The Last of Equestria: New Beginnings

“Mommy can we go down the big, swirly purple slide next?”

Larkspur looks up with wide, pleading eyes filled with excitement and with a grin twice the size and twice the amount of excitement. His mane is soaked and dripping from landing in the small pool at the end of the short, curvy orange water slide we had just slid down. Now eight years old, he’s finally tall enough to ride the majority of the slides and other attractions here at the big, fancy Splash Magic Water Park in Los Pegasus. I reach out and affectionately ruffle his mane as I smile sweetly at him.

“Of course, baby. Let’s go find your sisters first and tell them where we’re going,” I say as I bend over and kiss the top of his head.

Larkspur squeals excitedly as he canters past me and in the direction of the park’s lazy river where we had last seen Ivory and Summertide. We approach the exit zone for the lazy river attraction and spot Ivory and Summertide putting up the big blue floatie they had been using onto the collection rack. Summertide climbs up onto her eleven-year-old sister’s back and the two happily trot away from the attraction. Larkspur shouts their names and catches their attention, prompting Ivory to half-turn and trot in our direction. Both fillies are soaked head to hoof and wear big, happy grins on their faces.

Ivory and Summertide are wearing matching pink sun hats with pastel blue bows and red plastic sunglasses with silver rhinestones around the lenses. Ivory is wearing a frilly green two piece swimsuit while her baby sister is wearing a light blue single piece suit with various sea creatures on it. Larkspur is wearing purple swim shorts with orange and green polka dots. Myself, on the other hoof, am wearing a red single piece swimsuit with little black frills around the top and bottom and a pair of black sunglasses.

"Summy needs to use the potty," Ivory kindly informs.

"Alrighty. Let's take a bathroom break together before we get on more rides," I say before gesturing for them to follow me.

My children look up at me with loving, trust-filled eyes as I turn and lead the way to the nearest restroom. We find one between the kiddie wave pool attraction and the giant zig-zag water slide. The bathroom, much like the rest of the park, is sea creature themed with adorable sea animals wearing cool shades or frilly sun hats. Larkspur wanders into the colt's room by himself while I escort my daughters to the filly's room. Like the wonderful big sister she is, Ivory willingly takes it upon herself to help Summertide go potty in one of several stalls.

I sit down near the door under where the air conditioner unit is blowing out refreshingly cold air and silently bask in its coldness. There's a knock at the door and the sound of Larkspur's voice, however, I'm unable to make out what he says. His voice sounds troubled, so I inform Ivory that I will be right back and promptly exit the bathroom. I step out into the middle of a crowd drawn in at the spectacle of an 'exotic' bear from the North contained in an exhibit honestly way too small for such a large creature. I join the crowd in marveling at such a beautiful, snow colored bear. It reminds of a time not too long ago when I had taken Ivory and Larkspur to this very zoo and had one of the best days of our lives.

As the bear stands up on its hind legs to reach the meat being fed to it from a hook attached to a very long, plastic pole, I hear my name being repeatedly called in a frantic tone. I turn around and quickly realize my children are missing. I scramble out of the crowd in a panic and canter down the rightmost pathway calling out for each child of mine as loudly as I can manage. My heart pounds in my chest as fear stirs up a nasty slew of awful thoughts and even worse assumptions.

As I canter down the path, the number of visitors dwindles down until I’m entirely alone and met with absolute silence. My voice cracks and grows hoarse as I scream for my children. The smell of smoke crawls into my nostrils as the sky darkens, turning from a light gray to an almost pitch blackness that writhes and twists like several worms in an earthen bath. It becomes harder to breathe with each step, but I cannot stop. I have to find my children, no matter the cost!

In what feels like a matter of seconds, the world around me is engulfed in flames. The heat is sweltering and unbearable, causing droplets of sweat to form and glisten on my skin like the sparkly rhinestones on my daughters’ sunglasses. I weave through the flames, my pace quickening to a gallop. Between the roar of the flames and the crackling of the earth burning to ash, I can no longer hear my voice screaming out for my children. I skid to a sudden stop- nearly tripping and falling over my own hooves- as a wall of fire blocks my path forward.

The tears pouring down my cheeks dry up almost as quickly as they trickle out from the sheer intensity of the heat. I cough and sputter as the smoke fills my lungs. I close my eyes and hold up a hoof to shield my face from the heat as I take a few steps away from the impassable wall. Is this how it’s going to end? Being swallowed whole by the flickering maw of the inferno around me? What of my children? Poor Ivory, Larkspur and Summertide… lost and alone somewhere while their mother is cooked alive and reduced to unrecognizable ash. Unless… are they suffering the same fate as me?

As I take another step back, my back right hoof steps on something soft and squishy. I jump away in a mixture of fear and surprise as I quickly open my eyes. A horrible, dread-filled feeling sucker punches me in the stomach, spreading nausea up my throat and threatening to make me puke. My brain demands that I turn around and look at whatever it was I’ve stepped on, yet my gut tells me not to and my heart threatens to beat itself out of its cavity within my chest. Against my better judgment, I listen to my brain, slowly turn around and then look down at the ground where I had just stepped.

By some twisted, fucked up miracle, I manage not to puke as that same feeling rips out my heart and stomach before shredding them into unsalvagable bits. My whole body goes numb as my mouth and throat dry up. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth from the lack of saliva as I stare in horror at the sight before me. On the soot-laden path, Larkspur’s lifeless body lies there mangled by gnarled shards of metal. The biggest shard pierces his skull right between his eyes, which are still opened wide, filled with fear and stained with his own blood.

“You didn’t save me, mama… You said we were going to be just fine…”

Larkspur’s voice whispers in my ears in an otherworldly, multi-tonal lilt. Soul-crushing guilt roots my body in place as immense shame laces my lips shut, trapping whatever pathetic excuse my brain cooked up inside my throat. This is all my fault. I should’ve said something to Apple about the conversation I overheard between those conductors. I should’ve made us take a different train at a different time or- at the very least- made us go on hoof to the cottage. My baby is dead because of me. Gone forever…

I won’t even get to see him in the afterlife. His poor, innocent soul is up in heaven but when I die, my soul is going to straight hell to rot for all eternity. A fitting punishment for such a terrible, pathetic piece of shit of a mother like me… Maybe Swift was right about me after all. He always said I was a spineless, cowardly whore who’s unfit to be both a wife and a mother, but more so the latter. Pathetic, terrible, overly dramatic and too stupid to do anything right at all. More accurate things he’s said about me.

“Why didn’t you save me…?”

I killed my baby colt. He’s dead… and gone… and it’s all my fault! The entire world around me spins violently, nearly throwing me off my hooves. When it finally comes to a stop, Larkspur’s body is gone and the path is replaced by a burnt patch of grass. I look up to see myself trapped in the midst of a burning forest. The flames seem to burn brighter with each passing second as branches snap and crackle and whole trees crumple and fall to the forest floor.

“Mommy! Mommy, help! It’s so hot and I’m scared!”

Hearing Ivory’s voice call out and trembling with fear unfreezes me from where I stand. I snap my head in the direction her voice comes from and see my daughters huddling in fear at the base of a large tree. A crescent wall of fire surrounds either side of them, leaving the only escape to be had right in the center. I couldn’t save my little flower, but I’ll do whatever it takes to save my precious daughters!

“I’m coming baby! Mommy’s coming!” I exclaim as I gallop forward.

I try to use my magic to pick up daughters and whisk them to safety, but every attempt ends in my magic fizzling out and failing. The moment I’m only three or four feet away, the crescent wall of fire completely engulfs my daughters and turns them into black silhouettes as they scream for me and cry out in pain. In a desperate bid to save them, I make an attempt to dive through the wall of inferno. However, it ends in utter failure as an unseen force picks me up and throws me back to where I started. I land with a hard thud as pain wracks my body.

I lay there for a moment, tempted to give up and completely brokenhearted. I ball up a hoof and slam it angrily into the ground in frustration before jumping up onto my hooves. I try once again to pierce through the fiery curtain. I’m once again thrown back but this time with even more force. As I try to stand, voices come from the flames and taunt, insult and mock me. I yell and scream for them to shut up as their words begin to overwhelm me.

I throw myself to the ground and plug my ears with my hooves in an attempt to block them out. I squeeze my eyes shut and beg for them to go away. Somehow, the voices grow louder and both bounce and echo around my skull at mach speeds. I beg and I plead for them to stop, for them to shut the absolute fuck up. They call me horrible- but not untrue- names like ‘son killer’ and ‘child abandoner’. They encourage me to give up, to end my life. They try to convince me I’m not worthy of still drawing breath, an absolute plague on the face of Equus.

“Look! Look!”

“Psst, hey! Looky here!”

“C’mon, open your eyes and look!”

“Don’t be such a baby, you little bitch!”

At their insistence, I open my eyes and see the lifeless corpses of my children strung up like marionettes and dancing in a circle while chanting about how much they hate me and want to tear out my guts. I scream as loudly as my body allows before curling into a ball and closing my eyes once more while sobbing heavily.

“mommy. Mommy. MOmmy. MOMmy. MOMMy. MOMMY. MOMMY. MOMMY. MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY!! MOMMY!! MOMMY!!! MOMMY!!! MOMMY!!!! MOMMY!!!!”

As they scream at me, their voices echo and distort, getting deeper and violent and demonic. Eventually, it turns into a cacophony of otherworldly screeches and growls. I can feel their heavy presence as they circle me like sharks and vultures. Another unseen force yanks me from the ground, forces my eyes open and sends me flying through air and towards a tree with a noose tied to it. I struggle as hard as I can and try to fight back as it pulls the noose around my neck.

The voices laugh, cheer and hoot as the force hoists me into the air, causing the rope to be pulled taut against my throat. The voices encourage me to give up as the rope burns my neck and cuts off my airway. My children join the hellish choir of voices and continue to encourage me to just stop fighting and let death take me away. I struggle for a moment or two longer before realizing I should listen to them. I let my forelegs drop down and dangle at my side as I sway back and forth from the tree.

Slowly, the brightly burning world around me turns to a cold and pitch black darkness that chills me down to the bone. Since my words no longer have any air to them, I mouth out apologies to my children as well as the voices. As I draw in my last, shaky gasp of air, I pray that my children find peace and will one day forgive me…

***

With a sharp gasp of air, I shoot up and frantically look around. I’m drenched in sweat as panicked huffs accentuate the intensity of my heart thumping against my chest. It takes me a moment, but eventually I realize that I’m sitting on a hotel bed and not hanging from a tree. I regulate my breathing and calm my heart as best I can before flopping onto my back and sighing loudly. I stare at the dirty, white popcorn ceiling as I feel around my neck. I half expect to feel a bruise or burn mark from the noose in my nightmare, however, instead all I feel is the necklace Ivory made me for all those years ago.

On more than one occasion, it nearly cost me my life to keep it intact and as undamaged as I could help, but I kept it. It’s a grim reminder both of the days I lost my children and of the happier days we spent together before our worlds came crashing down. I’ve gotten a lot of snarky, judgemental looks and comments about wearing such a ‘childish’ piece of jewelry, that when they expect an old, grizzled bitch and see it, they lose the ability to take me seriously. That sentiment has gotten a lot of ponies hurt and a smaller number killed. Say what you will about me, but insult the last gift given to me by my child? Now that’s a good way to get yourself killed.

Thunder rumbles in the distance as I pull off the blankets and climb out of bed. If only I weren’t in the middle of the job… I’d get myself absolutely plastered. Suffering silently it is, then. I groan a bit as I stretch my legs and roll my neck. Some days I feel older than sin even though, really, I’m not that terribly old. I’m no spring chicken, that’s for sure, but fifty-two isn’t that old… is it? I lightly shake my head and stretch my neck once more before looking around.

The room is dusty, dirty and slightly overgrown from vegetation that’s creeped in through broken windows and sliding glass doors leading to the balcony. With the exception of the beds and state of cleanliness, the entire room is neat and tidy, left just how it was after the last guest to be in it checked out. The room is small with two twin-sized beds, a small wooden entertainment center, a broken TV, a microwave and a coffee pot atop a mini fridge. There’s a small desk in the corner with a chair pushed under it, a loveseat across the room in the other corner and a nightstand between the two beds with a lamp permanently affixed to it.

The floor is made of a dirty red carpet and the stained walls were once a bright white. In the middle of the wall on my right- where the desk and couch are- is a pair of sliding glass doors partly covered by thin blue curtains with gold stripes embroidered at the bottom. One side of the doors is partly open and past the curtains I can see Zephyr sitting alone on the balcony. The world outside has gotten considerably darker, although I’m not sure if it’s because it’s gotten late or because of the storm that’s rolling through. Another roll of thunder rattles through the sky as I approach the open door and step through it.

