towns across the country. Someone has crossed off most of the names, and scrawled "OVERRUN" next to each one, with the exception of Canterlot and a few small towns.

Sunset felt like a pit was forming in her stomach as she flipped through the pages. OVERRUN, OVERRUN, OVERRUN. It really looked like there was no safe place to go, nowhere to run.

There was a photograph attached to the last page. It showed a bulldozer pushing a pile of human bodies into a pit. A familiar looking pit.

Sunset raised her eyes and looked at a column of smoke rising from from a hole in the ground.

“Found something?” Sounded a voice from behind.

“Shit!” Sunset swore and turned around, clutching her chest.

“Ahh... sorry?” Rover stood right behind her, holding a canister.

“Don’t you ever sneak up on me like that! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Sunset got out of the car, trying to calm her racing heart. She caught her breath and shoved him a key. “Found this. Let’s go.”

The key fit perfectly and the lid opened with a satisfying click.

“I hope that there’s enough gasoline inside the tank to fill it up in one go.” Said Sunset fiddling with the hose, but as she worked she kept throwing glances at the smoking pit. “Okay, you saw how to do it, so it’s your turn to inhale the fumes.”

“Huh? Why’s that?” Asked Rover and crossed his arms.

“Because my head is spinning after that fright you gave me.” Sunset lied. “Besides, I want to check something else.” She turned around, rounded the humvee and headed towards the pit.

The closer she got to it the slower she walked. Sunset knew what was in that pit, she saw the picture, but some sort of a morbid curiosity kept pushing her further, closer to the edge.

The pit was filled with the burnt human bodies. Their flesh was charred and fell away in places, revealing blackened bones. Many had their mouths open, as if they were still screaming in their death throes, and their empty eye sockets were directed to the sky. Smoke oozed from underneath these twisted bodies and rose up as a dense grayish-black column.

“Oh, Celestia...” Sunset felt nauseous. She took a step back and clasped her hand over her mouth. ‘Why did I come here? What else was I expecting to see?’

She turned away and was about to go back, but a sudden twitch, that she saw in the corner of her eye, made her stop in her tracks. She quickly turned back to the pit, grabbing the knife, and looked at the corpses.

The pile of charred bodies remained motionless.

‘Maybe I’m starting to lose it?’ She though and put the knife back in its sheath. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.’

From behind the wall there was a crash, as if something large had fallen and scattered to pieces, which was immediately followed by several bursts of assault rifle fire.

When Sunset turned around she saw an electric arc shooting over the wall and running along the barbed wire. And the gun shots continued to shake the air.

“What the Hell!?” Sunset shouted in surprise.

She saw Rover, with a full canister in his hands, he took several steps away from the humvee and turned towards Sunset, probably to tell her to get back to the bus, but as soon as he saw her, his eyes opened wide. “Red! Behind you!”

Sunset’s heart skipped a bit. She attempted to dash forward, not even looking back, but something grabbed her by the ankle, causing her to fall on the ground with a loud “Oof!”. She immediately rolled on her back, pulling the knife out, but when she saw what grabbed her, she simply froze in place.

A blackened and twisted naked human body was pulling itself out from the pit. It rose above her, still holding her foot in its hand, but Sunset couldn’t do anything but stare at it. Strips of flesh hung from its frame, and a constant haze of thick black smoke was constantly emitting from its wounds and empty eye sockets. When it opened its mouth even thicker torrent of smoke came out, enveloping them both in a grayish-black cloud.

Sunset couldn’t move, couldn’t scream, all she could do was to hold her knife in front of her with both hands.

The smoking monster tugged on her leg, pulling the terrified girl closer to itself. It was about to bend down to her when a sudden shout made it stop.

“Let her go, you freak!” Rover dashed through the smoke and planted a powerful kick right into the monster’s chest, sending it back to the pit. The Diamond Dog then grabbed Sunset by the collar of her jacket pulled her to her feet. “Come on, Red! *cough* *cough* Move!” He said coughing from all the smoke around them.

They both ran out of the smoke cloud coughing and wheezing. The smoke burned their lungs, making it hard to breathe, but despite a coughing fit Rover grabbed the canister right on the run and, without slowing down, rushed to the bus. Sunset followed him, rubbing at her stinging and watering eyes.

When they were near the bus, the camp gate swung open and the two soldiers ran out. The private ran first, the lieutenant followed him at a short distance, but before they had time to run a couple of steps, a jet of flame burst out from behind the gate and hit the lieutenant in the back. With a yell, he fell to the ground and began to roll from side to side, trying to extinguish the fire that engulfed his upper body.

“LT!” Shouted Strike as he turned around and fired his rifle at something.

He slung the rifle over his shoulder and rushed to the lieutenant to help put out the fire.

While Strike was trying to help Arms, another soldier staggered out of the gate. He was dressed in the same uniform as the two soldiers, but he had a gas mask on his face, and a large tank hung on his back, from which a hose ran to a flamethrower, which he held in his right hand. As soon as he saw the soldiers, he immediately raised his weapon and pointed it in their direction.

“Fuck! How are you still alive!?” The private swore, pulled out his pistol and opened fire without aiming. Fortunately, one of the bullets hit the flamethrower's shoulder, causing him to stagger back and release a jet of flame away from them. Then Strike hoisted the lieutenant onto his shoulders and ran to the bus.

Meanwhile, the flamethrower was able to recover and shuffled after them again, pointing his weapon at them.

Combined Arms raised his head and took out his big pistol. He raised it with a trembling hand and took aim. A loud shot rang out and the flamethrower's left arm flew off. The second shot tore a large piece of flesh from the right side of his lower torso, but he only staggered and continued walking. The third shot hit the flamethrower in the chest, the bullet went through and pierced the napalm tank on his back. A moment later it exploded, sending chunks of burning flesh flying all over the place.

The two soldiers reached the bus soon after Sunset and Rover. "Go! There're more of them coming!" Shouted Strike as soon as he entered the bus. He sat down and put Arms on the floor.

"Look!" One of the survivors shouted and pointed at the camp's entrance.

At that moment, something that looked like a human, with the worst case of static hair Sunset has ever seen in her life, came out of the gate. Sparks of electricity constantly ran through its body, sometimes jumping to the nearest metal objects in the form of wide arcs. It turned towards the sound of an engine and started to shamble their way.

The bus jerked and started, quickly gaining speed.

Sunset lost her balance and almost fell over but Rarity, who woke up while they were away, caught her.

"Oh my God! I saw what happened. Are you okay?" She asked, looking between Sunset and the wounded soldier.

"I... I think so." Sunset answered, feeling her coughing fit subside. "I'm fine."

"What were those things?!" Asked Rarity, looking through a window at the electric thing and the moving cloud of smoke, that was now some ways away from the pit.

"I have no idea. They looked like damn monsters..." Sunset said, trying to mull over everything that happened.

Combined Arms screamed in pain as Strike accidentally agitated his burned flesh. Fluttershy was already kneeling beside him, trying to do her best to help the wounded soldier, but of course she had no idea what she could do in this situation.

The lieutenant looked terrible. The entire upper right part of his body was badly burned, all the hair on his head was burned and the skin was blackened and charred in places. Some of his remaining uniform fused with his burned skin.

'That flamethrower got him bad, I'm not sure if he'll make it...' Sunset thought, looking at the lieutenant. She lowered her gaze to the floor and noticed that in all the commotion Arms' pistol was knocked aside and close to her.

