Feastby ABCordovaChaptersChapter 1:OutbreakChapter 2: EnduranceChapter 3: FallChapter 4:Blood and ChocolateChapter 1:OutbreakFeast Chapter 1: Outbreak The key fell for what could possibly be the 20th time in five minutes. I wanted to scream my lungs out but managed to restrain myself, mainly because it was mid-day and almost every pony alive was awake. It was a bright and sunny day, like almost every day in Equestria. The trees were bright green, the wind passed by gently and no one seemed to have a care in the world, well at least not anyone human. The keys fell again, this time I swore under my breath. The reason I was dropping my keys so much was because I was using every available body part to hold the groceries I had just purchased. Finally, after what felt like hours of struggling, I got the key in the lock and opened the door. One of the many small mysteries about this place is how a pony, who has no hands or fingers, manages to get a key into a lock and open a door. I shrugged the thought off, making a mental note to reflect on it later. I stored all the groceries in their rightful place and collapsed on my bed. How long have I been here? I thought. 15 months, I thought again. It was crazy how just a year and a few months ago I was a normal human living among other humans and now I'm in some weird pony world. The house that I "own" was lent to me by a generous pony who noted I was without a place to call my own the first day I was here. It was long story, I was just sitting in my house alone on Friday night, when out of nowhere, two talking (yet slightly annoying) cartoon-like ponies popped out of nowhere and forced me out of my house and towards the nearest bar. Needless, to say, I was drunk in a hour. Somehow, I managed to make it home, only to wake up during a pony party with tremendous hangover. Ironically, the ponies that got me here would turn out to be some of my closet friends, despite being responsible for having me eaten, shot, almost killed on multiple occasions, turn temporarily into a pony, developing a second (homicidal) personality and throwing orange juice on me. This entire situation was surreal; in fact, my head hurt just thinking about it. I thought about going next door and visiting Simple and Noble Dreams but I was so tired that I could barely open my eyes. I rested my head against my pillow and let sleep do it's magic. ******************************************************************************************* I don't know how long I was out but I know that I never felt better, but sweaty? As if something was smoking, wait smoke? I jumped out of my bed and ran all over my little house. I opened the cabinets, checked the closet the stove, even the bathroom. Instinctively, I ran to the second floor of the house, and poked my head into the first room. I was covered in sweat by now, and adrenaline was only making it worse somehow. The first room was clear, so was the second but the third looked strange, shiny. I gasped when I realized what was on the floor, glass. The bedroom window had a crude, jagged hole in it, and on the floor, surrounded by glass, was a rock. I knelt down and looked it over, but there was nothing special about it. I then moved my gaze towards the window, but a fog covered my view, a hot fog. It took me that long to realize that the smoke was not from my house, and so I bolted to my door, fiddled with the lock and stepped out into the world before me. The sun, smoke and air hit me like a bullet, followed but by the light sense of copper, blood. I then opened my eyes, and immediately wanted shut them again. The world before me was not the world I knew, it looked more like Hell than the peaceful land that I had resided in for more than a year. Houses burned, the fires burning high into the daylight, screams of panic and fear filled the air. My ears rang from the destruction that was in front of me. I ran into the middle of the street and caught a glimpse of the citizens of Pony-Ville, they running but from each other? As I watched one tackled another and to my horror, bit straight into the neck-area. I began to sprint, but soon other feral-like ponies swarmed the dying one, and began their gory feast. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't take them all on, and that's when I saw it. Noble Dreams house, half on fire, half melting. Simple appeared in my mind, and I ran. It took all my might not to help the unknown pony being consumed alive by the feral one, but when a flashed a glace towards the group, one of them stared at me, making that moment the first time I caught I glimpse of the feral-ponies. Its eyes were white, in the sense there were no noticeable pupils to call eyes, and it was caked in blood, its mane dripping with the blood of its new kill. It opened it mouth, revealing a set of jaws not seen in ponies but something a shark would have. The thing snarled at me and went back to consuming its meal. I turned back, disturbed by what I saw, and was immediately hit by an unknown force. I fell on my back, as so did the other figure. I tasted blood in my mouth, dazed; I looked up to see the figure and was shocked. Isaac, Isaac Changeling. He wasn't disguised a pony like he normally was but he was in his changeling form. He looked scared, fearful, but of me, not anything else. I then realized, with the blood in my mouth and dazed look I had, I didn't look human at all. I tried to say something, but all that came out was a "Gugh-"as Isaac lifted me up with his telekinesis and threw me into the nearest building. I crashed into it with full force and sat uncomfortably on top of large pieces of wood. The pain was unbearable, I felt horrible. I wanted vomit, but I turned my head upwards, just as the rest of the house collapsed on me and everything went black. ******************************************************************************************* I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a freight train, my head was pounding and I could already feel the blood soaking my clothes. I was surprised I was still alive, living truly is a blessing. Without even opening my eyes, I knew something was wrong, it was quiet, there were no screams, collapsing houses or anything, just dead silence. I opened my eyes only to find myself covered underneath many large pieces of wood from the collapsed house. I tried to move, to look around, but my vision was obscured by the large mound on top of me and when I tried to, I sharp pain ran up my leg. I managed to see the problem; a small spike of wood was protruding from my leg. Luckily, I could reach and pull it out, and so, as I moved closer to the spike, one the ferals slowly trotted in. I slumped back into the mound, praying it wouldn't see me. It was the same one that growled and looked at me from earlier. It began to sniff the area, searching the collapsed house for food. I refused to be on the menu, I slowly began inching my way out of the mound, it seemed impossible but I was willing to try. I began to silently put wood on the floor. After what seemed like hours, my lower right arm was free. I moved my shoulder slightly, just to get comfortable for the rest of my body, when my shoulder touched a standing piece of wood making crash on the floor with large "THUMP". The creature reared its head in my direction, snarled and began to leap on the mound. I tried to escape as quick as possible but my leg wound only allowed me to get half of my body out. The creature jumped once more, this time landing on the piece of wood above my chest. I roared and brought its teeth down. I panicked and grabbed the large piece of wood next to me and hit it square in the mouth. It wasn't a hard hit, but the creature lost its stance and slipped. That gave me time and I quickly shed the wood off of me, and started to stand up. The creature roared once again, and charged. I wanted to run, but my leg let a sharp gust of pain, also at the same time the creature slammed into me. This time, it stood on me, and wasted no time bringing its jaws down on me. However I still had the piece of wood on me, and used it to block its jaws. I was panicking, and with all my might brought the wood upwards, directly into its neck. The creature recoiled and fell to the floor, growling and snarling. I stood up slowly, the adrenaline coursing through my veins, and I looked at the thing. "It isn't alive anymore, it isn't the person it once was", I thought. The creature was already trying to stand, and in a few minutes it would devour me. With these thoughts in mind, I raised the piece of wood above my head. The creature roared up at me one last time, before I drove the sharp end into its body. Again and again and again, and again. Warm blood splattered onto my pants and my shirt. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping me going, I couldn't stop. I continued the ordeal for what felt like years, the corpse in front of me looked unrecognizable, yet I continued. Finally I stopped, surrounded by a pool of blood, panting, I dropped the plank of wood and took 2 steps back before falling to my knees. The spike was causing me enough pain already. I couldn't just leave it there; my leg would be rendered useless. I took one last look at what had been Pony-Ville, before wrenching the wooden spike out my leg, screaming into the day. Chapter 2: EnduranceI was limping, and every step felt like having a large needle stabbed into my leg. I didn't know where I was going; I just felt the need to move away from the corpse that was unrecognizable thanks to me. I was in shock, tears burning my face, I was hyperventilating, my heart wanted to explode, I wanted to dig a hole in the middle of the ground and hide in there forever, but instead I stopped, bent over and breathed. What have I done? You killed someone; you took that piece of wood and ended his life. But it wasn't itself anymore, it was, a monster. I needed to get myself together; I took in deep breaths, slow and big. Pony-Ville was deserted, there was no-one anywhere, alive or not. A certain emotion swept, over me, a strange sort of depression, the cause being that I couldn't do anything or go anywhere, I was lost. A few seconds after my last thought, the memory of my friends flashed into my mind, they could be dead or worse, I wanted to make sure they were alright, but that only made my sadness worse. I then focused my attention more on Slender, if anyone knew more about this he would, but the problem was, I didn't know where he lived. Crap he must have told me a bunch of times. Then my thoughts shifted back to my friends in general, I had to find out if they alive, but I was in no condition to do so, and so, I headed back towards my house, a plan forming in my mind. ******************************************************************************************* In about half an hour, I had strapped a large bandage over my leg (plus alcohol), several knifes in a pouch, and a hammer in my right hand. I pulled out the mini-map that I had and looked over to the closest house that belonged to someone I knew. It was close, and it belonged to Shock Wave. Unlikely he was even still there but he was the only pony that lived near here other than Noble, Kim, Rainbow Blitz and Callie. . My mind ran over the total amount of people that I had to find. Wow, I have my work cut out for me, and with that, I started walking. On my way to his house, I searched the other ones, only to find food, money and a corpse, all of which I took, except the corpse. Despite what had happened, I still searched Noble's house, only to find more bodies and bullet shells. Where Noble had gotten a gun, I had no idea. Finally, I reached the front door of Shock's house. Surprisingly, it was one of the few houses not looking completely damaged. I pushed the door open, only to be greeted by several bodies, none of which, were Star Dust or Shock Wave. I began to climb the stairs, slowly, quietly. If a zombified Shock Wave was waiting for me I didn't want to be caught surprised, so a gripped my hammer in one hand and my knife in the other. I found his room, and pushed the door open. I stepped inside, only to find nothing, in fact, the room looked very untouched. I turned around, as almost screamed as Shock Wave charged at me with a voice full of rage. He tackled me onto the ground on the floor of the room, and began to continue beating me anywhere he could. At least he's alive, I thought. I violently shoved the pony of me and readied my hammer. I was right; he was alive, alive and trying to kill me. The push managed to get him to notice me, his expression changed from angry to surprise. "Austin?" I nodded my head but before I could speak, we both froze at the sound of the all too familiar snarl of an infected pony, coming from downstairs, slowly moving towards the stairwell. We stood there for a few seconds before slowly inching away from the room and to the top of the stairway, careful not to make a sound. We peered down, and saw the feral pony, sniffing the air, looking for food. I then realized my failure. My leg had stopped bleeding but a medium sized spot of blood was still noticeable, even through the bandages. I had no idea whether or no these monsters cared much for smell but it certainly looked like it. Shock Wave saw this too and a look of fear spread over his face. I ignored it and looked back to the feral. It was directly below us, walking around. I was at a loss of what to do, but Shock began moving to the opposite hall. He entered the last room and came back out with a table. I was confused even more so as tried to put it over the railing. I got the idea then, and so I helped him get it over the railing and we waited for the perfect moment. The feral moved closer, closer, perfect! We pushed the table off, watching the table fall, trapping the monster under it. I moved closer, but Shock Wave moved faster, and beat the creatures head into a pulp. I was shocked, but I kept that to myself. "Nice to see you too Shock." I said. "In case you