Cold droplets of rain sprinkle down from the cloudy sky and gently pelt against Zephyr and I. The view from the balcony is actually rather stunning. From here, I can see the rest of the city left untouched and as it were when the world ended. Several buildings are crumpled and toppled while dozens more are reclaimed by nature and covered in dense vegetation. For a moment, you can almost forget we’re in the midst of an apocalypse before you realize that- as beautiful as it is- it’s nothing but a mere gravestone not only for the city and the souls who’ve died outside of the Zone, but for the nation as a whole.

I look down at Zephyr, who’s sitting right up against the railing and resting her chin between her hooves. I wasn’t exactly trying to sneak up on her, yet I still find myself surprised when she lifts her head and looks back at me. She gives me a kind smile that turns into one of worry as she furrows her brows a bit. I raise mine in confusion as I stare blankly at her.

“How’s your head?” She asks as she turns to face me.

“It’s fine… a little dull ache, but fine. Doesn’t hurt as bad now,” I reply quietly.

“I’m glad your head’s feeling better, but… are you okay? You were tossing and turning and pleading in your sleep,” Zephyr says, her tone full of worry.

Although it was totally out of my control, I can’t help but grimace as embarrassment washes over me. I clear my throat and huff as I look away and stomp over the balcony railing next to her. The silence lingers for a moment longer as I debate on being honest with her. Who am I kidding? Absolutely not. She’s a complete stranger. All I know of her is what little info she’s shared with me. I’m not going to dump my pathetic backstory on her and share personal information, half of which Sapphire doesn’t even know and she’s the only pony on this planet I completely trust right now.

“You need to mind your business. I know you think you’re just being kind, but I do not need your sympathy or for you to pity me,” I say harshly “we’re strangers. We are as far from friends as you can get. I don’t need nor do I want your ‘kindness’.”

“I had a feeling you’d be a bitch about it,” Zephyr grumbles as she rolls her eyes “Sapphire said to not take anything you say personally, so I’ll be the bigger pony and forgive you.”

She says that last part snidely and with a petty smirk. Rage boils in my chest as I use every ounce of my mental strength not to strangle that smirk off her face. Sapphire’s advice of not taking what I say personally is very valid and warranted. Outwardly, I suppose I do mean things I say, but deep down? I kick myself and hate how horrible I am. It's like an immediate, instinctive reflex that I can't seem to stop.

I truly can't help it, it… just hurts so much. Well, I guess… I guess I don't really try hard enough, truth be told. What good would that even do me, though? I gave up a long time ago and I doubt things will ever get better. I don't dare to hope that it will. As I bite down hard on my lip to keep my not-so-nice thoughts at bay, I notice Zephyr is wearing a saddlebag she didn't have before. I can tell it isn't mine, at least. Did Sapphire show up or something and bring an extra bag for her?

"Where the fuck is Sapphire, anyways?" I ask as I roll my own eyes.

"On the roof talking to Ocean Breeze. She didn't want to wake you up," Zephyr replies.

"She fucking should have! Why didn't you wake me up?" I question angrily.

"You said not to bother you or you would toss me off the balcony," She answers indignantly.

"You must be really fucking dense if you think I was serious," I sneer.

"For all I knew, you were. You did throw a shit ton of soldiers several hundred feet all at once, who’s to say you wouldn’t toss me off a balcony?” Zephyr says, still indignant.

“That’s very clearly different. You’re a real brat, you know that? I oughta do it now just to piss you off,” I snigger.

Zephyr sticks her nose up in the air and side eyes me for a moment. She lets out a 'hmph' as she turns her head away and her back to me. I let out a ‘tch’ as I roll my eyes again and look up towards the roof. I sigh heavily and close my eyes. For a moment, I let the rain sprinkle on my face and wash away some of the sweat I accumulated whilst sleeping. I open my eyes and look at Zephyr, who’s still giving me the cold shoulder.

“You can find your own way up,” I say coldly.

Zephyr looks over her shoulder at me with a confused look. Without giving her the slightest chance to question me, I teleport myself up to the roof of the Imperial Crowne Hotel. Once there, I realize that I've arrived too late to join in on the discussion between Ocean and Sapphire. The moment I appear on the roof, I see Ocean Breeze already in the midst of flight in the direction of the QZ. Sapphire stands with her back to me and I smirk a little when I see her flinch from the sound of my sudden arrival. She looks back at me and smiles before turning around and trotting over. Sapphire greets me as she throws her forelegs around my neck in a gentle hug and then places a caring kiss on my forehead.

Although I gladly accept the gesture of affection and very much like it, my ‘tough-mare facade’ has me groan and gently shove her away. Even though the gesture brings a little sliver of happiness to whatever is left of my shattered heart, as well as her mere presence alone, the feeling is almost immediately drowned out by the sea of negative emotions swirling around inside me. It's like on a subconscious and somewhat-conscious level, my brain doesn't allow me the pleasure of joy anymore. Not true joy, at least, nor for very long. I'm Sapphire's right-hoof mare, her partner in crime, the brawn to her brains. I'm supposed to be a tough and scary individual who doesn't let their emotions affect their judgement regardless of the situation or locale.

It's a necessity that comes with the territory. I've kept up that facade for so long that part of me truly believes that, but the other half knows I'm just not strong enough to face my traumas. Into the bottle they go, into the bottle they'll stay. It's safer for everypony that way. Sapphire laughs as I slowly shake my head in fake, playful disappointment and try to focus on our current situation. When her laughter subsides, Sapphire looks at me with a compassionate smile and caring eyes. Then again, it gets a little harder to be a hardass when she looks at me that way and my walls crumble ever so slightly.

“How’s your head feeling?” She asks, tilting her head ever so slightly.

“Mm, a lot better now,” I reply with a small smile.

“Good! Good, I’m glad,” Sapphire says happily “you know I hate knowing you’re in pain or injured. Although, all those scars and bullet holes are pretty sexy.”

“Makes you look all badass and… cool,” She adds with a wink and a wriggle of her eyebrows.

And even more harder when she talks to me like that.

“Idiot,” I scoff as I shake my head once again.

There’s a brief moment of silence between us before Sapphire looks at me with a big, dumb, goofy ass grin. As I mentally debate on questioning it, she beats me to the punch.

“See, I knew you always loved me, darling! I heard some wonderful news!” Sapphire exclaims dramatically as she boops my nose.

“Uh-huh… and that would be?” I question, raising an eyebrow.

Sapphire dramatically throws herself onto me and pulls me into a tight hug. She presses her cheek against mine and nuzzles them together.

“Zephyr told me what you said about us,” Sapphire says, dropping her voice to a sensual whisper.

Gah, seriously?! I'm going to strangle that brat, I swear- wait a damn minute. I denied what Zephyr was implying, so what exactly did she say to Sapphire?

“And what am I being accused of saying?” I question, matching her tone and volume.

“That we’re… best friends!” Sapphire answers as she quickly jumps back to being dramatically excited.

“God, you’re annoying. I said no such a thing. Lies and slander, all of it,” I say with mostly faux indignation.

“You did! You did, didn’t you?? I knew it!” Sapphire exclaims with a cackle reminiscent of mad scientist.

“No,” I say curtly, turning my cheek away from her.

“You’re just a big ol’ softy, my Honey-Bunny-Boo Boo-Bear! Yes you are~” Sapphire teases.

She says that to me as if I were a baby or an overly adorable puppy and pinches my cheek. I use my magic to remove her from myself and place her a couple of feet in front of me. She cackles again and I can’t help but face hoof.

“Call me that again and I’m putting my knife so far up your ass it comes out of your ear,” I sneer, although it’s mostly fake anger.

It’s gross and mushy and… endearing, but… it’s Sapphire. Given our history together and the dynamic of our relationship, this kind of teasing is just par for the course. I’ve just kind of… accepted it and come to expect it at this point. It’s Sapphire, it’s just who and how she is. I love her for it… in a, er, mostly platonic way. Her can-do attitude and feisty spirit keep us both going, though, perhaps more so me than herself. Although, sometimes it does get genuinely annoying at times, but the same could be said of other certain relationships of my past.

“You know I’m not gonna let you live that down for… mm, at least a few years,” Sapphire chuckles.

“Yeah, I already that knew ahead of time. Looks like I’ve get to toss that brat off the balcony after all,” I say with a somewhat dramatic sigh.

“Mmm, how about we rain check that idea, Honey? Save it for a different rainy day,” Sapphire says as she lightly shakes her head.

“I guess I’ll just have to settle for vividly picturing it in my head instead, then,” I say with a shrug.

“That’ll do. Now, not to mix pleasure with business, but…” Sapphire trails off as she looks over in the direction Ocean had left in.

“But… she gave you some good-ish news?” I question.

“More or less. We got what we were promised and then some. MEDRA has lost their shit, though, according to the ‘scouts’ she has,” Sapphire explains with a grimace “if we’re doing this job, we need to move it before MEDRA catches us… again.”

“Okay, well, what about whatever it was you were doing? How’d that go?” I question.

“So glad you asked. Our theory was right. Glitter Stream and her little rag-tag team of losers were more hardcore anti-Firefly than anypony else in the whole damn city, apparently,” Sapphire answers.

“She ratted us out, then. I never liked that bitch,” I scoff in minor disbelief “so where did snitching to MEDRA get her?”

“To MEDRA? Queen of the god damn palace… but to us? Let’s just say the entire Zone knows what happens when you betray us,” Sapphire says with a pleased smirk.

“Let me guess, you set her mangled corpse on fire in front of MEDRA’s office?” I guess as I rub my chin thoughtfully.

“It’s almost like you know me so intimately well, Honey Cake. I did exactly that,” Sapphire says proudly “and as for her friends? I’ve never prepared a roasted pig on a spit before, but do you reckon they count as practice?”

“I’d reckon they do, Sapphire Sparkles,” I chortle “where’d you send our dogs?”

“I didn’t give them anywhere specific. I left Dove and her Dove-lings in charge,” Sapphire says with a small shrug “just told ‘em to take what they can manage- the stuff that really matters and all that- and get as far away from the Zone as they can manage.”

“I guess we have a settlement to build when we’re through, then. Speaking of, shall we continue?” I bow slightly as I gesture for her to lead the way.

“We shall indeed,” She says with a chuckle “if you’re feeling up to it, could you teleport us back to Zephyr?”

With a small, mostly playful annoyed sigh, I bring us back to the balcony of the hotel room. Zephyr is still right where I left her with a look of surprise on her face. I guess she wasn’t expecting to see us quite so soon. Zephyr looks at me and momentarily glares before looking at Sapphire and smiling sweetly. I can’t believe I’m saying this about a teenager of all ponies, but maybe I shouldn’t get myself entirely on Zephyr’s bad side. She doesn’t seem to be any ordinary teenager, but while the same could be said about any teen during this apocalypse, Zephyr seems to have… a bit more psychopathic tendencies than others I've met.

What she had planned for Cobalt- even without our intervention- was pretty fucked up. Well deserving? Of course, but still… that’s not even mentioning the fact she easily slaughtered over twenty adults all on her own with just a knife and her magic. It’s not like I killed her family or anything, but all things considered…? I might have my metaphorical nuts mutilated. I’ve been ripped enough down there. I don’t need anypony making it worse. On the other hoof, I guess I can't say much about her like that when I've done equally horrible- if not worse- things in my life after the start of the apocalypse. Now, I'm not saying I'm scared of her or anything, just that I perhaps reel in my aggression a wee bit.

Then again, Zephyr has zero obligations to stick around, just as we have zero obligations to her. If she isn't a fan of my attitude, she's got two options: deal with it or fuck off elsewhere. However, my common sense alarms tell me I probably not piss off anypony not obligated to keep me alive and could kill me at a moment's notice, but hey… I'm pretty stubborn. I've not got much to lose these days. Sapphire props herself up on the edge of the balcony and peers down below. She looks back at me and grins mischievously.

"So… who's up for a little spelunking through infected-filled streets?" She asks, her grin growing wider.

"Would I ever say no to you?" I question in a jokingly sarcastic way.

"Your mouth would, but your heart would follow me to the end of the world if I asked you to," Sapphire replies with a smug smirk.

"Pfft. The end of the world? I do that every day anyhow," I say as I roll my eyes.

"Ha! 'Cause the world ended… the apocalypse happened. I get it. That's funny," Zephyr says with a laugh.

"You're funny," I snap harshly.

"Thank you," Zephyr says with a smug grin.

"What? No, I didn't mean- ugh, fuck you," I groan as I facehoof.

"Sorry, but you're a little too old for me. I'm sure Sapphire wouldn't mind, though," Zephyr teases.

"She's not wrong. I sure wouldn't mind in the slightest bit," Sapphire says with a chuckle.

"Shut up. Don't egg her on," I growl.

"Or what?" Sapphire asks pompously.

"I'll leave you behind is what," I reply indignantly.

"Oh yeah? Like I've not got another unicorn along for the ride?" Sapphire scoffs "be a good doggy, sweetheart."

"I ain't your damn dog," I sneer.

"You sure? Is there a difference between being my dog and being my bitch? 'Cause I'm pretty sure you're both," Sapphire eggs on.

"Would you like your eyes to match?" I ask simply.