It definitely wasn't a standard sidearm. First of all it was huge. The main body of the pistol was made of a matte black material that looked like plastic. On the front end of the weapon, just above the barrel, “Rivtech RM103A” was written in white letters. The barrel was a long, silvery tube extending deep into the hull and visible through the cooling slots in it. The handle was made of polished ivory and bore the silvery calligraphic initials CA.

'No way this is normal weapon for a military officer. This gun is probably a gift or something.’ Thought Sunset as she reached down and picked it up. It was surprisingly light for its bulky appearance, but it still weighed about a kilo and a half. And the material was definitely not plastic, but some kind of an alloy.

“Give... it... back...” Combined Arms whizzed reaching for the gun with one shaking hand.

Sunset looked at the gun one more time and gave it to Fluttershy, who stood up to take it. She then placed the gun on the lieutenant’s belly, as it wasn’t burned by the napalm fire. Combined Arms placed his hand over it and held it tight.

Meanwhile privet Strike injected him with a large dose of a painkiller. “There I got you, lieutenant... This should do for now.” He then looked at Fluttershy. “You! You seem to know something about the first aid! Do something!” He shouted.

“I... I... I’m not... I am just a vet...” She stammered, taken aback by the sudden outburst.

“I saw you bandaging people.” Strike took a hold of himself and spoke as calmly as he could. “Start doing it, and I’ll help in a moment.”

“I’ll do my best...” Squeaked Fluttershy and reached for the first aid kit, that the driver gave them earlier.

Strike nodded and stood up. He walked to the driver and pulled out a folded map from his pocket. “Here. The Safe Zone is marked with an X.” He said.

“Is it really safe, or is it like this camp of yours?” Asked the driver, looking at the map.

“We actually managed to contact them via the closed network. They are far in the wilderness, heavily fortified and already have some civilians with them.” Said the soldier. “This is as safe as we can get.”

“Got it. But, damn, that’s far. It’s about ten hours trip. Probably more if we are to steer clear from the towns on the way.” The driver looked at the dashboard and the gas can. “Thankfully we have just enough fuel now.”

“Good. Then let’s go.” Said Strike and turned back to the wounded lieutenant and the yellow girl. “Alright, let me help.”

‘This is gonna be a long ride...’ Sunset thought.

Chapter 4

Sunset stared at the half empty bottle of water in her hands and slowly shook it, watching the water slosh around inside.

She was hungry and she kept beating herself over the head for skipping lunch at school this day. Sunset wasn’t even sure why she didn’t go to the cafeteria, she simply didn’t feel like it.

They had been driving along the road for many hours and it was already dark outside. The roundabout road, along which they bypassed yet another small town, was illuminated by roadside lamps that swept past the bus window at regular intervals, creating a lulling effect.

Someone once told her, “If you are hungry - drink some water, if you are really hungry - go to sleep.” That, of course, was meant to be a joke, but now it seemed like a good idea. Except that was her one and only bottle of water and she most definitely needed to ration it. And as for sleep... She was sure that nothing but nightmares awaited her in the dream realm.

Combined Arms let out another painful groan. He was lying on two seats with his legs out in the aisle, and several layers of bandages on his torso and head made him look like a mummy. He held up quite well, given the circumstances, but the constant injections of painkillers kept him in a semi-conscious state for most of the time.

After Fluttershy and the private finished bandaging the lieutenant's burns, First Strike told them what happened at the camp.

When they entered, the camp seemed abandoned, but there were signs of struggle everywhere. The ground was littered with shell casings and splashes of blood, and there was a corpse of a flamethrower near the gate. Some buildings were barricaded from the outside, as if someone was trying to keep something inside. When they got to the communications center, they ran into a feral. He did not pose much of a threat on his own and was easily killed, but the sound of gunfire literally shook the hornets' nest. Whoever or whatever was closed in those buildings began to bash at the doors, destroying the barricades, and the two soldiers had to hurry. They entered the communications center and were able to contact the Refugee Center around which a Safe Zone was established and got their coordinates. When they were on their way back, the one of the barricades fell and one of those electric things staggered out.

“As soon as it saw us, it raised its arms and damn electricity began shooting all over the place! It fucking zapped me! We took one down, but there were more of them.” When others asked him about what those things were, he shrugged. “Hell if I know. Probably some poor sods had their power storage bionics malfunction or something.”

Sunset only read about the bionics online but never saw anyone actually augmented. Compact Bionic Modules, or CBMs for short, were the state of the art technology, an absolute cutting edge. They appeared on the market not so long ago and, naturally, cost a fortune and a half to install, so only the most wealthy people or military specialists could afford them. They were advertised to be able to help people with all aspects of their lives and work. Turned out they could also turn people into walking tasers.

“When we saw others breaking out, we just ran. And near the gate... That guy with the flamethrower... He was getting up!” Strike shouted. “But he was dead! I know that because I checked him as soon as we entered the camp! Shot right in the heart several hours ago.”

“So, what? We are dealing with the zombies now?” Asked Rover. He wanted it to sound like a joke, but his voice clearly lacked sarcasm.

“Looks like it.” Answered First Strike. “I heard rumors around the base, from the guys that were deployed in one of the riot zones, they told that the dead are not actually dead, that they were coming back.” Strike leaned back in his seat and covered his face with his hands. “Heh. I didn’t believe that shit. Man, do I feel stupid now!”

Everyone were shocked by this sudden revelation. Sunset didn’t want to believe that, she couldn’t believe that! This world didn’t have magic! There was no way that the undead could exist without magic! But... She saw that thing from the pit and it didn’t look alive...

And so Sunset had spent the last few hours trying to remember everything she knew about necromancy. Of course, everything about this dark art was forbidden in Equestria, but being a protégé of the Princess herself, Sunset had access to a bit more in-depth information. "To fight the dark magic, one needs to understand it." Celestia told her. But even this extended information was extremely limited. Moreover, the more Sunset thought about it, the more she became convinced that magic could not be the cause of what was happening. Which made all her meager knowledge of the undead completely useless. Not to mention that the hunger that began to settle in had made it increasingly harder to concentrate.

Sunset's belly rumbled loudly, she put her hand on it and pressed, trying to calm it down.

‘I hope this Refugee Center has something to eat, otherwise all the zombies from all around will come running to these sounds.’ She thought and glanced at the bottle once again. ‘Maybe just one sip? Simply to have at least something in my stomach.’

She was about to open the bottle when a white hand appeared in front of her holding a granola bar.

"Here, darling, take this." Said Rarity.

“Huh?” Sunset took the bar, eyeing it with suspicion that made Rarity roll her eyes.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Sunset. Think of it as an expression of my gratitude.”

“For what?” The amber girl raised her eyebrow.

“You were by my side and you comforted me when I needed it most. You risked your life to get fuel." Rarity looked into her eyes and put her hand on her shoulder. “Darling, I understand that you and I had our fair share of disagreements, but this is clearly not the time for school grudges. Now we need to rely on each other, don't you agree?"

‘I didn’t go outside for their sake.’ Sunset thought. ‘And comforting... Anyway, I am not going to argue.’ She looked back at the granola bar and opened it. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks.” She muttered, taking a bite.

Suddenly, something hit the windshield and the bus swerved from side to side, waking the few survivors who managed to fall asleep and alarming the rest.

