Luna was up on her hooves the moment she felt them coming. They were moving in fast, no doubt ready to get home safe and sound. She turned, hurrying up the stairs, past the door. "They're back."

Victor looked up from where he had been writing something. "The retrieval squad? Stupid question." He pushed off the desk to get up to his feet. "Are they safe?!"

Luna turned, nodding. "There are some injured, but I believe they are alright."

He hurried after her, making for the doorway as the soldiers pulled it open with groaning wood and clanging metal. They filed in, looking weary for their journey. Sally thrust a bag into Victor's hands. "Make this happen. Tell me this was worth the trip."

Victor grinned and opened the bag. The others were pulling out their own prizes from the run. Fertilizer was what they wanted, and they had gotten enough to start a small farm. He chuckled faintly and tossed it over his shoulder. "I'm on the case. Don't need me to tell you, but focus on resting, all of you."

Luna stepped over towards them as Victor left. "We should move inside, lest we make this opening a temptation for the zombies."

They looked between each other. None of them had any reason to disagree. Soon they had the door shut securely. Sally swatted Luna's shoulders. "Thanks for taking up the slack. Someone has to keep an eye on things while away teams are off doing their thing." She turned away. "And, just between me and you? You can tell a zombie is coming by how it smells." Her tone wasn't joking at all.

Luna snorted at that. "Sounds like you need a shower." She pointed a hoof deeper into their little bunker. "Go get one, you've more than earned it."

Sally laughed at that as she pushed off towards the washroom.

***

Victor took a slow breath, his eyes scanning over the recipe laid out on the counter before him. He glanced down at the mortar and pestle. The smell of the various ingredients wafted through the air around him, assaulting his nose and senses.

"Smells like salad." Toby's voice sounded from behind him.

Victor turned, smiling faintly at Toby's comment. "I suppose so. I don't have all the information on how exactly this works, just the basics of it." He prodded the mortar with the pestle. "But I have the list, and I'm getting the ingredients." A faint pause. "Does it really smell like food to you? I wouldn't want to eat anything that smelled like this."

Toby reached down to touch the mixture in the dish. Victor was about to say something about him doing that, but Toby just brought his finger to his mouth. He licked it clean with a thoughtful expression. "Spicy. Not bad." He nodded with seeming satisfaction. "Not eat, important." He stood up tall. "Ready?"

Victor laughed softly. "Not yet. I still have more to do here. But we're getting there." His eyes went towards the door. "You know what I need?"

Toby shook his head, ears flapping.

Victor grabbed one paper from a pile of so many others. "Here. See this picture? I need you to find just one container of this and hurry on back. No fighting, in, out."

Toby looked at the picture and nodded quickly, grinning with the trust being shown. "Yes!"

"Good. Wish I could tell you exactly where to get it, but we've looted most of the easy stuff around here. It'll be in a building somewhere. But if anyone can run fast enough to get it done, it's you."

Toby grinned proudly at that. "Yes." He leaned in, grabbing Victor into a crushing hug with a soft laugh. "Not run, jump." He hopped up just to come down facing the exit. "Be fast, not hurt. Be back quick!" He raced off towards the exit, slowing only when he reached the door to make sure it was safe.

Victor watched him depart and turned his attention back on the recipe. He still had a lot to do, but it wouldn't take more than another day to complete the concoction. Assuming he could get that last part.

He put that out of his mind for the moment, focusing on getting the rest of it together. At least they had those. He grabbed one of a few spray bottles more designed to get weed killer around. "Smelly weeds." He started to mix his concoction together. It smelled like rotten vegetables, a scent that quickly spread across the room.

***

Toby leaped down the road, landing in a crouch as he took the impact from the landing. He was in search mode, so the zombies didn't register at first. He stood up tall and looked at them. One was coming at him, not in the usual shamble. It was running like it had somewhere to be, and that somewhere was uncomfortable close to Toby.

Toby looked down at the image in his hand, then up at the zombie coming for him. "No." He jumped just in time to dodge a grasping hand and kicked off a shoulder to launch himself up to another rooftop. The zombie he'd used as a boost lunged for him, but came up short with Toby on a roof, and the zombie on the ground. "No." He bounded away from the angry dead chaser, looking into the darkened store windows in search of that picture.

***

Sally turned to face Victor as she dried her hair. "Hey, how goes it?" She grinned. "No rush, but I like having good news to report."

Victor looked up at her, pulling up his goggles. "Won't know until we have the last ingredient, and we test it. Got Toby rushing to get the last little bit we need to really see if we got somewhere or not." He sighed softly. "I'm sure some of this is a little imprecise. We can make up the difference in volume if we need, though I hope not." He looked over his recipe again, glancing at his mortar of smelly grass and other things.

Sally put a hand on his shoulder. "We're all going to give it our best. If we can start melting zombies like unwanted weeds, that's a big step up." She grinned at him.

Victor nodded with a weak smile. "We're going to try it, but I don't want anyone getting hurt assuming this will for sure work."

Sally punched him in the side. "If it works, great, but I'll be ready to bugger off if they don't just fall over. I'll make sure anyone else on the team gets the same instructions. We won't count on it working unless it does."

He nodded slowly. "Just be ready to get out of there and back to safety if they come after you."

Sally nodded quickly. "It's not like we haven't had a plan B before." She hiked a thumb upwards. "And we have eyes from the sky. Feel a little safer with a magical horse ready to set them on fire." She grinned and winked at that.

Victor laughed softly. "Not exactly the safest job around. I'd be lying if I claimed not to feel a little better having some magical backup, but let's be real. We didn't ask for her to show up, and, eventually, she and her friends will wander off."

He threw a hand aside. "They don't owe us a thing. We owe them everything."

Sally shrugged gently. "We could still use it while it lasts, right?"

Victor nodded in agreement. "It's a nice safety net, but we shouldn't depend on it." He looked down at the collection of things he had assembled and gathered. "I'm hoping this works. It'll become two legs we can stand on without them."

"O-oh." They turned to see Fluttershy peeking at them, half-hiding behind her own mane. "Sorry."

Sally crouched to be closer to the level of the pegasus. "What have you got to be sorry about? You've been nothing but helpful since you got here."

Fluttershy nodded. "But, you were saying how nice it would be if we left. We're just in the way, aren't we?"

Sally gently rubbed Fluttershy's shoulder, working up to her mane. "We didn't say that. We said it'd be nice if we could handle our own problems. All of you have been amazing help in your own ways, but we don't want to depend on someone who has other places they need to be."

Fluttershy was quiet a moment, leaning into Sally's hand a quiet moment. "Can I help more?" She lifted an ear. "Luna is fighting. Toby and Angel are fast and get thing for you." She smiled weakly. "I'm not good at either of those things."

Victor glanced over at her. "Hey, you helped us with our dogs." He nodded towards the stairway down to the kennel. "They're doing a lot better now, and even my dogs like you." He chuckled at that. "And they didn't like anyone that wasn't me before. You're a medic, and those aren't easy to find. You're pulling your weight."

Fluttershy was quiet a moment longer. "But, um, Luna said that she and Celestia think it might be bad to meddle." Her head tilted in confusion. "They weren't talking about helping, were they?"

Sally looked confused. "Luna I know. Celestia?" She rolled a hand in the air. "Who's that?"

Fluttershy turned her attention towards Sally, frowning softly at the question. "She's the ruler of Equestria. She raises the sun." She was quiet, just thinking. "And the most kind princess you could ever hope to meet. She and Luna are sisters." She smiled gently. "She and a friend of mine are trying to get me back to Equestria."

Sally grinned and nodded. "You must be excited to hear they're working to get you back home."

Fluttershy was quiet a long moment. "I don't want you all to get hurt." She shrank a little. "It's not fair if we get a happy ending and you don't."

Victor sighed softly. "It's not about being fair, is it?"

Fluttershy shrugged. "Isn't it? You're creatures too."

Sally and Victor shared a glance, but they couldn't find an answer to the question. Sally mussed Fluttershy's soft mane. "You take care of yourself, Fluttershy. We'll do our best to take care of our things. All we're asking." Sally leaned in towards her. "Is for you to take care of the dogs downstairs. It'd be nice if someone with so much skill in caring for them could stick around."

Fluttershy nodded with a smile. "Oh!" She perked. "Is any of your people interested in helping them? I could, um, show them the basics." She fidgeted with one of her wings. "I'm not very good at, um, teaching."

Victor smiled and nodded. "I'd be happy to learn more from you." He gestured for her to follow. "Let's go say hello to some puppers."

***

The lights had long gone dark and the city had become silent as a graveyard. Toby was moving from building to building, looking in windows and around shelves. The picture in his hand remained a constant companion.

Searching in the gloom was difficult at best, squinting against what little light the moon could offer. He saw a sign, faded with age and weathering. A pharmacy would be the most likely place to find it, though most were picked clean when people were still alive enough to do so.

He bounded towards the door of the place and grabbed for a handle. It rattled, still closed, locked. Toby scowled. "No." He pulled with all his strength, wrenching the metal free with a low screech of abused metal.

He looked around nervously for what had heard that. Nervous, he bounded up to the ceiling and went still, hoping nothing would hear him. He looked down, watching. Zombies, even as stupid as they were, had an annoying ability to sense what they considered food.

He was not food.

When it seemed no one had noticed him, he leaped into the building, landing in a crouch. He couldn't see, it was too dark. He could smell medicines, and feel packages. It was something. He began grabbing everything he could, not knowing if it was the right thing or not. He'd take it back and hope.

He gathered them together in a pile of boxes, a soft thump sounding from each collision. He was just about to turn to leave when his ears rose at a sound. There, in the doorway, a dead walking form reached towards him, groaning softly with hunger or anger. Maybe both.

Toby tensed, his ears flattening against his skull. "Not food." He spread his fingers, ready to leap out past. "Not want eat!" The zombie lunged for him, only for Toby's greater speed to throw the zombie off balance. Toby kicked off from the zombie and leaped up into the rafters. The monster reached up for him, just for Toby to land on him with the crushing weight of his considerable bulk.

The zombie let out one last hiss of air as all of it left its lungs, pushed out by Toby's feet on its back. Toby scrambled off the zombie, gathering up what he had grabbed from the store and leaping off into the distance for home.

Author's Note

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