"Hmm, I've got to think about that one, actually. One sec," Sapphire says before humming loudly.

"Nah, I'm good," She adds quickly.

"Let's get going before I strangle the two of you," I say with a loud sigh.

"If you're gonna kill me, I'd rather you look me in the eyes and put a bullet between them," Sapphire jokes.

"I just might if we don't get a move on," I snigger.

Sapphire cackles as she jabs Zephyr in the ribs, who chuckles along with her. So much for wanting to get rid of this headache. They're gonna make it worse at this rate. I don't give them the satisfaction of annoying me anymore than they already have and simply teleport away to the hotel's entrance. I stand under the awning and decide to count how many seconds- or minutes- it takes for them to join me. About fifteen seconds go by and my idiotic companions join me a few feet from the awning. A little longer than I was assuming it would take, but they're here now.

"Alright, so where exactly did her majesty tell you we needed to go in order to pick up this 'oh-so-precious' cargo?" I ask.

"Ha! Nowhere too crazy, you know, just in the heart of the lion's den," Sapphire replies in a casual, matter-of-fact way.

"Let me get this straight. Our run-in with Captain Electra- something we barely escaped from- has all those little piggies stirred up worser than a hornet's nest set ablaze... and she wants us to just to go marching right into their cold, lead-filled embrace?" I ask, unsure of whether to be pissed or confused.

"Are you really that surprised, though? I mean, even if Ocean hadn't asked us to meet up at some random house in the middle of prime MEDRA territory, we would've just ended up going there anyways," Sapphire replies with a shrug "if we're going to Ponyville, we're going to need to take the train tunnels down the mountain."

"I guess I shouldn't be. Just tired of having to deal with MEDRA today," I say with a small sigh.

"That makes two of us... but a job's a job. You know how I am. I'll do whatever it takes to finish it," Sapphire pats my shoulder reassuringly as she speaks.

"I know," I mutter, mostly to myself.

"C'mon, let's get a move on before we get caught lurking around here," Sapphire says before trotting past me to take the lead.

Time for the "fun" to begin, so to speak. I don't right fancy the idea of wandering through streets where infected might lurk, but I'd also rather not be shot by MEDRA either. As they trot along in front of me, a moment of doubt troubles my thoughts. As much as I hate MEDRA and how they run the Zone, is it worth it to just up and leave? Start our community elsewhere? Those of us in the smuggling business were a little better off in terms of food, but not by much.

We scraped by a little less than those who suckled the bone-dry teats of MEDRA, but how would we fair outside on our own? Would those we do business with continue to supply us miles away in a different location? I look back in the direction of the Zone, with its high, barbed wire walls looming in the distance. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I shouldn't worry too much about the future, especially when it isn't even guaranteed. I should focus on the present before the 'here and now' becomes the 'there and then' for me.

We trot quietly through the overgrown streets beyond the zone. It's mostly quiet except for the pitter patter of the rain and the occasional groan of the rundown buildings around us. Sapphire leads us to a crudely made blockade consisting of bicycles, scrap wood and metal, various pieces of junk and barbed wire. I don't recall this being here before, then again, it's possible we went a different way the last time we had to go the extra long way around the Zone. Sapphire stops and quietly examines the blockade. The look on her face tells me that she's thinking the same thing. Sometimes it can be pretty easy to get lost in these streets. Maybe we took a wrong turn somewhere?

"This is new and it isn't MEDRA's handiwork either," Sapphire says as she looks back at me.

"Should we be concerned?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Not for now, but keep your eyes and ears open. If somepony's moved into the neighborhood this close to the Zone, they might not be too friendly," Sapphire says with a shrug "or they just might be scared and desperate. Not worried about compassion, though, our hides are more important."

"Shoot first, ask questions later?" Zephyr asks.

"Sneak first, shoot second and then ask questions later," Sapphire says "let's try to get through this without shedding any bullets if we can help it."

"Right," Zephyr and I say in accidental unison.

"Stop doing that," I growl.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Zephyr says as she rolls her eyes.

"Focus, you two. If you're going to argue like this the whole time, I'm putting a muzzle on both of you before you get us killed," Sapphire snaps.

"Yes ma'am," Zephyr and I groan once more in unplanned unison.

I sigh angrily as Zephyr looks at Sapphire and gives her a defeated shrug. Sapphire rolls her eyes and starts trotting down the street to the right of the blockade. She stops suddenly and gestures for me to come closer to her. I do as she wants and stand about a foot away from her.

"Zeph, go keep an eye out over there for a sec," Sapphire orders.

"Yes ma'am," Zephyr agrees before trotting away from us.

Sapphire waits for Zephyr to get to her lookout spot before sighing and giving me an annoyed look.

"You know I love you and your 'tough-and-rough-'round-the-edges' personality, but could you not argue with a child while we're outside the Zone?" Sapphire questions "you're gonna get us killed by having us all distracted with your bickering. Besides me, you're the adult here. Please act like it."

"Tell her to stop starting shit with me and I won't argue with the brat," I answer indignantly "and don't tell me to 'act like an adult' when I am."

"Starting shit? Honey, she's not starting anything with you! You're looking for fights that aren't even there," Sapphire says with a small growl "and she isn't a brat just 'cause children of any age in general strike a sore cord with you."

"Running her yap and talking back ain't starting anything?" I question, raising a brow.

"I love you, but you're really getting on my nerves with this. It wasn't so bad in the beginning, but it's really starting to wear my nerves thin," Sapphire growls "I will not listen to you pick on and argue with her all the way to Ponyville."

"She says she'll depart from us once we get there, so just grin and bear it. Take your issues and put 'em up your ass until then," Sapphire adds before I have a chance to rebut.

"How about no? Tell her to grow up a few years and maybe then we'll get along," I say snidely.

Sapphire grabs my flannel and yanks me closer. Her muzzle is mere centimeters from my own as she looks me dead in the eye and glares.

"I know you lost your children so your despise the ones you meet, but get your head out of your ass, put your past to the side and worry a lot less about her and a lot more about this job so we can get it fucking done," Sapphire says just barely above a whisper in a very serious tone "are we clear?"

I won't lie, I'm a little astonished she would speak to me in such a manner and toss my heartbreaking losses to the side like they didn't matter. I do get where she's coming from, but if I could put it aside so easily and move on like everything is right with the world, I would've done so a long time ago. I'm at a loss for words right now. Sapphire jerks my shirt, causing our noses to smash into each other. She gives me a look as if to ask 'well' as I wriggle away the minor pain in my nose.

"Are we clear?" She repeats, this time in a more threatening tone.

I force her to let go with my magic and shove her away. We continue to lock eyes as I huff angrily and wordlessly trot away down the street. I break our 'contest' and look over at Zephyr. I stare at her for a moment before whistling and catching her attention. I gesture for her to follow me as I take a few more steps forward. Zephyr hesitates a moment as she looks over at Sapphire and then over at me. Sapphire simply stands there and stares as Zephyr hesitantly trots over to where I'm standing.

"Um-" Zephyr barely gets a word out before I interrupt her.

"Clearer than summer rain," I say to Sapphire with all the bitterness my heart can muster.

"You coming or what?" I add.

"Yeah, I'm coming," Sapphire says, just barely loud enough for us to hear.

She trots up to us and then resumes her spot in the front. Lightning flashes and thunder rolls in the distance as if to emphasize the sour mood I suppose I've put us in. There's no 'supposing' about it, but… I don't know anymore. I'll just keep my mouth shut unless it's needed, I guess. It kind of hurts to have Sapphire mad at me, even though I understand her side of things. Nopony's fault but my own, though. When we get a moment's worth of privacy again, I'll try to apologize. Never been too good at it, but that old saying of 'It's the thought that counts' applies to this situation as well, right?

We travel once again in relative silence as we make our way through the streets. The rain continues to pour down, harder in fact. I swear the rain gets heavier with every passing minute. I'm- we're- soaked to the bone and chilled from the rain. We never think to bring umbrellas with us on missions like these. Although, now that I think about it, there's probably more cons than pros to having them on missions. Oh well. A little rain never hurt nopony anyways.

The faint smell of smoke hits my nose as we near an intersection in the streets. More makeshift blockades keep us from going forward and to the right. No idea if the direction is north or east, but I suppose that doesn't matter. We won't be going in those directions with these blocking our way, not the we need to… I think. These particular blockades are made of shopping carts and tall, metal shelves ripped out the various old stores around us. There are also several broken chairs and other wooden pieces of scrap junk stuck in between the gaps. Whoever has made these have carefully laid out the boundaries of their territory.

It's out far enough that MEDRA wouldn't bother them, but just close enough to the Wall that whoever has taken up residence here can grab the scraps that MEDRA throws out. That includes food, dead folk and their belongings, though half of the dead they toss are burnt to a crisp and usually are infected to some degree. Were infected, I should say. Anything useful from the stuff MEDRA tossed, these mysterious new neighbors could easily trade for basic necessities like food or water. I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but there is a small trickle of ponies who leave the 'safety' of the wall everyday. Whether they come back or leave for good, well, that merely depends on their intentions for leaving in the first place. Caught unawares, they'd be easy enough to corner, rob and kill.

Sapphire gestures for us to stop, which Zephyr and I quietly obey. We watch her sniff the air and take in a deep whiff of the smoke. I do the same, operating under the assumption she's trying to locate a rough estimate of where it could be coming from. For a land once prosperous and overflowing with love and friendship, kindness and trust towards strangers is all but forgotten. Doesn't matter if they were once your neighbors, somepony you called family or a friend. When it comes down to their life and yours, the vast majority will happily throw you to the wolves to preserve their hides. In this instance, I suppose it would be 'throw you to the zombies' instead, but I digress.

The rain and the dark clouds above make it a little hard to pinpoint where the smoke is coming from. At least, to my old nose it does. Sapphire peers around the corner for several moments before looking back at us.

"I see light coming from a building just down the road. Fifth one on the left," Sapphire says in a hushed voice "whoever's moved in seems to have set up these roadblocks to corral any infected or runaway Zoners to a certain location."

"That'd be my guess, anyways," She quickly adds.

"Not enough info to determine if we can call 'em friend or foe. With this storm, I'm not sure if going rooftop to rooftop is wise," I say at the same volume.

"Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the idea of putting fried flank on the menu for these ponies," Zephyr says softly "but strolling down the street isn't a good idea either."

"Turning back isn't an option either, I'm assuming," I say with a shrug.

"We might have to. I was trying to avoid having to have either of you teleport us, but if we can't walk through it…" Sapphire trails off and shrugs.

As Zephyr and Sapphire quietly debate the best course of action, I hear what sounds like voices in the distance slowly growing closer. My ears perk up as I half glance over my shoulder and focus on the noise. Sapphire stops mid-sentence and questions what I'm doing. I say nothing but hold up a hoof to hush her. I focus a little harder and pick up part of a conversation.

"... -lieve they just throw all this good shit out?"

"I know right? No wonder more and more of these bastards are leaving the zone. They throw out the good stuff and leave them to suffer."

"Oh well. Fuck 'em."

"You've heard the saying, right? One mare's trash is another mare's treasure and all that."

"True. Have you seen what…"

I tune out of the conversation and look fully over my shoulder. The rain makes it difficult to see, but from what I could pick up, there's four ponies heading our way. Three stallions and a mare, but I could be wrong. They've not seen us yet, thankfully, and I'd like to keep it that way. I quickly fill Sapphire in on what I've heard and advise her to keep pressing forward until we can find a place to duck into and hide, at least long enough to evade the ponies coming our way.

Sapphire merely nods, trusting my judgment, and leads us around the corner and down the street. We pass by an emptied-out candy store with all the windows and doors partially boarded up. I'm able to see inside, thankfully, which allows me to get a mental picture of where to take us. Without giving much warning, I teleport us inside, much to the surprise of my companions. My decision is met with near immediate regret as one of my hooves is sliced by a shard of glass. My motherly instincts and the urge to protect these two kick into high gear for a moment as I use my magic to pick Zephyr and Sapphire up off the floor.

"There's glass all over the damn place. Hold on a moment," I say as I carefully tiptoe through the razor sharp ocean of glass.

A few cuts and pieces stuck in my hooves later, I find a spot free of glass behind the checkout counter and put my companions down.

"There. No glass over here, but be careful," I say quietly.

"Awe, how sweet of you, Honey," Sapphire says in a quiet, teaseful tone.

"Shut up. I'll let you slice your hooves to ribbons next time," I huff in a mixture of fake anger and real annoyance.

"Did your hooves get cut?" Zephyr asks softly.

"Yeah, but I'll be alright. It doesn't hurt that bad," I reply nonchalantly.

"Let me take a look when those ponies go by. I can fix minor wounds and the like," Zephyr says chipperly.

Don't be stubborn. Don't be stubborn. Don't be stubborn. It might be just glass, but it can turn nasty quick. Just say yes, it's not that hard. Sapphire told you to play nice.

"Eh, no, I-I don't… I mean… Okay, fine. You can look… I guess," I reluctantly agree.

Silence quickly befalls us as we wait for the ponies to catch up and pass by so we can continue our journey. A group of five trot past the candy store, three stallions and two mares. Three unicorns, a pegasus and an earth pony. Each of them are carrying duffle bags stuffed and overflowing with clothes and various other items they've acquired Celestia knows where. It's mostly clothes from what I can tell. Most would likely overlook it and consider it nothing of consequence, but the need for that many clothes tells us something important. The group is large, seemingly organized and halfway competent. That's my hunch, at least.

We sit silently in the dark a couple of minutes longer before Zephyr taps me on the shoulder. She uses her magic to produce enough light to assess my minor wounds. I hesitantly hold out my front hooves. A long gash covers most of the bottom of my right hoof, blood smeared all over and staining tiny pieces of glass. My left hoof is in a better state with a couple of small slices and a single piece of glass. While Zephyr removes the pieces of glass, I check my back hooves for glass and cuts. Lucky me, neither are to be found on my back hooves.

"Cup your hooves together," Zephyr instructs.

"Huh? Uh, okay," I say as I do as she says.

Her horn glows brighter at the tip as she lowers her head until her horn is near my hooves. She bows her head, touching her horn to my hooves. The ball of light on the tip of her horn seeps into my flesh and spreads across the surface, then partially up my legs. I watch in slight awe as every cut and gash slowly disappears into nothingness, like they never existed to begin with. Her horn stops glowing, however, the glow of the magic healing me persists for a few moments longer before gradually dissipating.

"Woah. You… definitely weren't kidding, huh? Thanks," I say, my tone- for once- entirely genuine.

"Well, I certainly wasn't lying. I mean, did you see my cutiemark? I don't mean to boast or brag, but I certainly didn't earn it for nothing," Zephyr says proudly.

She shines more light with her horn and brings her decorated flank into view. I hadn't noticed it earlier, but Zephyr's cutiemark depicts a gold caduceus atop a red cross. There are two small white hearts as well, one at the top of the cross and one at the bottom.

"I know a few different medical spells outside of basic first aid. Six to be exact. My mother taught me them before she died," Zephyr explains proudly "I know a spell of minor healing that, well, I guess the name is kind of self explanatory. Minor wounds on the outer surface is what it's best for. I also know an x-ray spell, but using it makes me really nauseous. Like, really really nauseous. Not entirely sure why."

"Anywho, I also know a spell of minor bone mending. Sounds cool and is also kind of self explanatory. Really, it only heals minor to somewhat moderate fractures. Won't heal any broken bones, but still useful," Zephyr continues with a proud smile.

"Got anything else in your repertoire?" I ask.

"Spell wise? I know a defibrillation spell, but, uh, it's almost as bad as the x-ray spell. I dunno how to explain it, as I'm more of a doctor than a scientist, but it shocks me too," Zephyr replies "not terribly bad, it's just really uncomfortable. It's like some of the discharge goes… inward? Into me? I dunno."

"And the last two?" Sapphire questions.

"I was getting there. The other two are pretty simple, but like with the x-ray and defib spells, I really need to work on controlling them better," Zephyr answers with a small chuckle "one is a spell of 'light' numbing. Air quotes around light because I struggle to control the radius of the numbing. Instead of just a small area of your hoof, I might accidentally numb your entire leg."

"As for the last one? It's a spell that allows me to give you some very minor pain relief. I was going to offer it to you on the balcony but…" Zephyr trails off as she slowly shakes her head "but that one also makes me nauseous. Not quite as bad, but still."

"Glad to have you with us, Dr. Hearts," Sapphire says with a chuckle.

"It's my pleasure to be here," Zephyr says with a small bow.

“You couldn’t have offered it to me when we were in the sewers? Or when we got out of them, for that matter?” I question with a harsh glare.

“I didn’t want to make myself nauseous while running from MEDRA. I wouldn’t have been much help if I couldn’t take two steps without feeling like I was gonna barf,” Zephyr answers defensively.

I fight back the urge to say something snappy or pissy. Instead, I bite my tongue- metaphorically, of course- and look over at the front of the store.

"I'm sure the coast is clear. Let's get going," I say a little more loudly and harshly than what I intend.

"Let's see if there's a back door so we don't have to walk through that glass again," Sapphire says "well, so Honey doesn't step in it again."

I roll my eyes as I stand up and use my magic to light my way. I wander into the back and look around. I find the backdoor is also boarded up, much to my dismay, but looking around the room gives me better news. There's a long, rectangular window just big enough for a grown pony to fit through. Zephyr is definitely small enough to fit through with no problems. She could go out first and be on the lookout while Sapphire and I wiggle our way through. Possibly.

"Of course they've boarded this door up to," Sapphire groans.

"If they boarded up all the doors and windows, where in the hell did the ponies who did it go?" Zephyr questions.

"Out the only window not boarded up, just like us," I answer, gesturing to my recent find.

"Yeah, I don't think we'll fit," Sapphire says skeptically.

"Zephyr will fit no problem. You'll fit no problem. I'll fit… probably," I say matter-of-factly.

"We could just teleport?" Zephyr suggests with an unsure look and a shrug.

"We need to minimize how often we use that. It might catch unwanted attention. I mean, I thought we were pretty subtle when we were fleeing from MEDRA earlier, but you saw how that turned out," Sapphire says.

"Reasonable enough," Zephyr says with a small nod.

I open the window with my magic, but struggle a little due to the hinges having rusted together over the years of neglect. Once it's open, I instruct Zephyr to crawl through. As expected, she gets through easily and with wiggle room to spare. Sapphire takes off her saddlebags and makes me hold them as she takes her turn going through the window. Unlike Zephyr, Sapphire has to wiggle and strain to get through. Once on the ground, I toss her saddlebags to her as well as my own. She catches hers with ease, but nearly drops mine, which earns a little chuckle from Zephyr.

I take in a deep breath, then exhale it as I crawl through the window. The front half of me slips out of the window easier than what I was expecting. However, trouble arises when I try to pull my lower half through. I groan in annoyance as I struggle to wiggle my hips free.

"Are you… stuck?" Sapphire asks, amusement pulling her lips into a sly grin.

"No, I am not," I say in a half-groan as I pull myself most of the way back inside.

"Are you sure?" Zephyr asks.

Unlike Sapphire, who seems to be amused, Zephyr appears to be genuinely concerned that I'm having a slight bit of trouble getting through the window. I try again, this time going at it sideways instead of head on. I get myself most of the way out when my shirt catches on a loose splinter of metal from the windowsill. I wiggle myself out the window and land a couple of feet down below on the ground. My shirt rips in the process, leaving an elongated hole from the mid-chest up to the collar. I sigh loudly as I briefly fiddle with the new hole. Of course I'd rip my favorite shirt trying to slip my wide ass out of a window.

"I'm here now, so yeah, I'm sure," I reply as I strap my saddlebags back on.

"That's what you get for having a dump truck," Sapphire says with a chuckle.

"Shut up. I do not have a 'dump truck' for an ass. It's not fat, just wide, okay?" I say with a loud huff "that's what happens when you spit three big foals out your fuckin' snatch."

"Wait… you have kids?" Zephyr asks with massive, genuine surprise.

"Had kids. They're… I don't want to talk about it ever, so please don't ask," I reply, trying not to get snippy "next time, I will not say please."

"Had? What do you- oh… Oh. I'm sorry," Zephyr says, eyes wide with realization.

There's a brief moment of silence between us. A loud clap of thunder billows across the sky. I look up at the sky and sigh softly before looking back at Zephyr.

"Can I at least ask how big they were when they were born? Since you said that… that they were big babies?” Zephyr asks, give me a look of nervous curiosity.

I stare at her for a second before looking away. The memories of my children's respective births pop into my head and fill my heart with bittersweetness and pain.

"Oldest was eight pounds on the dot, middlest was nine pounds and three ounces and the youngest was seven pounds and four ounces," I reply with a small, heartbroken sigh.

"Dang, no wonder you couldn't get through the window at first," Zephyr says with a small chuckle "but I think I understand now."

"Understand what?" I question, snapping back to my usual gruff demeanor.

"Why you seem to not like me very much, if at all. I won't say it aloud for fear of upsetting you, but I think we both know without me even needing to," Zephyr answers.

"Yeah, sure, we'll pretend the reason I don't like you is because I'm 'not over' the loss of my children and you remind me of them and not at all because you're a pain-in-the-ass brat," I scoff as I roll my eyes.

"Alright, alright, that's enough. We keep wasting our damn time by standing around and talking," Sapphire says as she steps between the of us "let's go, you two."

"After you," I say, fighting back the urge to say something sarcastic and mean.

'Don't initiate conversations with your inane and sly comments, then maybe we won't have to stop and talk' is what I really want to tell her… but I won't. I'll argue with anypony else about anything all day long, 'til I'm blue and dyin', but I try not to argue with Sapphire too much. When she's truly well and pissed to the bone, nopony is safe from her wrath, even if they aren't the object of her anger. I've only seen her that angry a time or two, so I don't cotton to the idea of pushing her buttons too hard while on this oh so 'important' job. On one hoof, I don't expect them to trot on eggshells around me, but on the other, Sapphire at least knows what sets me off and could at least attempt to steer things in a different direction rather than let me blow. It can be- and is- quite annoying and frustrating, then everypony wonders why I'm always such a bitch.

Sapphire takes the lead as we continue on our way. We sneak past several more ponies who've taken up residence in this area of Canterlot. I was starting to follow the notion that perhaps these folks were Hunters with high hopes to take over the Zone, but passing by makeshift houses out of old stores and the like, the presence of elderly ponies and children seems to prove me wrong. I know Hunters, ponies- mostly- who hunt their own kind for sport and to rob them of their belongings.

I've run with them in the past, they separated me from children and helped drive a wedge between my remaining family. Experience tells me a group of Hunters wouldn't keep children or old fools around. I don't know what these ponies' deal is exactly, but maybe they'd be friendly enough. Maybe. About twenty-ish minutes later, we stop to survey where we are and where we need to be. Having climbed onto the roof of a tall building, Sapphire peers over the edge and looks both angry and disappointed.

"Ah, shit," Sapphire grumbles "I really should've sent a team to remap the area instead of assuming things would remain static."

"By the looks of what they've got set up, these folks have been here for a good while. Maybe… a month at the most?" I say with a shrug.

“Something like that, yeah. I think. It’s been a long while since we last remapped the area. That much I do remember,” Sapphire says.

I trot over to Sapphire and look over the edge of the building. Craters several miles wide and nearly twice as deep scar the city, leaving a semi horseshoe shaped, rubble-filled canyon of sorts. There's a swathe of crescent-ish land cutting straight through the 'canyon', leaving us with only one viable path forward. However, it's clear as a day- even in this rain- that it's a very dangerous one. One false move and a building or the ground is liable to collapse and join the rubble already resting in the depths of the canyon below. What's worse, despite MEDRA's attempt to eliminate them with bombs, the area is likely teeming with infected.

It's just par for the course with these things, really. Although, we've never been through that area before. None of us have had a reason too, but this time we don't much of a choice. The risk of running into more of MEDRA's soldiers is uncomfortably high, so to totally avoid them, going the long way outside the wall is the only way to go. I could teleport the three of us somewhere close to where Ocean told Sapphire to meet her if I were familiar with the area, but where's the fun in that? Even if going outside of the wall greatly ramps up the danger levels to 'certain and guaranteed eventual death', it never fails to teach a lesson or two. Whether those are old or new, it just depends on our choices and decisions as we make our way through. I also probably shouldn't strain myself more than I already have today with performing fears of magic. While I feel that I might be better off dead, I know that Sapphire would disagree.

"Holy crap. Did MEDRA do that?" Zephyr asks in awe at the sight before us.

"They bombed a lot of places just like this hoping to drastically reduce the number of infected," Sapphire replies "not that it did much other than ruin our chances of ever rebuilding if this nightmare were to ever end."

"And end the life- I mean lives- of innocent ponies who weren't even infected," I say bitterly.

"I know the saying 'better safe than sorry' exists for a reason, but damn… they crossed so many lines with that," Zephyr says in disbelief.

"There's only one way through… uh, let's call it 'Death Valley' for now," Sapphire says as she pulls out her binoculars "it's kind of hard to see, but I know the mall is that way."

"The what? What's a 'mall' and is it as exciting as it sounds?" Zephyr questions with a big grin.

"A mall is a place where a bunch of small stores are placed together for shopping convenience and fun. Some malls were fancier than others with arcades and big food courts where they could enjoy different brands of fast food," I explain with a small sigh "sometimes it was fun to just look. These stores were… higher end usually and expensive to boot."

"I don't know what an arcade is either but it sounds fun too. Can we take just a little peek when we pass through?" Zephyr asks with typical child-like pleading eyes.

"No," I reply.

"Awe c'mon, it's not my fault I was born after the world ended," Zephyr pouts "I'm still sort of a kid, you know. Just a little teeny tiny peek?"

"I said no," I say firmly.

Zephyr groans and throws her head back in frustration in a display of typical teenager-rism. It irks me to my core, but I say nothing and instead glare daggers at her. Sapphire chuckles as she continues to scout out Death Valley as best she can from our position.

"So it looks like we have three main obstacles to get through before we clear the Valley," Sapphire says "there's a museum, the mall and it looks like a garden walk of some kind."

"Didn't you say you lived here before the apocalypse? Wouldn't you know what's there?" Zephyr questions.

"It's been a while, alright? Forgive my memory, I hardly went there before things went tits up and that didn't change afterwards either," Sapphire answers "we'll be fine, so don't worry. I wouldn't lead us astray."

"Alright. Lead the way," Zephyr says.

Sapphire puts away her binoculars and backs away from the edge. I bring the three of us back down to the ground and gesture for Saph to lead the way. We push our way past more buildings and pony-made obstacles until we reach the beginning of the path through Death Valley. Up close, the nickname seems more than appropriate. Skeletons of many different kinds litter the inside of the craters: ponies, griffons, cars, buildings, etc. Nature is slowly reclaiming them. They're almost hard to spot while being completely still against all the death, rubble and plant life, but several infected ponies have fallen in. They're trapped for good with no hope of ever escaping, as the craters are far too deep.

Even if they climbed up some of the rubble, the walls of the craters where the rubble starts are far too steep. As long as we don't stir them up, we'll be fine. The path ahead is mostly concrete from the museum's parking lot up until the building itself. It's a two story place of forgotten information and history, although the majority of the place is gone and a permanent part of the valley below. What's left isn't much of anything special, at least looks-wise. A soft lavender building with broken long, rectangular windows and occasionally decorated in splashes of blues, greens, grays and pinks here and there in the form of banners, awnings and posters.

There's a bronze statue of Princess Twilight topping a fountain just in front of the steps to get inside. The fountain is no longer working, the water inside long stagnant and horrifically dirty. Just behind the statue close to where the stairs start is a stone sign with the words ‘Twilight Sparkle Museum of Science & Magic’, although the sign is partly broken and the words ‘Sparkle’ and ‘Science’ are missing half their letters. It really needn't be said, but the state of the building is awful and is in a desperate need of repair. I can only imagine how terrible the state of the inside must be.

Sapphire leads us up the stairs and to the mostly-intact front doors. The doors refuse to budge open and let us inside. I peer through the windows in the doors. A broken, smooth sided column purposefully placed blocks the way. In what I'm hoping isn't blood but rather dark reddish brown paint, there is a note that reads; 'STAY OUT!! INFECTED INSIDE! DANGER! DOOR IS LOCKED AND BLOCKED FOR YOUR SAFETY! - A VERY SCARED MUSEUM EMPLOYEE'.

"Well, shit. What now? Up and over or brute force our way through?" I say as I look over at Sapphire.

"Let's not make too much of a ruckus. You saw them down there," Sapphire says with a sigh "they might not be able to get us being trapped down there, but they might tell their buddies up and down the proverbial zombie grapevine."

"What do you mean? I thought they weren't capable of-" Zephyr is quickly cut off by Sapphire.

"I didn't mean it in a literal sense. You really don't know how infected operate, kid? Seriously," Sapphire shakes her head in disbelief.

"Where I used to live, we didn't have much trouble with the infected. The adults took care of that. Our problems were mostly with… other ponies," Zephyr explains.

"So 'no', in other words. Well, long story short, every single zombie is connected by the fungus like a hive mind of sorts. It's kind of complicated and I'm not a scientist, but that's how it seems to be," Sapphire explains.

"So if one of them is alerted, it sends, like, a signal of sorts to the others and we'll get swarmed," Zephyr deduces.

"Pretty much, yeah. You catch on pretty quick, kid," Sapphire praises.

"How did you and your family make it here to the Zone without you gaining the slightest inkling of how they work? Even if you didn't fight them yourself, there really wasn't anything at all you picked up?" I question, my words laced heavily with doubt.

"Like I said, the adults handled it. I didn't watch, I kept the children safe. My grandma, brother and I were all that were left of the group that left the city we lived in by the time we reached the zone. The only ones who weren't infected, at least," Zephyr answers, giving me an annoyed look for doubting her.

"And now I'm officially the only one of the original group left. My father was the only one who didn't join us, but I hate him with a passion so I might as well consider myself the end of my bloodline," Zephyr adds.

"If I had a clear view of the roof, I'd teleport us there, but it might be to risky to go up blind," I say, changing the topic.

"What if we teleport inside and look for any openings we can take to get out of there without having to risk adventuring right into the jaws of a zombie?" Zephyr suggests.

"Better than going around or going up blind," Sapphire says with a shrug.

Lighting flickers through the sky and then strikes the ground somewhere far away from us to not be much of a concern to me in the moment. Zephyr makes a comment about how her brother used to be terrified of storms because of the lightning that sometimes accompanied them, to which Sapphire responds by relaying the story of the time her mother was struck by lightning as kid and survived.

"Are we done wasting our time, hypocrite?" I ask as I roll my eyes.

"Oh, I'm soooo sorry! Go ahead and teleport us inside, then," Sapphire replies with a bit of an attitude.

"Time spent learning is not time wasted," Zephyr says matter-of-factly.

I groan and roll my eyes while not bothering to dignify that with a response. I look through the window again and find a good spot to teleport us to. As soon as we enter, an awful yet familiar stench assaults my nose.

"Masks, now," I order as I look around for the source.

I quickly pull out my gas mask and attach it securely to my face. My companions follow my order and do the same. I look up and all around for the source of the smell. A staircase to my right is broken and missing half of the stairs from the second floor down to the middle. Growing from the railing and down the broken concrete is a large patch of Fairy Wings, the fungus responsible for this whole damn apocalypse. Long tendrils of sickly pinks and yellows reach upwards towards the holes in the roof. Several yellow caps in the shape of fairy wings litter the patchy, parasitic growth.

The fungus gives off a horribly disgusting 'warning' smell when in relatively close proximity. It absolutely reeks and when you smell it, usually you're not close enough to inhale the spores if you're lucky. The more unbearable the stench becomes, the closer you are to Fairy Wings. We got lucky this time. I see the spores radiating from the fungus patch, but at least they seem to be floating up towards the ceiling. Their presence is a sure sign that zombies were here at some point. Given the fact the spores here aren't dried up and dead, it's likely they're still here.

"Tread quietly. I don't think we're alone here," I say in a hushed tone.

"Honey, take point. I'll cover the rear. Zephyr, stay close to Honey just in case," Sapphire says.

"Oh, Honey. Take this before I forget," She adds as she fishes something out of her bag and tosses it to me.

Zephyr nods her head as she takes a few steps closer to me as I catch the object tossed my way using my magic. It's a tactical, metal flashlight shaped like the number seven- or an upside down L, depending on your perspective- small enough to fit in my shirt pocket. I clip it to my pocket and turn it on. For a small flashlight, it puts out a surprising amount of light. Another beam of light joins mine and I look back to see Sapphire tucking an identical flashlight into her own shirt pocket. Zephyr pulls out a different looking flashlight with her magic, one that is small, purple and looks to be cheaply made of aluminum.

She turns it on and shines it around, her beam of light is surprisingly bright for such a cheaply made-looking flashlight. I notice she's also wearing a different type of gas mask than Sapphire and I. Zephyr’s is a half-face respirator mask akin to what painters or welders would've used back in the day. On the other hoof, Sapphire and I’s masks cover our whole face with single lens goggles. I guess while I was out cold, Zephyr had Sapphire bring her her saddlebag... or something along those lines, anyways.

I shine my light towards the center of the room and begin to look for the quickest exit. Another statue of Princess Twilight greets us, only this time she’s holding a book and wielding the Elements of Harmony in what used to be an inspiring and majestic manner. Although the statue is missing pieces in some places and is cracked in others, its state of affairs isn’t what ruins the statue’s original appeal or intention. Princess Twilight, along with her fellow Element bearers and the sister Princesses abandoned us not long after the apocalypse began. They all fled to the Frozen North and- up until about four years ago- made numerous promises they’ve either broken or have yet to fulfill, such as finding a cure or creating more secure places to live from the infection. Four years ago, we stopped hearing anything at all from them. Once upon a time, I admired each and every one of them, but like other aspects of my life, that admiration died a long time ago.

These days, I understand it’s survival of the fittest and everypony for themselves, but considering the feats the Element bearers have pulled off? Not to mention the Princesses are quite literally goddesses? You would think they’d be able to protect their citizens. That’s neither here nor there now, I suppose. There’s no use in metaphorically crying over it anymore. Trotting around the statue brings us to a hallway that branches off into multiple exhibits. Rather than wasting our time searching exhibits for possible holes in the walls to get through, I’m hoping to find the closest emergency exit that might lead us out to the other side.

I try not to think of the ‘what-if’s’ or ‘I-wish’s’ as I lead us down the rightmost side of the hallway. I’m sure the museum was amazing and a whole lot of fun for families back before all of this started. Ivory was supposed to come here on a school field trip once, but when the day came around, she had been sick with a bad cold and couldn’t go. I felt horrible she missed out and hoped to someday take her and Larkspur here, but when I had the time, I didn’t have the money and when I had the money, I didn’t have the time. Even though the place is all but destroyed and tarnished beyond repair, I can’t help but feel terrible that I’m here now and Ivory isn’t.

The building groans around and shakes a bit as it settles further into the ground. Dust and pieces of rubble fall from the ceiling above and down to the ground. A resounding crash echoes from above us, causing me to pause. The sound was unmistakably that of something metal hitting the marble floor of the museum. I’m hoping it was a stanchion or some other similar item falling over because of the museum settling and becoming more unstable rather than a zombie roaming around. Considering I’ve yet to hear the tell-tale screech of a clicker or the unnerving sobs of a trotter, I think we’re safe… for now.

With the power to the museum shut off, finding the emergency exit is a little harder to find than expected. Although the red glow from the sign would probably feel a bit ominous at the end of a long, dark hallway, we wouldn’t at least be stumbling about in the semi-dark. A good ways down the hall, somepony has made a makeshift parapet of sorts from vending machines pushed over onto their sides. Combined with the spent casings and skeletal remains both in front of and behind the vending machine parapet, it would seem this was once the last stand for the survivors who built it.

There are no fungi growing from any of these remains, which leads me to believe this last stand wasn’t against the infected. Trotting past the vending machines, the ammunition boxes with an all too familiar logo tells me this was a group of MEDRA soldiers’ last stand against a second party. Since I hadn’t been invited to the showdown and- given these remains are nothing but bones- I was likely on the other side of the country when it happened, so I couldn’t say for sure if this second party was innocent or no, but given MEDRA’s track record for killing the innocent, I have no doubt at least one of these casualties was innocent in one way or another. If they chose here of all places to hold the line, that must mean there’s an exit of some kind just at the end of the hall. That’s assuming- at least- the soldiers that once holed up here weren’t complete and total idiots like the rest of them.

At the end of the hall, just as I had hoped, there is indeed an emergency exit. I trot up to the door and attempt to open it. It takes a few seconds of heavy pushing, but eventually it budges and swings open, albeit somewhat unexpectedly. After quickly regaining the balance I nearly lose, I exit the museum and hold the heavy door open for my companions. They exit the museum, however, Sapphire quickly backs up against the outside wall and pulls Zephyr along with her. I let go of the door just as an alarm begins to screech inside the museum. I wince and flatten my ears in response to the sudden, shrill noise assaulting my sense of hearing. I guess there was power still on inside, just to the emergency exits despite the lights in the signs being off.

I quickly close the door, greatly muffling the screeching alarm inside. I look behind me and see why Sapphire backed up against the wall. There had been just enough room outside of the door to avoid stepping on a massive pile of fungal growth. In fact, where I stand is mere inches away from a yellowed fungal tendril. When I say a ‘massive pile’ of fungal growth, I mean a massive pile of fungal growth. It’s at least eight feet tall and twice as wide.

You can just barely see it, but there are several pony-shaped outlines in the pile. If I had to guess, several zombies were killed and thrown into a pile here… or maybe they formed the pile instinctively but ‘sacrificed’ themselves in the process. Truly and utterly disgusting no matter how you slice it. I back up and join my companions up against the wall. Had I stepped on it, it’s very possible I could’ve ordered our execution by summoning a horde of zombies accidentally. Note to self; be more careful and more observant of areas prevalent with infected, even if that was already fucking obvious.

“I think we’ve had enough close calls today,” I mumble, mostly to myself than to my companions.

“Tch. You can say that again,” Sapphire agrees.

Zephyr hums in agreement as I trot around them and take the lead once more. As I unholster my revolver and begin to lead us past the ruined remains of uninteresting buildings, we hear the all too familiar screeches of several clickers. I’m not sure whether to count ourselves lucky, as the screech comes from inside the museum, but that doesn’t mean we are in the clear. I quicken my pace as I lead us to the biggest obstacle in our way; the mall. More specifically, the ‘Grand Celestial Mall’ according to the grimy remains of a tall, once-fancy sign.

The mall is in a similar state of disrepair as the museum, but- from afar- not seemingly as bad. The parking lot of the mall is littered with the rusty, mangled husks of cars that have been stripped of every usable bit of scrap metal and their tires. There are even abandoned deuce and a halves, most of which are missing tires, doors and their bed coverings. Surprisingly, there are several shoppings carts littering the parking lot, some of which still have various purchased items left in them. Whoever stripped these vehicles of all they were worth must’ve had no need for the carts. Hopefully, whoever did so is long gone and maybe- just maybe- I haven’t jinxed us.

The first entrance we come across is wide open and very obviously boobytrapped with snares, firearms and boards with nails driven through and hooked up to trip wires, makeshift caltrops and other ‘in-your-face’ obvious traps meant to incapacitate or kill any zombies that wander through. There is also a distinct sea of glass all over the floor as well, which would explain the distinct lack of glass in all of the window panes throughout the foyer.

“Well that’s a hard no,” Zephyr quips.

“You can say that again,” Sapphire agrees.

“Rerouting, rerouting,” I say, mimicking a GPS as I look for the next best way into the mall.

I see a rusted sign indicating that the employee-only area is just around the corner from the entrance. I take us in that direction as Zephyr expresses her confusion.

“Have you turned into a robot or something?” Zephyr asks.

“Well, going this way is a nonstarter, so our GPS has to reroute and find us another direction,” Sapphire replies.

“Our what?” Zephyr questions, sounding absolutely bewildered.

Sapphire struggles to hold back a laugh as the two of them trot along behind me. Once she regains her composure, Sapphire proceeds to explain what a GPS was and why I was briefly pretending to be one. She whispers to Zephyr that they should silently enjoy the brief moments were I’m not a hardass and actually, genuinely joke around in a way she obviously wants me to hear. I don’t dignify the comment with a response and instead quicken my pace and press onwards. I take us around to the back side of the mall where a plethora of signs and other indications make it abundantly clear that this area was not meant for the public.

There are a couple of abandoned freight trucks and delivery vans parked out back and appear relatively untouched compared to other vehicles in the parking lot. Whatever was once inside them are most likely long gone but I don't particularly care to check to see if I'm right or not. All of the bay doors are closed, which means it's now a matter of just eenie meenie miney moe-ing them and picking one. I'm sure they all lead to the same place anyways, so it's not like it really matters as long as we get inside. I pick one of the middle left doors and approach it. There are no obvious means of opening it from the outside, but with a little bit of elbow grease and some magical assistance, the door squeals open up just enough to allow us to duck through.

Sapphire and Zephyr quickly go under and inside the loading bay. The two of them work together to hold it up just long enough for me to slip inside. They let go of it, causing it to fall shut with a rattling clank. I shoot Sapphire a mean look the best I can from behind my mask for letting it close that hard, to which she merely shrugs. 'It was heavy', I can hear her saying and likely along with another shrug. I sigh as I cautiously creep through the dark room of the loading bay. So far, I see zero signs of any zombies, but a lack of fungal growth doesn't mean there are none here. It's not until a trotter becomes a stalker or a clicker that they spread the fungus outside of themselves and onto anything in their proximity. No matter the stage of infection, one bite or scratch is enough to sentence you to certain death.

I find a blue metal door and open it, which takes us into a large hallway that splits into different paths. There's a plaque that gives directions to where each split leads, although I'm not sure which one will take us straight through the mall. My gut tells me to go down the hall a ways and take a left to follow it through an open set of double doors to the food court. Unsurprisingly, the food court is a total mess, full of debris, rotted, moldy leftovers and the skeletal remains of ponies. As I look around, I spot the remains of a tiny little skeleton hanging halfway out of a knocked over stroller. Laying on top of it is a much bigger skeleton still wearing what's left of a green tattered sundress. The sight alone is enough to make my stomach churn and threaten to quickly evacuate the contents it holds.

I quickly look away and weave through the messy maze of tables and chairs haphazardly strung about. Shining my light up, I can see a sign hanging from the ceiling that indicates that going forward will take us into the main shopping area of the mall. Looking to my right I can see the boobytrap entrance just on the otherside. I didn't even think to check the food court for traps. Holy shit. I try to ignore that as I look at the only path forward. Of course, the way is blocked from where the roof has collapsed, filling the area up to the top with rubble. However, there's a piece of roof that looks like it will lift a different piece up juuust enough that we could squeeze through. Maybe.

I go over to this piece of roofing and climb on top of it. As I had hoped, it lifts up the second piece and creates a gap just barely big enough. The piece I stand on shifts, making me nearly fall off. The second piece starts to fall and instinctively, I reach out and grab it. I grunt a bit as I struggle a bit to keep it lifted. I muster all my strength and lift it up higher, which makes the gap a little wider. Sapphire quickly removes her mask, which prompts Zephyr to copy her.

"Go! Now!" I order with a grunt as I strain to keep the piece lifted.

"Me first," Sapphire says to Zephyr.

"Okay," Zephyr says as we both watch Sapphire crouch down and crawl through the gap.

Zephyr looks up at me as she waits for Sapphire to clear the hole. She has a look of concern on her face as if she is genuinely worried I might hurt myself. Zephyr opens her mouth to say something, but closes it when Sapphire calls out to her.

"Coming!" She calls back, yet remains where she stands.

"Go!" I shout as I shift my grip on the piece of roof.

"Please be careful," Zephyr says to me before crouching down and crawling through the hole.

Zephyr disappears and- after a few moments of silence- gives a quick shout to let me know she's made it through. I go to reposition my grip on the piece of roof and accidentally somehow manage to free a bigger piece higher up. It all comes crashing down, knocking the piece roof out of my grip and sending me tumbling down onto the food court floor below. I land on my back and instantly my breath is completely knocked out of me. I groan loudly in pain as I catch my breath and roll onto my side.

"Honey! Honey?! Are you alright?" Sapphire exclaims.

"I'm fine! Just… winded is all!" I shout before groaning again.

The unfortunately familiar loud shrieks of clickers and the animalistic growls of trotters echo throughout the ruined halls. Worse yet, they come from Sapphire's side of the debris wall.

"Shit! They're coming this way!" Zephyr exclaims in a panic.

"Honey?" Sapphire calls out.

"Go! Get to safety! I'll find my way to you!" I shout as I scramble to my hooves.

"This way! Hurry!" Sapphire shouts to Zephyr.

As the shrieks and growls come closer, I hear my companions gallop away to find somewhere safe to wait for me. I kick a small piece of something rock-like and watch it skitter across the floor as I growl in frustration. The minor avalanche has completely clogged up the debris wall, leaving no way to crawl through anymore. I'd waste my time trying to use my magic to pull out pieces to make my own way. I sigh angrily as I whip around and canter back down to where we originally came from. I follow the hall back down and go a different way until I stumble across a bathroom area that splits off to the left and right based on gender.

The are no doors, just a wide wall with plaques indicating which gender goes where. I peek around the corner of the filly's side and shine my light on the other side in hopes that it's open ended like this side. Sure enough, there's an exit on the other side that takes me to a different hallway. I follow it down to the right until I come across a set of metal double doors. I try to open them, but no matter how hard I push, they refuse to budge. I try to buck it open but am met with the same refusal. I try it again, but continue to make zero progress.

I take a few steps back and look around with my flashlight. To my right on the wall is a small black square made of plastic with a little oval bulb at the top. The light is off, which is no surprise considering the main power is shut off to- I assume- the entire mall. Looks like I'm not getting through here unless I find an employee keycard and turn the power back on, assuming that's even feasible at this point. It's either find the card and get the power on or it's find a different way. Something tells me the first option will be less of a headache.

Wherever they store the generators and such to power the mall is likely back here in the employee area. If I was a generator, where would I keep myself? Probably in a corner somewhere far from the public eye. I turn around and quickly head back the way I came. I doubt I’ll manage to find an employee badge to open the door, but perhaps I’ll get lucky. I pass by the bathrooms and continue down the hall until I notice hundreds of thousands of little spore particles floating past me. I slow down to a walk and look around for their source as I count myself lucky to have kept my mask on this entire time.

Eventually I come across a big window partly covered by a patch of fungal growth. I look at the ground and carefully tiptoe through the gaps in the fungal patches swallowing the floor. Once I’m close enough, I look inside the room the window is attached to and shine my light around. It appears to be a security office judging by the numerous computers and screens throughout the room. In the corner is the body of an infected security guard practically glued to the wall by more fungus. There isn’t much of them left, just barely enough to tell the patchy growth in the corner was once a pony. That, as well as the very much noticeable employee badge protruding from the fungal mass.

Great. The first badge I come across is embedded inside a disgusting, still active growth of fungi. This is a problem for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I absolutely do not want to pry anything free from a mass of Fairy Wings if I can help it even with my magic. Secondly, who knows how many infected are lurking around back here that I could alert just by touching it. It would be a different story if this mass was all dried up, withered and inactive. I’d have no issues and qualms touching it then. I mean, it would still be very, very gross and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time… but still. Ew.

I carefully back away from the window and look for the door. As if my luck wasn't bad enough right now, the door to the security room is also overgrown with fungus. I can make out the figure of another pony in the midst of it. It's faint but I can see its chest rising and falling. The one inside the security room might be a mere corpse, but I've seen enough zombies to know a stalker when I see one. If I want to go into the room, I'm going to have to deal with it. If I want to go by, I have to deal with it. Luckily, I have the advantage to get the jump on the stalker since it hasn't detected me yet.

It's best if I handle this as relatively quietly as possible, although disturbing it might run the risk of disturbing others in the area. I suppose I’ve got good enough aim and quick enough reflexes. I know they can’t come from behind me since I’ve been down that way, so… fuck it. As quietly as I can, I take out my kukri knife and use my magic to stab it deep into the stalker’s head. It breaks partly loose and cries out the moment the blade pierces its skin, then slumps over dead when I remove my knife. Black blood stains my knife, which I clean by using my magic to remove the offending fluid.

Off in the distance, I hear the cries of other infected. Trotters mostly, by the sound of it. Maybe some clickers. Their cries don’t last long enough for me to be able to determine how many, however. I’m not scared or worried about a few walking bags of rotting flesh. I take in a deep breath and exhale it sharply as I make my way cautiously down the hall, keeping my knife readied for combat just in case. A disgusting amount of fungus covers the wall in different patches and sizes as I look around with my light.

I wish I knew who let this shit get out hoof. I have a few choice words and a couple of bullets to give them. As I turn the corner, my light shines down the hall and brightly illuminates an infected pony standing with their back to me and their head stooped low to the ground. I can’t tell what gender this pony is or what color their flesh used to be, just that their hair is black and their skin is pale, veiny and covered in fungal sprouts. What’s left of it, anyways. It’s lack of reaction to my light tells me this is a clicker. A trotter would’ve immediately whipped around and gone in for the attack. I guess this clicker is getting the stalker treatment.

I take a step forward and the clicker shrieks as it whips it head up. Immediately, I grab my knife with my hoof and cease my magic. It 'looks' over its shoulder in my direction and I freeze as it uses its echolocation. Its head is completely covered in fungal plates, rendering it totally blind. As long as I don't move, I will blend in with the wall to its echolocation. Had my magic still been holding my knife, it would have been aware of my presence because of how it flickers and moves.

The clicker staggers and stumbles as it lurches forward before turning itself around to face my direction. Its head and neck jerks, twitches and turns in an unnatural manner as it staggers forward as if it were completely shitfaced. It continues to make that blood chilling and dreadfully guttural clicking noise for which it’s named as it stumblers closer to me. It comes to a stop about a foot away from me and I’m thankful that I’m wearing a mask so I don’t have to smell that absolutely putrid scent the fungus makes.

I glance down without moving my head to look for something to distract it and make it go in the opposite direction. I try not to flinch as the clicker shrieks loudly at the sound of something smacking the floor behind it. As it quickly turns back around and hurriedly shambles towards the noise, I hear a rat squeak in absolute terror as it tries to scurry to safety. The clicker catches the rat, sinking its rotten teeth into the unlucky rodent’s flesh. It squeals in pain and wriggles in a desperate attempt to escape before succumbing to its fate.

As the clicker feasts on the unlucky rat near the corner of the hall, I take the opportunity to sneak forward and ready my knife to strike at the right moment. I stick close to the wall and follow it to the corner, then ambush the clicker from behind. I tackle it to the ground and- using my magic- plunge my knife into its head as deeply as I can manage. It flails, shrieks loudly and then tries to nip at me as I remove the knife and then stab it again. The second stab finishes it off and soon the flailing, shrieking and attempts to nip me cease.

I breathe a heavy sigh of relief as I remove my knife and climb off its corpse. I kick its corpse to the side and continue on my way. I approach a set of double doors that look to be made of some kind of black, smooth plastic-like material and then pause. As a precaution, I momentarily turn off my light as I half way open one of the doors and stick my head through. I focus my hearing as best I can and listen carefully for anything that might be lurking beyond them. I hear the tell-tale sobs and moans that accompany the presence of trotters. Somewhere not too far away, I hear a clicker cry out briefly before falling silent again. A second clicker cries out as well, seemingly in reply to the first.

I pull my head back in and quietly close the door. I turn my flashlight back on and fiddle with the switch to turn the low beam on rather than the high beam I had been using previously. That way, I can still see and the chance of the trotters spotting the light lessens greatly. Stalkers are really the only infected that- for a lack of better words- have an awareness and intelligence to pay attention to their surroundings and use it to their advantage. The rest of them? Not so much, especially since they lose their eyesight as the infection worsens.

I mentally ready myself as I remove the clicker’s fluid from my knife. I gently push through the doors and guide it close with my hoof. When I turn around, I crouch low to the ground and ease forward. Judging by my dimly lit surroundings, I appear to be in the mall's warehouse area. Although dark, I can tell it's a wide room with a maze of ceiling high shelves chock full of boxes. Pallets of plastic wrapped products are littered throughout the area, some of which are still sitting on forklifts. I'm sure it was just an ordinary day for these workers when all hell broke loose that fateful day.

I don't see any spores or patches of fungal growth around anywhere, so maybe it's safe to take off my mask for now. I remove my mask, clip it the side of my bag for easy access and then hold my knife firmly between my teeth. As I make my way through the maze of shelves, I notice a trotter up ahead with its left side facing me. The infected mare is sitting on her haunches, holding her head in her hooves and breathing heavily in between groans and sobs. What's left of her pink and orange tail twitches across the floor while the remainder of her mane is curled and bounces as she sobs. The mare's light yellow coat is muddled with bulging, blackened veins and patches of reddened skin where the fungus is growing underneath. The worst of it is on her left shoulder just below her neck where a large bite mark shows how she came to be infected. Her cutiemark depicts a pink and green butterfly resting on an orange yo-yo.

They're monsters now, but each and every one of these zombies used to be ponies. They used to be friends, loved ones, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and everything in between. It's easy to go on a slaughtering spree, especially when it's your life versus theirs, but sometimes it's hard not to feel guilty sometimes when you lay awake at night. Way I see it, though, who these individuals used to be died when they turned and lost their sense of reasoning, leaving them nothing more than reanimated husks. It's best to not second guess yourself when they're trying to maul you to pieces, lest you wind up like them. I don't know what it says about me, but I've never thought twice about killing them, even in the beginning.

I duck behind a pallet of unopened boxes labeled 'Midnight Sun Apparel' and peek around the corner. If I could sneak around behind it, I could take it down nice and quiet like. Trotters are easy enough to take down, especially when alone. They've not yet grown any fungal plates, so a bullet to the brain, a knife to the throat or suffocating them via choking them out work well enough to get rid of them. It's really just a matter of the circumstances in which you encounter them and your personal preference. I look behind me and notice the bottom shelf is empty and tall enough that I could easily crawl through if I wanted. An idea pops into my head, one I'm hoping will work in order to allow me to continue onwards in near perfect stealth.

I turn around quietly and ease myself through the shelf. My belly grazes the cold metal as I come out the other side. I practically crawl down the aisle to the next shelf and crawl back through until I'm only a couple of feet away from the trotter. I freeze as the trotter drops her forelegs and stoops her head towards the ground. A few beats of relative silence goes by before I continue with my plan of action. Now that it's left its neck vulnerable, I tweak the plan ever so slightly. In one swift movement, I come up on top of the mare and put her into a tight chokehold. She gasps and growls as I tighten my grip more and more until she falls silent. I lower her corpse to the ground and continue to move silently through the warehouse.

I come across a second trotter- a stallion- a few moments later, this time facing me directly but huddled in a similar position to the first. There are no pallets to hide behind this time, however, and the shelves around us are too full of boxes and other shit for me to pull the same trick twice. I wanted to do this as quietly as possible, but if I make this quick, perhaps it won’t create as much noise. I remove my knife from my mouth using my magic and lunge it into the trotter’s skull. The trotter growls loudly as the blade slices through its flesh and pierces its skull. I dig the blade around and mutilate its brain before yanking the knife free. The trotter groans as it collapses to the floor dead, leaving me free to be on my way.

After what feels like an eternity of quickly but cautiously wandering around the warehouse, I get rid of four more trotters and a clicker before finding where they keep the generators that power the mall. The door is left wide open, allowing me to slip in with ease. The room smells like a mix of gasoline and burnt wires, almost nauseatingly so. A complicated nest of various electronics and generators fills the medium sized room floor-to-ceiling. Had I been an electrician, I would know what these things did or how they worked. No-so-sadly, I'm left clueless as I look for a way to turn on the power. In the back of the room, I find the emergency standby generators. Were it not for the labels at the tops of them, I wouldn't know what they are either.

Sitting on the ground in front of them is a large gasoline can, the source of the- I'm hoping- of the awful gas smell. Hopefully it's not gone bad sitting here for Celestia knows how long, assuming there's anything it. The strong odor is starting to make me feel a bit dizzy, prompting me to put my gas mask back on so I can breathe easy. As I examine the generators and wonder how to turn them on, I accidentally knock the gas can over and end up finding a note taped to it. I remove the note and hold it where I can read it;

'To-Do List:

• Siphon gas from one of these fucking cars
• Fuel the fucking generators
• Turn on the power. Find a damn battery or something and a set of jumper cables and jump start the generators somehow (Jungle Bloom couldn't get them to start)
• Clear warehouse of infected
• Clear rest of mall of infected
• Turn mall into our main base of operations
• Storm the Canterlot QZ, kill off MEDRA and take over Zone per Moonbows' orders'

Flipping the to-do list over reveals a second note on the back. I assume it was left here by whoever brought the gas can to the generators;

'Moonbow wants this generator fixed by Friday. Get it done. Worried you'll get bit by a trotter? Bring a friend, bring a gun or whatever floats your boat. What Moonbow will do to you is a thousand times worse than anything an infected will do. I don't care how you fix it or how you get it to start. Just do it. Before Friday. Or else. Oh, the siphon hoses are inside the gas can. Don't know how to siphon gas? Tough shit, figure it out. Try not to swallow any gas, fucktards.

-Jade'

What lovely individuals these Jade and Moonbow ponies must be. There's no doubt in my mind these ponies are the same ones who've set up in the area and made all those blockades. They still don't sound like- for a lack of better words- 'traditional' Hunters. I wonder what they're deal is? Why do they want to take over the QZ? What could they possibly gain from it? Well, I could think of a few gains, but that's besides the point. I almost hate to help them out by turning on the power, but... whatever happens to the QZ isn't my problem. We won't be going back to it, but… as much as I hate it there and hate MEDRA, there are quite a few innocent individuals within the walls I wouldn't want to see killed or injured. Maybe when we see Ocean again, she'll do me a solid and warn some of them. Never in a million years did I think I'd ever say that. Fuck.

Looks like I'll just need to find some gas. I think I might have a way to jumpstart the generators, providing I don't accidentally electrocute myself in the process. There's a forklift just outside the room, maybe it has some left in it. I exit the power room with the gas jug in hoof and quickly find the forklift. I search it over and find the gas tank, then remove the cap and set it aside. I open the lid to the gas jug and remove the contents stuffed inside. There are two clear hoses of different lengths and two rags. I take the longer hose and insert it deep into the tank. To make sure there really is gas, I blow some air into the tube. I hear liquid bubbling, which tells me I've struck oil. So to speak.

I insert the shorter tube just inside the tank and create an airtight seal with the rags. After placing the longer tube into the gas jug, I blow into the shorter tube until I see gasoline rising up the tube and down into the jug. I keep blowing a few seconds longer and then stop to let gravity do the rest of the work. Gas splatters into the jug, creating a bit of noise. While the gas fills up the container, I look around for something made of rubber as a precaution for when I attempt to jumpstart the generators. I find a couple of old tires in the corner of the room and bring them with me back to the forklift.

When I get back, I see the siphon has sucked all the gas it’s going to get out of the tank. I remove the rags and tubes before tossing them to the side. I place the lid back onto the gas can and return to the standby generators. I pour the fuel into the designated- and helpfully labeled- area for the generators before placing the tires on the floor. I try to start them, but just like ‘Jungle Bloom’, I can’t get them to start. It sputters and chokes before falling silent. I take in a deep breath and sigh heavily as I take a step back and stand on the tires, then pray I don’t accidentally electrocute or blow myself up as I pull out the taser pistol Dove gave me.

“Please work,” I whisper to myself as I point the pistol at the generators.

Using my magic to do both, I try to start the generator again at the same time I fire the pistol. The taser pistol is extremely quiet and makes a faint thwunk sound when fired. As Dove had said, the taser bullet unfolds as it flies out and then sinks its fangs into the generator. It makes an electrical crackle noise that tells me I should prepare to be disappointed, however, after a few moments the generators hum to life. In a series of clicks and other mechanical noises, everything in the room hums to life as well.

I breathe a sigh of relief as the lights flicker on above me. Beyond the power room, I hear the lights click on in stages and the alerted screeches of nearby infected who I’ve rudely awakened. I hop off the tires, holster my taser pistol and pull out my revolver as I exit the room. I teleport myself to the warehouse entrance, double check that my mask is securely on my face and then push through the doors. I turn off my flashlight as I canter down the hall back to the security room. I've cleared out the majority of the infected that posed the greatest threat to me, so I should be fine to clear the fungus blocking the security door as long as I work quickly. Not that I planned on taking my sweet time or anything. Using my magic, I rip chunks and pieces of fungal flesh off the door until it's free enough that I can open the door. Zombies make awful chorus of noises as I disturb the fungal mass. Although I half expect the door to be locked, it swings inward when I turn the handle and give it a little push.

I go over to the security badge in the corner and cut it free with my knife before pulling off the remaining fungus with my magic. I put away my knife but keep my revolver out. To save on time, I teleport myself back to the double doors keeping me trapped and swipe the badge across the card reader. It beeps and turns green while the doors click loudly, signaling that they're unlocked. I push through the heavy doors and come out into a hall lined with store outlets and those booths that sell various overpriced knick knacks or offer weird, oddly specific services. The doors close behind me with a heavy thump as I look to my right and see the wall of rubble down at the end of the hall that separated me from my companions. Well, not anymore. Now I just have to find Sapphire and Zephyr, which is probably easier said than done.

"Sapphire? Zephyr?" I call out as loudly as I can manage.

The only thing that calls back is the alerted shrieks of infected somewhere down at the end of the hall. Although I've turned on the power, only a third of the lights everywhere I can see are working, making the hallway somewhat dark still. Well, it's better than nothing, I suppose. I canter down to the end of the hall until I reach where the mall splits off into three other hallways full of shopping outlets. In the middle here where all the halls meet is a large carousel slowly spinning. Chariots pulled by elegant, cream colored alicorns with long, red flowing manes and unicorns in fancy outfits bob up and down slowly as the carousel plays a nostalgic, soothing melody. There's an odd noise, however, just behind the song, like a clock ticking. It's just barely audible but really hard to ignore once you tune into it.

There are a lot of words that could describe the state of the carousel, but I think creepy might take the cake as there are three trotters impaled on different fancy unicorns and a clicker impaled on one of the alicorns. They are all- for a lack of better words- still alive, but when I say impaled, I mean whoever did this shoved them all the way down through their chest and stomachs to the point where they're quite literally stuck. I'm a little surprised they're still alive, but judging by the pools of blackened blood beneath them, they probably won't be for too much longer. Then again, these zombies don't exactly obey the normal laws of life and death. They hiss, growl, screech and make an assortment of noises as they spin around and bob along. It's creepy as fuck but also quite hilarious, especially when they try to get me but can't go anywhere. Whoever did it probably didn't know the power was going to be restored, so the fact this has happened makes the serious nature of my current situation a little more humorous.

I leave the infected to their fun as I trot around the carousel and look around for signs of Sapphire or Zephyr. I hear snarling and panicked sobs faintly from down the rightmost hall. I gallop down the hall towards the sounds until I find the source of them. I skid to a stop outside an musical instrument outlet store and see a trio of clickers and a trotter grouped together. The ugly fuckers are trying to get to at something up on the ceiling. I let out a sharp, ear piercing whistle that catches their attention. The trotter bolts towards me, but before he can exit the store, a bullet square to the brain stops him short.

The trotter collapses to the ground and the clickers canter towards me while letting out rapid clicks and shrieks. They trample the corpse of their fallen fungal brother as I take aim and fire away at their ugly, rotten faces. Because their heads are protected by hardened fungal plates, I exhaust the entire chamber putting them down. I quickly reload as I canter into the music store.

"Honey!" Zephyr exclaims, her voice trembling and full of panic and fear.

At first, I don't see her, but then I notice something pink hanging from the ceiling. I look up to see Zephyr hanging onto a light fixture for dear life, her body trembling and tears pouring down her face. I look around to make sure there are no other zombies lurking around before using my magic to bring her down to safety. She sobs as she rushes over and flings herself onto me. Zephyr buries her face in my neck and clings tightly to me. I can feel her trembling as I stand there frozen and unsure of what to do or say. Her actions and behavior are a bit unexpected. Although somewhat awkward, my motherly instincts kick in at seeing her in such a state and mostly override the awkwardness.

"What were you doing up there?" I ask as I awkwardly pat her shoulder.

"S-Sapphire and I split up b-but they chased me t-too and I-I-I panicked! I've never seen them up close! I've never fought one, s-so I panicked!" Zephyr replies, all in a single breath.

"And you tried to keep away from them on the ceiling? At least you were out reach," I say with a sigh.

"I'm scared!" Zephyr sobs.

"Don't be, I'm here now. I won't let them hurt you, Zephyr," I say reassuringly "are you injured any?"

"No, just scared," Zephyr says with a sniffle.

"Take some deep breaths and calm down. Everything is okay now," I say as I hug her tightly "we need to find Sapphire and get the fuck out of here."

"Okay," Zephyr says softly.

I listen to her inhale deeply and feel her warm breath in my neck as she exhales. I guess if I had spent my life during an apocalypse having never once seen or dealt with a zombie, I would probably panic and be scared too during a first encounter. Close to being an adult but still a child, I guess I can't fault her for it. I sigh as I gently push her off of me and step away. Zephyr sniffles as she wipes her tears away with the back of her hoof.

"The infected can be pretty terrifying and while you should never let your guard down around one, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret," I say as I look back at the dead trotter "they're extremely predictable. Once you realize that, they're not so scary anymore."

"When you've seen one, you've seen them all. Kill one and the rest go down just as easy," I add as I look back at Zephyr.

"A whole bunch of them came out of nowhere. It was like they just… poured out of the walls or something. We ran away as fast as we could," Zephyr says with a shaky sigh.

"What happened at the carousel?" I ask.

"Sapphire asked me to do something with my magic, so I tried to do like you did with the soldiers, but I could only pick up four of them," Zephyr explains.

"Then she drew the attention of the rest and told you to run the other way?" I guess.

"Mmhm. Most of them followed her, but those four broke away from the others and came after me instead," Zephyr confirms.

"Then you sought shelter on a light fixture?" I ask, looking up at the ceiling where I found her.

"Yeah. Though, when the lights came on, the bulb exploded on the first light and I flinched so hard that it came right out of the ceiling. I started to fall and the zombies were right under me, so I teleported to the one you found me on," Zephyr explains.

"And then you showed up and rescued me. Thank you, Honey," Zephyr adds with a thankful smile.

"Of course. I might not be your biggest fan, but I'm not going to let you die like that," I say with a nod of acknowledgement.

"When I die, I want it to be by my own hooves or on my own terms," Zephyr says confidently.

"For once, I can agree with you on something. Now, let's go find Sapphire," I say as I turn to face the exit.

"Lead the way, captain," Zephyr says with a chuckle.

"Do you know where she went?" I ask.

"Roughly. I don't imagine she's left the building," Zephyr replies "from the carousel in the direction we came from, she went to the left."

"So straight relative to where we are now, then," I say as I trot out of the music store.

"Er, yeah," Zephyr says with an embarrassed chuckle.

I roll my eyes and lightly shake my head as I quicken my pace down the hall. Zephyr follows closely behind me and switches to the right side of me as we pass the carousel. The zombies start up their cacophony of growls and shrieks as we pass by, which I promptly ignore. Zephyr and I take turns calling out for Sapphire as we head down where Zephyr said she had gone. As we get halfway down the hall, a big group of trotters- about twelve- come galloping full speed in our direction from a store down at the very end.

"You've only got a knife, don't you?" I ask as I ready my gun.

"Unfortunately. I don't know how to use a gun," Zephyr replies.

"Get behind me, then," I say with a sigh.

Zephyr quickly ducks behind me as I lower my head and begin casting the firework spell again. I let it build in intensity as they come closer and closer. My horn glows brightly and hotly as I let it grow. When I let it go, it whistles loudly and explodes with an even louder crackle. The trotters shriek and groan as they freak out. Those directly hit by the explosion are now on fire and desperately trying to attack the flames hurting them. As those trotters drop the ground after a few seconds writhing in pain, the rest continue to come after us. There's seven left now, enough for me to deal with bullets. I put down four of them but the last two in the chamber completely miss their intended targets.

As I reload, turquoise magic envelopes their legs and suddenly the trotters seem to forget how to use their legs. They stagger and stumble over each other before tumbling to the ground. They make numerous attempts to stand, all of which fail. Zephyr groans as she trots out from behind me and pulls out her knife. She gets a little closer and stabs them all repeatedly in the head until they quit moving.

"Note to self, numbing spell hurts if used on too many limbs at once," Zephyr mumbles to herself.

"Not bad, kid. Sometimes you've got to get a little creative when they're in large numbers like that," I say as I trot forward "but don't get carried away or get too elaborate. It's easy to get overwhelmed."

"Creativity is good in a pinch, but basics are usually best. Duly noted," Zephyr says with a nod.

We continue on down the hall and call out for Sapphire. Worry starts to grow in my heart when we don't hear her call back. We get to the end and split up to check the last two stores. The store I enter is full of old, worthless knick knacks covered in a couple decades' worth of dust. The lights hum and flicker every so often as I look around. As I step around a shelf, I nearly step on the body of a deceased clicker. I grimace at the corpse as I step around it. I come across a second corpse, then a third, then a fourth and fifth, a sixth and then a seventh.

A rouge souvenir magnet smacks me in the forehead as I stare at the last body and ponder how so many died in such close proximity. I look down and see its dumb drunk flamingo face looking back up at me. I rub my forehead as I look for the source that threw it. To my surprise, I see Sapphire standing in a doorway holding some kind of thick cord between her teeth. Her gun is on the ground in front of her and to her right- my left- is a rack of magnets.

"What in the hell are you doing?" I question.

She frowns and narrows her eyebrows at me. She gestures to the cord, then makes a hush gesture before pulling something out of her shirt pocket and tossing it at me. I catch it but nearly drop it. I turn it over in my hoof and see that it's a digital voice recorder. Sapphire gestures me to play it, so I do;

"This is Caramel Dream of the… I guess we're calling ourselves the Anti-MEDRA Official Rebellion, aka AMOR. They seriously think they can just come here and set up fascist labor slave camps under the guise of a "quarantine zone" for our "protection". Yeah, right. To protect themselves and use us to do all the shit they don't want to do while they act like they're their fucking Princesses. Well, guess what? AMOR isn't going to let that fucking happen. I'm not going to let that happen.

We heard they were going to try to use the mall as their base of operations, so guess what we did? That's right. We rigged it to blow so they can't use it and hopefully in the process we'll put a huge dent in their numbers so we can reclaim our fucking town. The whole mall is rigged. The last two stores of every hall are filled with hidden explosives. Even better, if one store were to go off, we've managed to get it rigged so that the rest go off too.

There were two issues with that plan, though. Even if all six stores were to blow, the damage would only extend three stores down. That's all well and good, but it wouldn't kill all of them. To fix that, we rigged the carousel to blow when they blow. Big explosives, powerful. Definitely illegal, not that that matters now. I'm tempted to ask how they got this stuff, but it's not my pasture, not my bull. Second problem was in order to get them to actually blow while MEDRA is here and doom themselves was by hooking the whole thing to the power, so it's both timed and not timed… I guess?

I'm not an expert in explosives or demolition, so I'm not sure how exactly that works but that's what they told me. Er, actually, I'm not sure if that's actually what they said… I kind of wasn't listening. I tune Cinder out the minute she opens her mouth. She talks too much and I only understand a fraction of whatever comes out. If the power comes on, this bitch is gonna blow after a while unless they trigger one of the rigged points first. Hopefully. We can't really test it because, well, you know… but they know what they're doing I suppose. It was all very technical and smart sounding, so what could go wrong?

Hopefully MEDRA comes through soon and we can watch them fry. I better ask Sky if we have any popcorn in the ration room.

*crash* *bang* *clatter*

What the fuck was that? Who's there?

*Shriek*

OH FU-"

The recording abruptly stops. I think back to when I first came across the carousel. That noise hiding behind the carousel's melody must have been the timer on the explosives rigged to it. I didn't see anything that looked dangerous besides the impaled zombies, but… it all must be inside it. Maybe underneath? I look up at Sapphire and the cord she's holding between her teeth. If she lets go or we stand here too long trying to figure something out, we're going to die horrifically. I teleport Zephyr to me, who squeals in surprise after cantering into the door beside Sapphire. She must have been on her way to me when I did that. Oops.

"What the hell?" Zephyr whines as she rubs her nose.

"Apparently this mall is rigged to blow and is tied to the power. So, since I turned the power on, if we take too long to get the fuck out or Sapphire lets go, we're going to die," I explain quickly.

Zephyr's expression changes from annoyed to confused to shocked as she listens to me. She looks over and widens her look of shock when she sees Sapphire.

"What are we going to do??" Zephyr asks in complete panic.

"First of all, don't piss yourself, so calm down. Secondly, you're going to stay right here with Sapphire while I take care of getting us out of here without dying," I say as I roll my eyes "pick up her gun and hold onto it for her."

Zephyr uses her magic to pick it up and then looks at me expectantly.

"Just so you know what to expect, I'm going to leave you both here in the mall. Don't fucking panic, Zephyr. I see that look in your eye," I say with an annoyed sigh "I'm gonna get a safe distance away and then teleport you both to me."

Zephyr's look of protest changes back to an annoyed one as I explain myself. Another magnet smacks me in the forehead which elicits a growl from me as I whip my head to scowl at Sapphire. She mimes something to me, but I have absolutely no clue what she's trying to convey. Whatever it is, it's probably a threat.

"You have a better idea?" I ask her.

She very lightly shakes her head and I give her a look that hopefully conveys 'that's what I thought' to her. Sapphire rolls her eyes at me as I take a few steps away. I turn around and look over my shoulder.

"Don't let go of that. I'll be back," I say.

Sapphire facehoofs as I look away and canter out of the store and down the hall to the exit. The automatic doors whoosh open as I approach, allowing me to quickly exit the mall. I look around briefly and then gallop as fast as I can. I have no idea how big exactly the members of AMOR intended for the explosion to be, so I'm going to have to hope I can get us far enough away. As I gallop through the other parking lot, a couple of trotters crawl out from under abandoned vehicles and chase after me.

I use my magic to grab their legs and trip them up, causing them both to tumble to the ground. I skid to a halt and quickly dispose of them before continuing on my way. I keep going until the mall can be hardly seen between the rain and the distance. I take in a deep breath and slowly let it out as my horn begins to glow. A few seconds later, Sapphire and Zephyr appear alongside me. Sapphire opens her mouth to say something, but before she can, the ground rumbles and shakes as flames shoot up into the sky. Fiery debris rains down from the sky as we watch on in awe.

The sight of the debris and the explosion together bring back some horrible memories that make my heart race and silently panic. I mentally fight the panic as best I can. The last thing we need- that I need- is for me crumble and break down into a useless mess of sobs and fear. I try to focus on the rain, making mental notations of nearly every drop that touches me. In the distance, nearly all around us, every infected individual disrupted by the explosions shrieks. I'd bet a fair amount of ration cards that the mall exploding into bits and pieces was heard in the Zone too. Not that MEDRA would likely investigate, but still. The ground rumbles even more as slowly- but surely- the mall collapses and takes the surrounding area down with it. The radius of the collapse extends pretty far, but luckily not all the way to where we stand.

"They say cool mares don't look at explosions, but we're not cool," Sapphire says with a big grin "we're badass as fuck."

"Amen!" Zephyr agrees with a giggle.

Sapphire trots over to me and smacks me appreciatively on the shoulder. I lightly shake my head and look at her. I'm glad that whole ordeal is over with, but it's too early to celebrate. This is just the beginning. I'm sure more shit will go down later that will make this seem like a day at the park. That's just how things seem to go for me. Er, I mean us.

"There's just one thing I can't quite piece together, Sapphire," I say as I raise an eyebrow.

"What's that?" Sapphire questions.

"How exactly did you take out all those clickers with that cord in your mouth? It was impressive, whatever you did," I answer.

"My hair. I looped a lock around the trigger, aimed carefully and blam! Took those fuckers out," Sapphire says with a prideful chuckle.

"Badass in hindsight, but terrifying in the moment," She adds.

"Alright, then. We'd better get going before anypony comes looking to see what just blew up," I say.

Sapphire reclaims her pistol from Zephyr and reloads it before taking point once more. When this is all over with and we get our little community elsewhere started or whatever it is we end up doing, I think I'm going to retire for good. No more missions, jobs, spelunking or anything of the sorts. Just stay inside and drink the remainder of my days away until I heave my final breath.