"Damn bird!" The driver swore and rose slightly from the seat. “What did it... W-what the?”

Sunset and Rarity shared a glance and peered from the window, trying to see what could elicit such a reaction from the driver.

At first they could see nothing unusual in the light of the roadside lamps. They still rushed past the window at regular intervals, and everything behind them was hidden in darkness. Only flashes of lightning were visible in the sky, illuminating the heavy clouds above them. Sunset looked back to the road, but something didn’t feel right. She again raised her eyes to the sky and again saw lightnings...

The same lightnings...

They slowly crawled through the blackness of the night, parting like thick pulsating veins on the body and piercing the clouds, which began to quickly dissipate, revealing a strange dark-crimson sky.

"Oh my God." Rarity whispered. "What's happening?"

Sunset said nothing. She just stared at this phenomenon with wide eyes. She had never seen anything like it in her life. Not even in Equestria, where the weather has long obeyed the magic of the pegasi. It was beautiful in a way, but deep down, Sunset knew that something terrible was happening.

A primal animalistic terror crept into her soul, shaking her entire body. Somehow she was sure that she was witnessing the end of the world.

‘I... I... I must go back!’ She thought. ‘Oh, Celestia, I want to live, I must...’

There was a blinding flash of light.

Sunset hissed, covered her face with her hands, and fell to the floor as the bus swerved violently from side to side. She rubbed her eyes, blinking away the spots left by the flash, and looked around.

Some passengers also rubbed their eyes, but most just looked out the windows on the right side. Many had expressions of shock and fear on their faces, as their tears glittered in the dark-crimson light of the sky.

Sunset rose from the floor with a groan, the bruises that she had received that day made themselves felt with a dull ache in her arms and chest. When she looked out the window, her jaw dropped.

There, near the horizon, stood a huge mushroom cloud.

It felt like the time has completely stopped in its tracks, and no one uttered a word, only the growing roar of the explosion was heard in the distance.

‘A nuke... They are dropping nukes... Oh, Celestia, this really IS the end!’ Sunset thought, looking at the mushroom cloud.

Sunset didn’t know much about the humanity’s ultimate weapon, but the fact that they were still alive gave her some semblance of hope. The explosion was far away, they were not blown away by the blast wave. As for the radiation... Sunset knew about radiation only what they taught in school, but she was sure that they should have enough time to get away from the hot spot. They should be fine as long as they could drive away from the explosion.

Suddenly, Sunset felt like she was being doused with boiling and ice cold water at the same time. The feeling sounded vaguely familiar to her, but she didn't have time to figure out exactly how. This feeling rolled over her like a wave and she definitely felt that it came from her left.

Sunset turned her head to look at the road in front of the bus.

Something that looked like a tear in reality itself was spreading right in front of them. The jagged hole in space twitched and widened, emitting a crimson glow.

‘That’s an unstable portal!’ Sunset thought with her mouth agape. She read about them back at the Celestia’s school. It was theoretically possible to open a portal without any enchanted stabilizing elements like the mirror, but the amount of power one would have to use to keep it open for any meaningful time would be absolutely colossal, beyond even the might of The Princess. But here it was! Right on front of them!

And it was getting closer.

“Oh no.” Sunset muttered and looked at the driver.

He, like everyone else, was looking at the explosion, but his foot was still pushing the pedal, accelerating the bus towards the portal.

“Watch out!” She screamed, pointing forward.

Driver’s eyes darted at her and he turned back to look at the road. As soon as he saw the tear in reality he swore and slammed on the brakes, sending everyone who wasn’t holding on to something flying forward.

But he was too late.

A moment later Sunset felt a familiar tug and pull as she, the bus and everyone in it were pulled into the portal.

For a moment everything was bathed in the kaleidoscope of lights as they flew through the space-time.

When they returned to the real space the bus was spewed out of the portal onto a side of a steep hill. The bus, accelerated by the exit from the portal, drove down the slope at an alarming speed. The driver tried to stop it by pulling the hand brake lever, first there was a prolonged squeal of the brakes, then the crackle and clang of metal when the brake pads were ripped off. The driver had no choice but to grab onto the steering wheel to prevent the speeding bus from toppling over or crashing into something on its way downhill.

Sunset, who was thrown over the back of the seat in front of her by sudden braking, lifted her head and the first thing she saw was a crimson glow. The light that had previously emanated from the portal was now everywhere. Then she saw the islands. Huge stone islands just floated in the red sky. Some were empty, some had things on them, that looked like some sort of organic growth, some had whole lakes of lava, which in places flowed over the edges of the islands and fell down like waterfalls.

‘Where the Tartarus are we?’ Sunset thought, dumbfounded by the view.

There was a scream from behind. Turning around, Sunset saw Fluttershy close to the back end of the bus, she was on the floor, desperate to crawl away from something she was staring at. Sunset followed her gaze and at first she saw just a shadow at the back of the bus, but then it started to move.

This was some form of eldritch monstrosity! A black being with smooth, oily skin and a pair of horns that curve inward toward each other. Tall and thin, the shadows clung unnaturally to its vaguely defined humanoid form as it shuffled along, its hands twitching and spasming so rapidly as to appear a little more than a black blur of claws. Its mere presence filled Sunset with terror.

One of the students, still disoriented after the teleportation and clearly not noticing the shadow monster nearby, got up from the seat to help Fluttershy and found himself in the path of the creature. The monster moved its hand so quickly that it seemed as if it did not move at all but just jerked in the direction of the guy in front of it, but a moment later the teenager fell to the side with a gurgling sound, clutching the lacerated wound on his neck and dousing the frightened girl on the floor with a fountain of his blood.

“Fluttershy! Get away from that thing!” Shouted Rarity, who also saw what happened, but her shout was practically unheard among the terrified screams of others.

Three shots rang out from the side and the creature staggered back. First Strike entered the aisle holding his sidearm. During the teleportation, his assault rifle flew off his shoulder and ended up somewhere on the floor. He pulled the trigger two more times, but only one bullet hit the target, the shaking of the bus made aiming extremely difficult. On the third pull of the trigger, the pistol made only a dull click.

"Fuck!" Private cursed looking at the opened slide of the pistol. After everything that happened in the FEMA camp, after bandaging the lieutenant and telling everyone that they are in the middle of a God damn zombie apocalypse, he simply forgot to reload his side arm. Such a stupid mistake...

The creature quickly recovered from the hit and, forgetting about Fluttershy, who had managed to huddle between the seats, rushed forward. Strike released the pistol from his hands, letting it fall to the floor, drew his combat knife and rushed to attack the creature. It again waved its hand, aiming at the private's neck, but Strike, who was expecting such a blow, managed to block it and counterattacked by slashing with a knife on the monster's shoulder. He tried to stab the monster in the chest, but it recoiled, swinging its arm up and slashing Strike's arm with its claws. He cried out in pain, but did not drop the knife.

The soldier and the monster stood in front of each other, waiting for the right moment to attack, and trying to maintain balance as the bus bounced on bumps and wobbled from side to side.

And during the next skid, Strike was the first to staggered to the side. The shadow monster immediately took the opportunity to slash Strike across his chest, leaving claw marks on his body armor. The private pushed away from the seat and threw himself at the monster, hitting it in the chest with his shoulder and stabbing it in the stomach. The monster didn’t make a sound, it just threw its hand and thrust its claws deep into Strike’s right shoulder. He screamed and released the knife. Realizing that things were bad, the private hit the monster in the stomach with his knee, right next to the wound, forcing him to take a couple of steps back.

At that moment, deafening shots rang out to the right of Sunset. Lieutenant Arms, who fell to the floor during the commotion, fired at the creature from his pistol with little aim.

Seeing how the shots pierced holes in the walls of the bus, Strike dived between the seats so that he himself would not be accidentally shot.

The monster rushed forward, but one of the shots still hit the target, punching a large hole in its neck. It took a couple more hesitant steps and fell forward, face down.

Sunset was about to cheer, but then some movement at the end of the bus caught her attention. She looked there and blinked in surprise. There was nothing there a moment ago, but now she could see the faintest outline of another creature approaching them with jittery motions.

It was crawling on the ceiling!

Remembering the basics of the illusion magic, she tried to focus on that thing and it revealed a pointed beak dripping translucent fluid and rows upon rows of bladed legs, but after a few moments of staring at it, her eyes began to burn and her head started to spin.

“There’s another one! Shoot it!” Sunset screamed, pointing at seemingly empty spot on the ceiling.

Arms glanced at her then wherever she was pointing. Even the bandages on his face could not hide the look of horror when he, too, saw the semi-invisible thing.

He raised his pistol, but it was too late.

It leaped down and straight onto the lieutenant. He screamed, but this scream was cut off almost instantly, when he and the creature simply disappeared without a trace.

"Lieutenant!?" Strike yelled, “What the fuck!? Where did he go!?"

Sunset and Rarity simply stared silently at the place where the Combine Arms had been a moment ago, trying to comprehend what had happened.

The driver, who all this time did everything in his power to prevent the bus from overturning, saw something, that made his blood froze in his veins. All this time they were on one of the flying islands, and, having circled another huge boulder on the way, he saw the edge of this island.

"Everyone, quickly grab onto something and hold on with all your might!" He shouted without turning around.

A moment later, the bus flew over the edge.

Sunset, clinging to her seat, felt her heart stop as she saw the myriad islands spinning in a giant vortex stretching into infinity.

Then a huge gaping hole in reality blocked the view.

Again there was the familiar pull forward and the kaleidoscope of colors.

Then there was darkness and a strange feeling of weightlessness, but soon the ground appeared in the light of the headlights of the bus.

The last thing Sunset heard was the crashing and grinding of metal, then her face flew into the back of the seat in front of her and she was knocked out.

Chapter 5

The surface of the mirror shone with a bright light and an amber unicorn fell out of it.

She landed on the crystal floor with a loud “umpf” sound. Sunset closed her eyes and shook her head, raising a foreleg to rub at her bruised forehead. “Uugh... What happened?” She muttered. Suddenly her hoof touched something that she hadn’t felt in years, Sunset’s eyes opened wide and she looked up, catching the glimpse of a pointy amber colored protrusion. “My horn?” She said and looked down and looked herself over. Seeing that she was back in her original pony form, Sunset close her eyes and shook her head, thinking that she was seeing things, but when she opened them once again nothing changed. She was a unicorn once again. “How did I get here?”

Sunset turned around and looked at the magic mirror. It was just as she remembered it. Same thick enchanted frame, same perfect reflective surface that once showed her as an alicorn and kickstarted her plot to ascend. But this time she didn’t see an alicorn, just her own reflection, but for a moment she thought she saw six multicolored lights fading away in the background.

She turned away from the mirror and tried to remember what happened to her but all her memories were shrouded in a thick fog.“Why can’t I remember anything?” She said, closing her eyes and massaged her temples. “Ugh... I... I wanted to go back... but why?” Sunset tried hard to concentrate, but no matter how hard she tried, nothing came of it.

When Sunset opened her eyes, she noticed that her right front hoof had some back substance, that looked like tar, on it. That tar had faint acrid smell to it.

“Yuck.” Sunset scrunched her nose. “Damn, I probably got it on my coat too.” Sunset looked back at the mirror and saw a black splotch on her fur. She tried rubbing her temple with the back of her hoof, but that only smeared the tar on her cheek and her leg. “Ew...”

Not wanting to get smeared with tar even more, she just put her hoof down and wiped it on the floor. When the hoof was sufficiently clean Sunset looked around.

The whole room looked like it was made of polished crystals. The floor, walls, ceiling, even doors and pillars glittered with blue and purple sparks as the light from the lanterns, also made of crystal, fell on them. “Wow...” Sunset made several steps towards the wall and saw her own blurry reflection. “What is this place? I don’t remember such room being in the Palace. Where am I?”

Sunset needed answers, and so far this room has only gave her more questions. Collecting her thoughts, she went to the door and pulled the handles. The doors opened with a quiet creak and Sunset saw a long corridor made of the same crystals, it stretched into the distance until it eventually turned right. Looking around and not seeing any other way, Sunset walked forward.

There were many windows in the wall on the left side, but they were made of stained glass, or probably crystals, and were clearly needed only for illumination, because it was almost impossible to see outside through them. There were doors on the right side at regular intervals, she tried to open some of them, but all were locked.

Sunset wandered the corridors for a couple of minutes, sometimes trying to open locked doors and choosing random directions when one corridor intersected with another, and was already beginning to think that she might be alone in this strange place when she heard the clip-clop of hooves coming from around the corner.

Not knowing what to expect Sunset crept quietly to the nearest corner, and as she peered cautiously from behind it, her heart skipped a beat and her jaw dropped.

Princess Celestia was walking in front of one of the stained glass windows and admiring the multicolored patterns that sparked in the moonlight. The princess did not change a bit, she was still as beautiful and majestic as on the day of their first meeting and her serene smile still was able to calm down Sunset’s racing heart.

Without even realizing what she was doing, Sunset stumbled from hiding place and rushed to the Princess as fast as she could. She wanted to say something, but a lump seemed to roll up her throat, her thoughts began to get confused and scrambled in her head and her vision was beginning to blur because of tears in her eyes. So she just silently ran towards the Princess.

Celestia heard the clatter of hooves on the crystal floor and turned around, her eyes widening as she finally saw the pony running towards her. "My little Sun..." She muttered, and stepped forward, spreading her forelegs for a hug.

When the Princess was only a couple of steps away, Sunset jumped forward, straight into her warm embrace. She wrapped her hooves around Celestia, buried her face in her soft silky coat and cried. She cried and tried to utter at least something: how sorry she was, to beg for forgiveness, for help, for whatever, but she could only sob.

Sunset didn't know how long they sat like that, and she didn't care. But Celestia's embrace grew stronger and stronger, and soon it became difficult for her to breathe, then an unpleasant feeling of pressure appeared in her back.

“Princess?” Sunset muttered, trying to turn her head to the side. The grip tightened even more and the unpleasant feeling turned into pain. “Princess! You are hurting me!” Sunset cried out. With some struggle she was able to turn her head to the side and take a breath, but then she saw black tar dripping onto her from above. Sunset managed to pull away from Celestia a little and look up.

Celestia was looking down at her. The princess's wide-open eyes were absolutely black, her face was distorted by an animalistic grin and black tar oozed between her teeth like saliva.

Sunset screamed in horror! She planted all four legs on Celestia's body and pushed her away from herself with all her might.

With a cry of pain, the Princess fell to the floor and tried to crawl away. “S-Sunset? What’s gotten into you!?” She cried looking at a big bleeding wound on her chest.