haven't noticed, it's okay to be too careful" he responded. He had a point; it wasn't Trust-Everyone-You-See Day. I then asked "Where is Star Dust?" "Upstairs, she's fine; we managed to hold up here when these things appeared." "What happened?" "I don't know, we didn't notice until a small crowed was running and soon after them another and another and another." I nodded, and we made our way upstairs and we recovered Star. She seemed fine despite the horror that they both just witnessed. "Hey." She looked up, in shock and both happiness. "Hey! How did you get here?" she asked. "Long story" I responded stupidly. Shock spoke up then "So where are you headed?" "Originally to find you guys, seeing as how you were the second closest to my home" "What about Dreams?" "Gone, no trace of her anywhere but I wouldn't count her out." "Did you find anyone else?" "No, you both were the first." "What do you suppose we do?" "Leave, the more you both move the better chance of you finding a safe location. Celestia has to be taking some form of action towards this." "And you?" "I don't know, I might look around, see if I can locate anyone else" "This place is infested with those things!" "I know but the chance that someone might still be alive here keeps me here." Shock wave paused and looked at his hooves, deep in thought. At the moment, Star spoke up. "Maybe we should go with you?" "What?" "I mean, we would be better off as group right?" I stared at her blankly, she was right but we would be more vulnerable mobile and I didn't want to be the cause of their deaths. "No, it's too much of a risk; I can't be the reason why you both end up dead." "You won't, this is our decision. Not much of a choice anyways. We're going." Shock said. I looked at them both considering the possible outcomes of this. There was a second choice for them both, they could go to Canterlot and make it but it was obvious they weren't moving if not with me. "Fine I said let's go". ******************************************************************************************* Next on the list were Rainbow Blitz and Callie along with Kim. We slowly walked our way to RB's place, mainly because my leg was not helping. I noticed during this time I caught Shock peeking several times at my leg. He looked away each time I noticed him. We discussed our (very) limited knowledge about the ferals when Shock said "Why do you call them ferals?" It was a good questions Shock kept calling them the Z word but I stuck with ferals. "I don't know, maybe because I don't like the other name." Shock nodded then stared at the ground and stopped moving, then so did Star Dust. I stopped as well and followed their gaze. It lead to a pool of blood but not a dried one like all the other here, it was fresh. We followed the blood trail carefully to its destination, a house, not of anypony we know. I pushed open the door; hammer in hand, just in case the pony inside wasn't himself or herself anymore. I opened the door, to have the strong smell of fresh blood viciously attack my nose, and to my horror, I saw freshly severed wing on the floor along with a machete. My mouth was wide open as I looked towards the bed that stood in front of the door to the right side, and recognized the gray, unconscious, yellow haired pony lying on it. Shock and Star were already moving towards Derpy Pants, trying to stop the bleeding, Star was screaming at me to help, but I was frozen, their pleads fell upon numb ears. I felt like I was hit by a grenade, my ears ringing from the blast, when at that moment, a leaf flew into the room and landed in one of the puddles of blood. It wasn't a green leaf but a read one blending in perfectly with the blood. I forced myself to move then, when an unrelated yet very horrible realization came to me. It wasn't summer anymore, fall had begun. Chapter 3: FallShock Wave was shouting, I didn’t know what it was, nor did I care. The only thing that came to my mind was Star Dust, as she opened a kit that she had, and screaming the only words audible since we stepped inside the house ; “AUSTIN!”. Somehow, those words sprung me into action and I moved beside Shock Wave. Star Dust gave us simple instructions, or at least, simple to her. She ordered me to wrap a pair bandages around the stump of the wing to stop the excessive blood flow, and for Shock to elevate Derpy’s hind legs in case he went into shock. I wasn’t a medical expert, but I wasn’t an idiot either. On the floor of the doorway stood a machete and right next to it the amputated part of Derpy Pant’s wing and on the wing was large, red bite mark. No one had done this to him; Derpy had done this to himself to prevent his own infection. I bent over Derpy but was instantly told to move back by Star. A pair of gloves and a medical mask was then thrown to me and Shock thanks to the wonders of pony telekinesis. I looked at them curiously and then to Star. “Better to be safe than sorry, if there’s any chance he’s infected, you don’t want his blood in your system; I don’t think you want to be running around eating people.” was her response. This was mine; “How do you know that?” “I used to study to be a doctor, still remember a lot actually.” “I meant how do you know how’s it spread.” We all stopped then. Silence filled the air, and Star looked at Shock, unsure about something and biting her bottom lip. The silence was interrupted by a gurgle form Derpy’s throat. Not a zombified gurgle, just a collection of saliva in the throat. That broke the silence. Star Dust explained (after the three of us quickly put on the things she gave us) that if Derpy any more blood, he won’t be alive for long. She told me to wrap “these” bandages, around Derpys wing stump and to apply pressure to stop him from losing any blood. Shock was told to raise Derpys back legs, to “get him out of shock”. I took the bandages handed to me and went to work. Star turned back to her med pack, looking through it for something I couldn’t see. I turned back to Derpy, the medical bandages almost wrapped completely around. I didn’t understand how this was supposed to work; the bandages seemed to be pushing the blood out of the wound, not stopping it. I tied the bandages closer to the end of the stump and gagged; the sight of it all burning my eyes. 10 minutes later, I turned to Star, who was now helping Shock get more of a response from Derpy. He was pale; the leaking had slowed but was not nearly close to done. I figured that we should have sewn have the wound shut, but I realized my stupidity only moments after. Every now and then Star would come over and pour a small drop of a potion onto the wound. I said nothing, more worried about Derpy. 20 minutes later, the bleeding had stopped and Star Dust had wrapped more bandages on top of the wound, completely covering it. We had tied a metal pole to the side of the wing and position Derpy in way to keep the wing elevated. Star had also taken blood from Shock via clean (and large) needles, into a packet with a tiny pump and attached it to Derpy. I asked what if they were not the same blood type. She reassured me that they were the same, also stating that she had treated them both. It appeared then that we were finished; I stood up, looked at Derpy and bolted. I ran out of the room, the kitchen, the door, bent down, hugged my stomach, and threw up on the ground. The stream of yellow, green and brown seemed endless. The clenching of my stomach made the feeling worse, and my brain was too fuzzy to process my emotions properly. When I was done I walked back to the porch, sat down, buried my face in my arms and sobbed quietly. I sobbed for everything, the creature, the people, everything. The horror that had just taken place shook me to my very core. I prayed that I would not lose my sanity. Sometime after, Star stood next to me and spoke softly. “Austin?” I didn’t respond. “Listen we’re all tired, maybe we need some sleep” It was almost night by then I realized. “Yeah where? We turn our backs for one second, we’re dead!” Star responded casually “Shock found a door leading to a basement, he already searched it, and it’s safe.” I said nothing. “Okay, come when you’re ready, we’ll be waiting.” She left, I followed. We all helped move Derpy but Star did the majority of it. We slept on hay that night, but the problem was I couldn’t sleep. Nightmares where waiting for me, and I was not ready, shortly after, somewhere in the distance, screams filled the air. The breeze brushed my hair lightly, the smell of fall heartwarming, yet depressing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shock come out of the house. He rubbed his eyes gently with his hooves, yawned and spoke. “Why are you up so early?” I motioned him to be silent and my eyes moved back to the large structure barely visible. Shock followed my eyes and opened his mouth in surprise. At that moment, Star also came of the house, opened her mouth to say something, only to look at what we were; a purple/pink dome, sparkling with energy, a force field. We could only barely see the top but we knew exactly what it covered. “Canterlot” I said. “Why?” Shock asked. “Protection, it’s there to protect it.” I responded. “I meant why just Canterlot? There a bunch of other places suffering from this! Canterlot shouldn’t be the only one with protection!” “Maybe, but it only provides a sense of direction, a safe haven.” “Should we go?” Shock asked. “No”. “WHY NOT?” “Think, if we travel directly towards Canterlot, we’re traveling directly towards the infected.” Shock was silent for a moment, then nodded. “Where do you say we go?” asked Star Dust. “To find the Slender Mane” The Slender Mane, a demonic being with incredibly close ties with death, pain and hell itself. Yet somehow, we’ve achieved a neutral standing, almost a friendship. However, he was too different for many; he has witnessed extraordinary things, despite dimension reality or time and has done those things as well. His vast knowledge and wisdom of what occurs and his insatiable taste for flesh (among other demonic traits) alienates him from anyone, except those who try to see past that, or those who he deems “worthy”. Therefore, Stars reaction was not surprising. “WHAT? The world is in chaos and you want to go look for him!!?” “I told you that you did not have to come with me but you chose otherwise. If anyone knows more about what’s going on, it’s him. “ “And if he doesn’t? What if we don’t make it? Where does he even live?” I sighed, “I don’t know, and I don’t suppose you know either that’s why I’m at a loss.” Silence once again. I could understand, it sounded like quite possibly the most stupid idea ever but it was the one I was going with. I opened my mouth to tell them that they could stay or go their own ways when at that moment, a voice came from the doorway of the house. “The Everfree forest” said a, pale, bloodied and panting Derpy Pants; “He lives in the Everfree forest.” 40 minutes. That’s how long it took for us to pack, scavenge the rest of the house, put Derpy in a hay wagon we found and begin to travel towards Everfree. Before we left however, I found a pair of flowers next to the bed Derpy was in. I don’t why, maybe it was instinct, but I took them and put them in my bag. I had volunteered to pull the wagon, mainly because I couldn’t stand watching them doing it. Another 10 minutes later, we had begun to climb a slanted, yet tall hill. The purpose of this was to be at ta better position in case of any other attacks. Sweat dripped from my face. I won’t lie, this was hard work, and I wasn’t the most muscular or strong. Pony-Ville wasn’t safe at all anymore when we left. There were infected and the higher we traveled, the more of them we saw. I was right; going to Canterlot would have been suicide. I turned back to the hill. Star and Shock were in front, keeping an eye if any of the infected were close by. I looked back to the wagon and to my surprise, I found Derpy sleeping. After he had told us where Slender was, we immediately made him rest. Poor guy I thought but I had question that kept nagging me. What was Derpy doing in Pony-Ville? If I was to guess where he would be, it would be with Colgate (his girlfriend), and she was nowhere close by. I wanted to ask, but it wasn’t the right time, or place for it. I gasped as we reached the top of the hill. I lay on my back on the dirt, panting and grateful we were here. I reached for my bag and took out an apple and bit into it deliciously. I had a clearer view of the force field now so I asked Shock for his binoculars, made myself comfortable, crouched and pointed them to Canterlot. The sight was not pretty, not even close. There appeared to be a number of openings around it, yet each one had its problems. There were a number of guards allowing other ponies inside, but for every 1 pony going in there was 1 infected pony waiting to assault the guards. In fact, even inside there were infected, ponies who had been fine going in, but had turned while inside. It was a horrible sight, blood stained the ground, and a feeding frenzy was ensuing. I moved the binoculars around focused on the inside and froze. Isaac and Dusk, two of my friends, helping a guard fend off a group of three of the infected. In short, they won, but I lost sight of them after. Instead I caught a glimpse of a dark and light pink mane, not Pinkie Pies but someone else; Shimmer. I moved around and saw the most of unlikely of people there, Kyle Mosley, a friendly, quiet pony, and he was beating an infected pony to death. The situation seemed hectic but under control. I wanted run down there and help them, but that would only guarantee my death. I lowered the binoculars, I had seen enough. I handed the binoculars back to Shock, stood up and moved back to Derpy. I was surprised to find him awake now, looking in my direction when I approached. “Hi Derpy.” He smiled slightly. “Hey.” “How are you feeling?” “Okay, tired.” Awkward silence ensued, followed by even more awkward glances. “Uh, what were you doing in Pony-Ville?” Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could I say something like that? I just spit it out! I was mentally beating myself up; Derpy looked up to me with sad, tearful eyes. “You know the flowers you found?” I tried not to look surprised, instead I simply nodded. I had no idea Derpy was awake then. “I ordered a bouquet of them and I went to Pony-Ville to get them.” He was crying now, a certain memory triggering pain. “They were for her Austin, they were for her.” I didn’t know what he was talking about, and I wanted to know, but Star and Shock called me over, and so I left Derpy. “What is it?” I asked. “Look, in the sky.” Shock responded. I looked in his direction, and I saw it. Dozens of pink and purple swirly orbs descended from the sky surrounding the force field, and they weren’t stopping. I felt like I knew what these were but I couldn’t remember…. That’s when Star shouted the answer. “They’re spells, big ones!!” I didn’t turn around; I just looked at the orbs of doom. I understood then what they were for, they were to exterminate the remaining infected surrounding the sphere, killing everything in its blast radius. Or was it? I had yet to see an explosive spell, but I wasn’t going to take that chance. “Can it reach us?” I asked. Star responded with a no. I looked back to the spells, as they touched the ground with deep rumble... The blast was blinding, light erupted from each of them, causing me and everyone else to shield their eyes. I felt I wave of pressure and force and wind knock me flat on my back and keeping me there. Slowly, the light died down. I sat back up and rubbed my eyes. I forced them to look at the Canterlot, blinking several times. I was right, anypony around the force field had been eradicated, yet the majority houses and buildings remained untouched. It was almost if the spells were meant just for ponies. There was the occasional corpse on the floor, but that didn’t matter; what mattered was that the giant force field was no more, Canterlot was vulnerable. I heard the growls and the galloping first, standing straight up and reaching for my hammer. Star and Shock reached for their weapons, also household items and we prepared ourselves. The sight couldn’t have been more terrifying. There were dozens of them, some exposing flesh while others seemed relatively unharmed, but they were all the same thing, infected. They came down from the hill opposite from us, snarling, roaring and screaming. They were all different, Earth-Ponies, Unicorns and even the scariest of all, Pegasus’. There were only two but that didn’t stop me from telling the others to run, it was impossible, we couldn’t them all on. Star screamed, Shock grabbed his pack, I grabbed Derpy, slung him over my shoulder, and together we ran. I didn’t want to think of the pain Derpy was in right now, I just ran, and ran, and ran. We began running down the hill, left where we came from. I didn’t know where we would go; I just didn’t want to die like this. The hill was incredibly steep, causing me many times to almost trip. Shock motioned to cave up ahead, causing me to look, trip and twist my ankle. This is it, I thought, this is how I die. I tried to move my ankle, only to have pain shoot up my leg like a bullet. Dirt and mud covered my face. Shock and Star had stopped and were screaming at me to get up. They were begging me. I ignored them, and instead facing the incoming group. One of the Pegasus’s flew down toward me, teeth sharp and yellow; I closed my eyes, and prepared for the worst. The bite didn’t come, nor did anything for that matter, just the spray of blood on my pants. I looked up, and saw 2 black tentacles holding one half of the now dead Pegasus, its intestines landing on the ground with a sickening flop. Suddenly, more of the same tentacles appeared, tearing each of the infected apart, in different, brutal ways. Soon, there were now infected left, just mangled corpses. I looked up to see our savior, or saviors to be precise. The slender mane floated several feet in the air, holding a live and healthy Alaina, a close friend of mine and another pink pony whom I have not seen before. They floated to the ground, and Alaina ran towards Shock and Star, hugging as if this was a family reunion, and began moving towards me. I didn’t care, I only locked my eyes with Slender, and he “looked” back. I said nothing, but once I could walk again, I and he would have quite the conversation. Alaina tried speaking to me, trying to get me to move my leg, but I turned away, and focused on the flowers only a few feet away. On it there was tiny paper, and written on it was a name, a name I knew all too well, Colgate. