The Trotting Dead: Saints And Sinners

It had taken some time for the Tourist to grasp the names of all the ponies in the room but eventually he got a hold of them. They had spent the past thirty minutes describing what had happened to this world and who could have survived. The Tourist was skeptical as ever, questioning the ponies on what their course of action would be.

They had told him about how they planned to travel to a place called Canterlot. A large city that sat on the side of a mountain, now to the Tourist, that sounded like a fairy tail. The ponies told him that they believed it was a safe haven for everyone and away from the undead.

"So what are your plans?" The pony known as Cheerilee asked.

"Well my main priority is to find a secure place to call home." The Tourist said.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well I was thinking something small and sturdy but with plenty of room to fit all my stuff, just like my old place."

"What was your place like?"

"It was an old rundown bus in a graveyard. How it got their, I have no clue. But it was safe and secure, probably due to the fact no one wants to be near a graveyard when the dead are walking."

The Tourist chuckled at his small joke, Cheerilee did not share his laughter. She simply looked down at her hooves snd tapped them on the floor. The Tourist took this as a sign that the conversation had ended. He took his backpack off and sat it in front of him, next he removed the axe from his shoulder and sat it next to his bag. He finally removed his military combat knife and 9mm from each of his holsters and layer then down as well.

The Tourist slowly began to inspect each of his weapons, he made sure each of them were fully loaded and sharpened. This caught the attention of one of the foals, a small filly by the name of Diamond Tiara. She sat down in front of him and watched him curiously as he inspected each of his weapons.

"What's that?" The filly asked as she pointed her hoof at the Tourist's 9mm.

He smiled and picked up the gun.

"This is a 9mm pistol, a small but useful weapon. Good for protecting yourself." The Tourist explained as he began to remove the guns attachments, starting with the laser sight. The filly watched him unclip the small black object from the weapon. He then moved on to the silencer, he quickly unscrewed it from the barrel of the gun.

"What does it exactly do?" Diamond Tiara asked.

" Well as I said it's a weapon," The Tourist removed the magazine from the gun and held it up so the filly could see it. "You put this in to it and pull back the slider to move a bullet in to the chamber."

"What's a bullet?"

The Tourist pulled back the slider of the 9mm and ejected the round that was still in the chamber, quickly catching it while it was still in the air.

"This is a bullet." The Tourist said as he held up the bullet.

"It's so... small."

"Indeed it is. But that's what makes them deadly. They're small but extremely fast. Fast enough to break bones sometimes."

Diamond Tiara winced at the thought of a small metal cylinder hitting someone's bone hard enough to break it.

"I know that look, the idea of something so small being so deadly getting to you?"

"Y-yep."

The Tourist chuckled and began to reassemble the gun and reloaded it. This was nice, it wasn't normal for the Tourist to sit down and talk to someone or even be in the presence of others. He had spent so much time alone that he had almost forgotten what it felt like to have a friendly social interaction. He looked over the room watching all the ponies, Applejack was sitting by her sister and her sister's friends, reading them a story, Filthy Ritch and Spoiled Rich sat close together. The Tourist wasn't a big fan of the stallion, it was the way he presented himself, he asked as if he was above the rest of them, especially the Tourist. However the same could not be said for his wife, sure she came off as a wee bit snobby at first, but the Tourist soon realized that her attitude was an act to pleas her husband. The Tourist was repulsed by the the simple fact that she had to act in a certain way just so her husband would acknowledge her.

The Tourist shook his head and looked away from the two and on two Mrs. Cake. She was asleep on a chair, nothing more could really be said about her. The Tourist disliked the thought that he had brutally put down her husband in the street. He sighed at looked away from her, what's done is done and he couldn't change that.

His eyes finally came to Cheerilee and Silver Spoon. Cheerilee had moved away from him once he began talking with Diamond Tiara. She looked like she was changing the bloodied bandages that covered Silver Spoon's foreleg. The Tourist had to admit that despite being a school teacher, she certainly knew what she was doing. Silver Spoon had been sweating bucket, clearly suffering from a fever.

When the bandage was fully unraveled from Silver Spoon's leg, the Tourist froze and his blood ran cold. There on Silver Spoon's foreleg was a bite mark, a nasty one at that. It was still bleeding profusely but other than that it was clear the ponies had tried there best to clean it.

The Tourist grabbed his gun and got to his feet quicker than the eye could blink.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me about this?" The Tourist demanded as he pointed a gun at filly.

"What are you doing?" Cheerilee yelled.

"When did she get this bite?"

No one spoke to afraid to do anything. The Tourist turned to Silver Spoon.

"When did you get this bite?"

"J-just a few hours before you got here." Silver Spoon stuttered out.

"SHIT!"

The Tourist moved the gun away from the filly's head and put his hand on his knees as he left over.

"Oh fuck!"

"What? What's wrong?" Applejack asked as she made her way towards the Tourist.

"Silver is fucking bit."

"What's so bad about that? it's just a bite."

The Tourist turned to Applejack with fury in his eyes and stormed towards the mare.

"No it's not just a bite. She is going to die."

"What in Celestia's name do you mean?"

"The fever she has is going to kill her, then she will come back as one of those things outside."

"How do you know tha-"

I've seen it happen!"

All was silent, not a soul dared to speak. The Tourist walked back to Silver Spoon and went down to her eye level. He began to whisper something to her and showed her the 9mm. She nodded and whispered back. The Tourist nodded and signaled for her to go in to another room.

"I've given her a choice... I asked if she wanted to wait it out or if she just wanted it to end." The Tourist said in a sorrowful voice.

"And what did she choose?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"The second option."

There was a small collection of gasps as the ponies took in what was going to happen to the filly.

The Tourist made his way in to the room with Silver Spoon, and slowly closed the door behind him. They didn't need to see what was going to happen.

"Are you ready?" The Tourist asked.

"Y-yes sir." Sliver Spoon said. Her eyes had filled with tears and she was shaking. The Tourist placed his hand on her head and stroked her mane. He slowly walked around behind her and raised his pistol to her head. He convinced himself that this was mercy compared to what could happen to her. The filly continued to cry and wrapped her forelegs around a stuffed teddy that was nearby.

There was a small pop and the crying stopped.

The Tourist stepped out of the room holding something in his arms, it was completely wrapped in a blanket to hide what it was. Everyone knew what it was or rather who it was. Some of them had tears in their eyes, other sat in silence. The Tourist made his way towards the front door and opened it. He stepped out in to the schools playground and gently placed the wrapped up body on the ground.

He looked around for a moment and found what he was looking for, a shovel. He slowly made is way over to it and picked it up. He couldn't help but feel pain about what he had done. Once back at the filly's wrapped up body he began to dig a hole.

In no time at all the hole was big enough to fit the wrapped up body in it. He picked up Silver Spoon and gently placed her in the hole. The others had come to to witness this act. Th Tourist stood silent for a moment, not doing anything. Then he picked up the shovel and began to fill in the hole.