Shocked and confused Sunset looked at the terrified Celestia. She opened her mouth to ask what had happened, but as she did so she felt how something fell out and landed on the floor with a wet slap. Looking down, Sunset saw a big bloody piece of flesh covered in once white fur. Sunset stared down at the flesh and backed away from it. “No, no, no...” She shook her head, not wanting to accept what she had done, but the tasted blood in her mouth left no doubt.

She tore out a chunk of Celestia's flesh with her teeth.

When Sunset realized what she had done, her legs trembled and she dropped to her knees. She looked at Celestia, who was still laying on the floor and looking at her with a mixture of fear and confusion on her face. Sunset wanted to beg for forgiveness, but before she could utter a single word her stomach turned inside out and she vomited. Stream after stream of black viscous tar burst from her mouth. Her insides burned but Sunset couldn't stop. After what felt like eternity, she vomited all that tar out of herself and fell to the floor exhausted.

She raised her head and saw how the tar, that came out of her, gathered into one big blob, sprouted tendrils and pounced onto screaming Celestia, entwining her and pulling her deeper and deeper into itself.

“N-no! C-Celestia!” Sunset screamed and slowly got up on her unsteady hooves. She stumbled forward, wanting to help her mentor, but the blob of black ooze slashed her face with one of its tendrils. With a yelp Sunset fell backwards, holding a hoof to her face. She pulled it away, and saw that it was covered in the mixture of blood and that black goo.

That was when Sunset heard a growing rumble. She looked around and saw a huge wave of black tar rolling through the corridor and towards her.

Slipping, Sunset jumped to her hooves and rushed towards Celestia. She was almost completely sucked into the blob, it already covered most of her face, making it impossible for the Princess to breathe. Sunset did everything she could to save Celestia. She tried to rip the tar off with her hooves, pull it off with her teeth, burn it with magic, but nothing helped.

And when she turned and saw the wave looming over them, she realized that there was nothing she could do.

With a cry of pain, sadness and fear Sunset literally dove into the blob of black goo and, embracing already limp Celestia, nuzzled her one last time and muttered, "Forgive me."

The wave rolled over, consuming them both.

Chapter 6

Sunset groaned.

She was gradually regaining consciousness and the first thing she realized when she came to was that her “everything” hurt.

As Sunset tried to move a sharp pain in her chest made her groan even louder this time.

When she opened her eyes everything looked blurry at first and the dim light that was dancing on the walls of the room she found herself in didn't help much. Sunset blinked once and the hazy white and purple blob in front of her finally came into focus.

It turned out to be Rarity. She was standing over Sunset with a scared look on her face and ... and a big boulder in her hands, ready to drop it and smash her head in.

Sunset's eyes widened as the adrenaline rushed through her system. She rolled to the side and, despite a sharp stab of pain in her limbs, tried to stand up but failed. "What the fuck do you think you're doing!?" She shouted, glaring at Rarity.

"Well, that sounded rather human to me." Sounded a dry laugh from somewhere in the dark.

Rarity, for her part, threw the rock aside and raised hands, trying to show that she means no harm. "Oh my God. Sunset, please forgive me!"

"Forgive you!?” Sunset tried to get up again, but only managed to fall on her side. “You were about to pulp my head!" She quickly glanced over her own body, trying to figure out why it was so hard to move, and it turned out that her arms and legs were tied up with some torn rags.

"No! Well... Only if..." Rarity stuttered, trying to think of an explanation. "You were groaning so much, we were afraid that you've turned. And after what happened to Daisy..." She trailed off, glancing somewhere to the side.

Seeing that she wasn’t in immediate danger Sunset managed to calm down a bit, she sat up straight and looked around. It looked like they were in some sort of a cave, if the wall made of a somewhat smooth rock were anything to go by. The area around them was illuminated by a small bonfire and in its light Sunset could see four injured, dirty and tired looking CHS students huddled near each other on the opposite side of the cave.

Micro Chips, the nerdy guy, sat close to the fire and occasionally poked the burning logs with a long stick. “Welcome back to our shitty world, Shimmer.” He said not looking at her. It sounded like he was the one who laughed at her earlier.

Behind him sat Sandalwood and Roseluck. The girl was still as a statue, she was hugging her knees and staring at the fire with unblinking eyes. Sandalwood sat right next to her and had his arm wrapped around Roseluck’s shoulders. When his eyes met with Sunset’s he gave her a small nod.

Farthest away was High Winds, an athlete girl Sunset knew next to nothing about. She had in her hands something that looked like a makeshift spear made of a long stick and a sharp looking piece of metal tied to its end. She was looking at the tunnel that led out of this chamber and had her spear pointed that way. The girl spared Sunset only a quick glance and returned back to her vigil.

‘What in the tartarus happened? Where are we? Where are the rest of us?’ Thought Sunset but, remembering the crush, she feared that she knew the answer already.

Sunset looked down at her tied up hands and tugged at the rags a few times, trying to loose the knots, but they held firmly. “Untie me.” Sunset demanded in a stern voice, turning back to look at Rarity.

“Of course.” The white girl kneeled in front of her and began to undo the knots on Sunset’s bindings. Her legs were free in no time, finally giving the fiery headed girl an opportunity to sit more comfortably, but the knots around her hands didn’t want to give up that easily. Apparently Sunset accidentally tightened them up while trying to stand up. Rarity frowned, tugging onto the strands of fabric, but after a few failed attempts she shook her head and took a small penknife from her pocket. As soon as she unfurled its blade, she saw Sunset stiffen. “No, no, darling, don’t worry! I’ll just quickly cut this rags, that’s all.”After a few quick movements, the pieces of cloth fell to the floor, freeing the girl's hands. "There, all done." Rarity folded the knife and put it back in her pocket. "Now you can—"

*Slap!*

"That’s for scaring me half to death!" Sunset hissed, shaking her now numb hand.

“I...” Rarity put her hand to her cheek, which now bore Sunset's slap print. “I guess I deserved that.” She said, hanging her head.

Sunset was about to snide something, but then she heard a soft moan coming from behind. Turning around, she saw Fluttershy lying on the floor, covered with a bright yellow emergency blanket. The girl looked terrible. Most of her skin, that Sunset could see, was covered in red rashes and looked sore, her forehead glistened with sweat and her breathing was labored with each exhale accompanied by a low moan.

“Fluttershy.” Rarity moved past Sunset, completely forgetting about the slap, and kneeled beside the yellow girl. She took a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “There, there, its okay.” She said, stroking her cheek. “Are you thirsty?”

“Rarity?” Fluttershy croaked, barely audible. “It hurts...”

“I know, dear.” Rarity whispered and brought the bottle of water to the girl's lips, tilting it slightly so that she could take a sip.

“What happened to her?” Asked Sunset, stepping closer.

“We don’t know.” Rarity shook her head in frustration. “First Strike thinks that this might be a radiation poisoning.”

“Radiation?” Sunset’s eyes widened. “Are we in a hot spot?”

“No idea.” Rarity shook her head again. “But when we came back from that” -she shuddered- “hellish place and the bus crashed, Fluttershy was the first one to come to her senses. She said that it was raining, a real downpour, with something black, like soot, mixed in with the water. It probably was the radioactive ashes from the explosion, and it was obviously not safe to stay in the wrecked bus, which was gradually filling with this water. That is why she dragged us into this cave. Well, it’s actually an old bear burrow that is connected to a small cave.” Rarity smiled and brushed a lock of hair off Fluttershy’s face. “She said that a rabbit showed her the way here.”

“She brought us here?” Sunset had a hard time believing that Fluttershy, who usually can barely lift her own backpack, managed to carry several people to safety. 'Never underestimate the power of the adrenaline I guess.' Sunset thought.

“Some of us, yes. Me, you, Roseluck and Chips.” Rarity nodded. “Then First Strike woke up and helped with the rest. Plus it’s not far, the bus in the clearing right behind the tree line. Nevertheless Fluttershy was exposed to that rain the longest. Soon this rash appeared on her skin and and she got a fever, in the late afternoon she said that her legs hurt, and yesterday morning she could not stand up at all.”

Sunset looked back at the injured girl. Once again she managed to surprise Sunset. Not only Fluttershy saved several people but she actually dragged her, of all people, to safety. And got hurt in the process. The fire-headed girl had to admit that since the start of this... apocalypse she began to actually respect this timid girl.

’Wait a second... Yesterday morning?’ Sunset frowned. “Wait. How long was I out?”

“Two, well, almost three days, I think. It’s quite hard to keep track of time here, everything just blends together.” Rarity shrugged.

Upon hearing this, Sunset became acutely aware of how ravenously hungry she was. And that immediately was confirmed by her stomach with a drown out growling.

“Hey, Shimmer.” Micro Chips called her from behind. “Catch.” He said as soon as she turned he tossed something to her. With a bit of fumbling Sunset managed to not drop the object on the floor. It turned out to be an apple. It was not large, its side was mushed and turned brown. “That’s all for now. We’re on a strict rationing, living on what we managed to scavenge from the lunch boxes and some MREs leftovers.” Said Chips and went back to poking the bonfire with a stick.

Sunset looked back at the apple in her hand. She was sure that they had some better food stashed away but it was better than nothing, so she just shrugged and took a bite. She had worse.

While Sunset chewed on the apple, Rarity continued to tend to Fluttershy. She put a wet compress on the girl's head and proceeded to straightening the blanket with which she was covered. But as soon as her hands touched the yellow girl’s legs, Fluttershy shuddered and moaned painfully.

“I’m sorry, darling, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Rarity apologized. She looked over the emergency blanket in thought, trying to find a way to lift it without hurting Fluttershy even more, but the way she was tucked in made it quite difficult. “Sunset, can you land me a hand, please?” She asked looking at the amber girl.

“Yeah, sure.” Sunset had just finished eating the apple, even the core, and walked over to the two girls. "What do you want me to do?"

“Can you lift her up a little? I want to see how her legs are doing, the rash on them was most prevalent." Rarity pointed at the blanket. “But please be careful.”

Sunset nodded, knelt down and gently grabbed Fluttershy's shoulders, she lifted her up a bit and tilted her slightly to the side so that Rarity could lift the covers up. The girl moaned quietly, but her breathing did not quicken and she didn’t shudder this time, so Sunset decided that she had succeeded with her task.

“Thank you.” Rarity nodded and grabbed the blanket. “Now let’s see what...” Her eyes widened and her hands covered her mouth as she gasped in shock!

“Stars above...” Whispered Sunset. She had to imply a hefty amount of willpower so as not to drop the yellow girl and recoil in a mixture of confusion fear and disgust.

Fluttershy’s legs were covered in long deep gashes that started at her hips and went all the way down to her toes. There were three gashes on each leg, one on the front and two on the sides of the legs. The skin around those wounds was sore and red with the rashes and almost no of her original yellow color could be seen. But the worst thing was that through those gashes Sunset could see red inflamed muscles, but oddly enough there was no blood at all. It looked almost as if there was some kind of a transparent membrane stretched over the wounds, giving everyone a gruesome sight to behold.

Sunset’s stomach churned and the apple she just ate threatened to come back outside.

“Holy shit, what the fuck is that!?” Shouted High Winds, pointing at Fluttershy’s legs with her spear.

“That is DEFINITELY not a radiation poisoning...” Mumbled Micro Chips staring at the gashes slack-jawed.

Silence hung in the cave for a few long moments as everyone were trying to comprehend what exactly they were looking at.

High Winds was the first to speak. “We must get her outside.” She pointed at Fluttershy with her spear again.

“What!?” Gasped Rarity. She sprung to her feet and faced the athletic girl. “Absolutely not!”

“We have no idea what’s going on with her! What if it’s contagious!?” Shouted High Winds.

“Keep it down, you two! You want the whole damn forest to know that we are in here?” Hissed Sandalwood. “Besides, she might be right.” He added regretfully.

“Not you too!” Pleaded Rarity looking at the teen.

Sunset, who was still holding Fluttershy, looked down at the yellow girl. It looked like she passed out right before they made this disturbing discovery regarding her legs. Now, with her head resting on Sunset’s knees she almost looked at peace, even her breathing got noticeably less labored.

’It’s good that she can’t hear this.’ Sunset thought. ’I bet that she would agree to be thrown out of the cave if her presence could threaten our health. But does it?’ Sunset looked up at the arguing girls and scrutinized Rarity as she continued to protest. She was just as dirty as everyone else and had scratches and bruises on her arms, face and neck, but there was no sign of the rash, it would have been obvious on her alabaster skin. And judging by her quickly she jumped up from her sitting position, she had no problems with her legs either. “It’s not contagious.” Sunset finally concluded.

The arguing stopped as everyone looked at her.

“How can you be sure?” Asked Chips, looking uncertain.

“Think about it. Rarity was the one tending to Fluttershy this entire time, right?” Sunset asked, to which the white girl nodded affirmatively. “Well, look at her. She’s fine. Besides, I laid next to her for several days and I am also still healthy.”

“See? She’s right!” Exclaimed Rarity. “Please, everyone, let’s be reasonable.”

The rest of the teens mulled it over and, after almost a full minute, High Winds gave a reluctant nod. “Fine. She can stay.” She said. But before either Sunset or Rarity could breathe a sigh of relief, she added, “But under one condition. You’ll have to tie her up.” She held out her hand, holding another makeshift rope.

“I will not...” Rarity began to protest again but the athletic girl interrupted her.

"Please, Rarity." This time, there was a distinct plea in her voice. “I understand you perfectly, and I do not want to harm her in any way, I’m not a monster. But you also have to understand me, we are already at risk as is, and Shy... She is getting worse with each passing hour. She may...”Winds looked at Roseluck. “We simply cannot allow the repeat of the previous ... incident."

At first Rarity glared at Winds, trying to think of any arguments that could change her mind, but then her shoulders drooped and she lowered her head, taking the rope from her. “You’re right. I’ll do that.” She approached her injured friend and kneeled down beside her. “I’m sorry, darling.” She whispered and she began tying Fluttershy’s wrists together.

While Rarity worked on the knot, Sunset gently lifted Fluttershy's head off her lap, moved to the side, and carefully rested Shy’s head on someone's backpack as if it was a pillow, to which Rarity nodded approvingly. She then stood up, dusted herself and moved to sit by the bonfire opposite of Micro Chips. It was a bit chilly in the cave, and Sunset outstretched her hands towards the fire to warm up a bit.

“Legs too.” Said High Winds as the white girl finished tying Fluttershy’ hands.

“But that will hurt her!” Rarity turned around and shot her a glare.

“Don’t make it tight, just... you know...” Winds waved her hand around, “so that it would hinder her movement, that’s all.”

Grumbling something under her breath, Rarity took another rope, the one that was previously used to tie Sunset, and got back to work.

“What’s this all about?” Asked Sunset as she watched Rarity make a loose loop around Shy’s feet.

"There were more of us at first." Chips started, not taking his eyes off the fire. “I have no idea how, but most of us survived the crash without much injury. Well, considering how long you spent unconscious, you got it pretty bad. You and Rover."

Upon hearing Diamond Dog's name, Sunset looked up at the nerd. She already figured that something had happened to Rover when she did not see him in the cave, but only now she finally realized that he was probably dead. “W-what happened to him?” She asked.

“He got badly injured, his neck was twisted at a strange angle and swollen. Fluttershy tried to help him, but there was an internal bleeding and there’s only that much a vet in training can do with a first aid kit. He died in the evening of the first day." Chips threw some branches into the fire.

Hearing this Sunset hugged her knees and lowered her head. The gang member saved her life, twice. 'Have I thanked him at least once?' Sunset thought. An unpleasant feeling of regret crept into her heart as she realized that, no, she did not.

“We covered his body and laid him over there against the wall.” Chips pointed at the furthest corner of the cave. “We were going to bury him in the morning. But a few hours later, at night, he began to moan. We thought that he was actually still alive, that we simply failed to check his pulse or something and jumped to a conclusion, so Daisy went to check on him, and Rover— "

Roseluck, who this whole time did even move, suddenly shuddered and began to cry and sob quietly. Sandalwood hugged her tightly and, after kicking Micro Chips in the back, began whispering something to her.

“Sorry.” Mumbled Chips. “Good thing that First Strike was guarding the entrance and not patrolling somewhere. He heard us and rushed inside.”

“He turned?” Asked Sunset incredulous. “B-but when did he get infected?”

“I don’t know.” Chips shrugged. “But he did enter the strange smoke cloud to help you.”

Sunset went cold inside as her heart skipped a beat, she knew perfectly well what he was hinting at. "B-but I'm fine, I didn't turn into a zombie!"

“You didn’t. So it probably wasn’t the smoke that infected him.” Chip shrugged. “But now you should understand why we tied you up. And considering that we have no idea what is going on with Fluttershy, we must be extra cautious.”

Sunset nodded at that. ’Maybe I should apologize to Rarity for slapping her?’ She thought looking back at the white girl.

***

They set around the fire for what felt like a few hours, but it could as well be just thirty minutes, Rarity was right when she said that the time just blends together in that cave. During this time, Sunset noticed that she was not the only one who’s belly was growling. It seemed like everyone’s stomachs occasionally reminded their owners that they haven’t eaten for a long while. Apparently they were dead serious about that strict rationing.

“Heads up!” Whispered High Winds all of a sudden, pointing her spear at the tunnel. “I heard something.”

Everyone froze, straining their ears. There indeed was a sound of movement coming from the tunnel, a sound of fabric rubbing on the stone.

“Hey, are you guys okay in there?” Sounded the voice of the private. A moment later First Strike squeezed into the cave and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The soldier looked worn out. He had bags under his eyes, his uniform was stained with mud and caked blood from the battle with the shadow monster and his right shoulder was covered with not-so-clean-looking bandages.

“Oh, you’re finally awake.” First Strike perked up a little when he saw Sunset sitting by the fire. “And just in time actually. I have some good news, everyone.” He said with a smile. “I figured out where we are and how to get to the Refugee Center!”

“Just this morning you had no idea where we are.” Said Sandalwood, raising his eyebrow. “What changed?”

“The sky has finally cleared.” Strike pointed backwards with his thumb. “And my Pa taught me how to navigate by the stars. The Center is up north, we’ll be able to get there in about three or four days by foot. We’ll head out tomorrow morning.”

The survivors exchanged glances and turned to look at the far corner of the cave.

“Yeah, about that...” Muttered Chips.

“Fluttershy.” Strike nodded as his smile vanished almost instantly and he let out a heavy sigh. “Not good.”

“Sir, you should take a look.” Said High Winds, ignoring the glare that Rarity shot at her.

The soldier looked at the two girls with a raised eyebrow and headed towards Fluttershy. He carefully lifted the edge of the blanket and pulled it aside. “My God...” Strike muttered, shocked by what he saw.

“Now, before you jump to any conclusions, we already determined that it is not contagious since the rest of us are fine.” Said Sunset coming from behind. Both she and Rarity anticipated his reaction and followed him.

“But as you can see, she is in no condition to go anywhere.” Rarity set down next to Fluttershy and took her bound hands. “We must wait for a few more days and see if she’ll get better.”

“What?” First Strike finally managed to stop staring at Fluttershy’s wounds and looked at the white girl. “Rarity, we can’t afford to wait a few days, not even one day, I didn’t want to mention it earlier, but the evacuation won’t last forever. Sooner or later they will stop letting people in and we are four days late already. Besides, you know that we are almost out of food. And this...” Strike looked back at the gashes, “I don’t think this can get better...” He added with a shiver in his voice.

“Maybe we still have some time? And if it’s food you’re worried about, then take my share and spread it among the others, I’ll be fine.” Offered Rarity, pretending that she didn’t hear his last comment.

’I wonder if she really believes that Fluttershy will get better?’ Sunset thought, looking at the two girls. She didn’t want to say it out loud, but she agreed with the soldier, there was no way something like that could heal on its own.

“No, you won’t.” First Strike shook his head. “We’ll have to go through the woods and it requires a lot of energy to traverse rugged terrain. And most of you, guys, are already malnourished.” He said, looking at the rest of the survivors. “We must go tomorrow, or we simply might not make it in time, if at all.”

“We can try foraging.” Offered Sunset. She knew some stuff about survival in the wilderness, but most of that knowledge she picked up just-in-case while surfing the internet, so she had little to no idea how viable that knowledge actually was.

“It’s too early for being reliable.” Strike shook his head again. “Sure, we might find something, but it won’t be enough to sustain us in any meaningful way.”

“Then...” Rarity looked around, desperately trying to think of something that might help. “If we’re really have to go, we can make a stretcher from the clothes and carry her.” She pointed at the pile of clothes that the survivors were using as sheets and blankets.

“I don’t think that this is a good idea.” Muttered Sunset, looking at Fluttershy. “If a mere touch caused her so much pain... I don’t think she’ll make it.”

“And even if she would, carrying someone like that, it would slow us down considerably.” First Strike sounded genuinely regretful when he said that. “And again, time is a luxury we can’t afford.” He added, looking away.

”So what do you suggest?” Rarity almost hissed through her teeth, “To just leave her here!?” She was beginning to hyperventilate as tears appeared in her eyes.

“There is another way...” Said First Strike quietly, still not looking at them.

’Another way?’ Sunset tilted her head a little, looking at the soldier, ’What is he...’ It was always easy for her to read the body language of others, be they ponies or humans, it is one of the essential skills for being successful in manipulating people, but now, even if she’d had absolutely no experience, just one glance at Strike was enough to understand what he meant. The regret on his face, the way he was avoiding looking at them, the nervous twitch of his hand that he put on his holster...

That was wrong.

“No.” Before Sunset could truly comprehend what she was doing, she stood between the soldier and the wounded girl.

At first Rarity was confused by Sunset’s action, but as soon as she looked at First Strike her eyes widened. “Are you... Are you insane!?” She shouted, jumped to her feet and stood beside Sunset, spreading her arms to shield her friend. “How can you even think about doing something like that!?”

“That would be mercy for her.” Said Strike, still not looking at them.

“I said no.” Sunset stood her ground.

”Over my dead body.” Hissed Rarity, it looked like she was ready to pounce at the soldier at the slightest provocation on his part.

Strike nodded and took a step back. He turned around and looked at the rest of survivors, who were silently observing the situation, even Rose stopped sobbing and raised her eyes to see what was going on. “What do the rest of you think?” He asked with a heavy sigh.

“About leaving tomorrow, or—“ Began Chips after shearing a glance with High Winds.

“Yes, about leaving!” First Strike interrupted him.

“Well... I mean... you are right about the food.” Micro Chips said.

“And about us being malnourished.” Added Sandalwood.

“And that they simply may not let us in, if we’ll take too long to get there.” Nodded High Winds.

The awkward silence hung in the air. Everyone, including Sunset, knew that the soldier was right, but no one wanted to be the first to admit that they’ll have to abandon Fluttershy to her doom.

“Just go...” Whispered Rarity, but everyone could clearly hear her in this silence. “I’ll stay with her.”

Sunset turned her head and saw the white girl sitting down beside her friend. The tears were now flowing down her face.

“Rarity—“ First Strike began to speak, but she cut him off

“No! I will not leave her!” She cried. “I abandoned my little sister all alone in that forsaken city! I won’t abandon anyone else!” She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them, burying her face. “I won’t leave Fluttershy to die alone in some dark cave. I won’t abandon my friend. Not again...”

The last phrase caused Sunset to flinch slightly as she felt a pang of guilt. She saw the results of her actions before, saw people crying because of something she did, but never before it felt so... personal? It was one thing to see someone crying over their ruined friendship in the school hallway, but to see them crying in some dimly lit cave during the actual apocalypse? That hit differently.

She didn’t know what to do, or say, or even how to feel about this other than self conscious, so with a heavy sigh she returned to the bonfire.

“We’ll head out with the first light.”Strike said to the crying girl, before following after Sunset. “Please, think this over, okay?”

Soon after they set by the fire Strike opened his backpack and pulled out two small brown plastic bags. “Alright, let’s have something to eat.” He said and gave one of the bags to Micro Chips, who proceeded to distribute its contents between the survivors. “And that’s for you.” Strike held out his hand with two long pieces of beef jerky to Sunset, “You are probably very hungry right now.”

Sunset’s stomach immediately growled loudly and she snatched up the food faster than her own mind caught up with the situation. “Thank you.” She muttered, feeling her face go red at the soldier’s chuckle.

“You’re welcome.” He said with a smile. Strike turned around and asked if Rarity would join them, but his question remained unanswered.

“So what is this Center anyway?” Sunset asked, munching on a piece of beef jerky. It was dry, tasteless and had a texture of a boot sole, but at that moment she was ready to scratch out the eyes of anyone who would dare to try and take this piece of dried meat away from her.

“As far as I know, it is some sort of an underground nuclear vault built to survive practically anything. Hopefully we’ll be safe there until the situation gets better.” Strike answered, taking a bite out of his piece of jerky, and, after swallowing, he added quietly, “If that’s even possible...”

After their small dinner Strike told everyone to get some shut-eye, as they had a long day ahead of them and soon everyone in the cave were fast asleep. Even Rarity, who still sat near Fluttershy in the far corner of the cave had her head drooped and was snuffling quietly.

As for Sunset, she had no idea how everyone managed to fall asleep so quickly. Three days in a coma left her feeling like she would never sleep again, plus the memory of her nightmare was still fresh in her mind, so she was in no hurry to return to the dream realm. Instead she was deep in thought.

’So it’s a vault.’ Sunset thought, looking at the embers of a dying bonfire. ’It is most likely to be run by the military now and I bet once we get there, they will seal the doors, if they haven’t done that already, and I’ll be stuck here, in this world. But it’s probably my best bet at survival. The only alternative is to get back to Equestria, but... how do I get back to Canterlot?’ She looked at the survivors, ‘Yeah, there’s no way in tartarus that I can convince them to go back to the city...’

Sunset spent what felt like house contemplating and weighting her options until the sleep quietly crept up to her and she slipped into a deep dreamless slumber.

***

When morning came everyone were awakened by the insistent beeping of Strike’s electric watch. Following his commands and in the light of a flashlight their meager possessions, mostly just clothes, were packed into the backpacks, and in just a few minutes they were ready to move out.

“Alright guys, get ready. We’ll have our breakfast on the go.” Said the soldier. He then walked over to Rarity, who silently watched as everyone were packing up, and looked her in the eyes. “This is it Rarity, the last chance. Are you coming with us?”

“I already told you everything yesterday, darling.” The white girl closed her eyes and shook her head, “I am not leaving Fluttershy.” She said defiantly.

“I was afraid that you would say that.” First Strike let out a sad sigh. “Well, I left a bottle of water and a day worth of food for you by the bonfire. There’s also a lighter, so you won’t have to sit in the dark. And...” he placed his hand on Rarity’s shoulder, “good luck.”

Rarity just hugged herself, looked to the side and nodded silently.

“Okay, everyone, let’s move out!” Commanded Strike and the group started to move towards the tunnel that led outside.

’Well, now or never...’ Thought Sunset. “I am staying!” She announced loudly, probably a bit too loud, because she was still trying to convince herself that she made the right decision.

Everyone stopped and stared at her.

“What?” Asked Strike after a few moments of stunned silence.

“I said that I am staying.” Repeated Sunset this time more firmly.

“Sunset?” She heard Rarity whispering behind her.

’I really hope this will win me some points with her.’ Thought Sunset as she glanced back briefly. “Look, I understand that this Center is our best bet.” She began, looking at the soldier, “But it’s just wrong to leave them here by themselves.”

Everyone stared at her like she sprouted a second head all of a sudden, even Roseluck snapped out of her perpetual stupor of a brief moment. The students of CHS knew that Sunset Shimmer had many characteristics and that selflessness was most definitely not one of them.

And they were right about that.

Strike meanwhile kept staring her in the eyes. After almost a minute he simply asked, “Is that your final decision?”

“Yes.” Sunset nodded without hesitation.

“Fine. Be it your way.” The soldier just sighed and shook his head. He had no desire or mental strength to argue again. Strike took off his backpack, opened it and rummaged through its contents for a bit, then he pulled out a sheath with a combat knife in it and held it out to Sunset. “This is LT’s knife, take it, I have a feeling that you’ll need it.”

Sunset took the knife with a nod and attached it to her belt like she did in the bus.

“Okay everyone, show’s over!” Strike announced, turning on his heels. “And unless anyone else wants to stay, we must move!” He said, going towards the tunnel.

Everyone gave the three girls one last look and followed the soldier, mumbling something about good luck or apologizing.

Sunset didn’t listen. She simply stood there, watching how they leave.

There was a sound of movement from behind and her right hand was squeezed tight by the white palms. “Thank you, Sunset.” Whispered Rarity.

“Yeah, don’t mention it.” She whispered back just as the last person entered the tunnel and the light of their flashlight vanished, casting the cave into inky darkness.

‘I really hope that my plan works...’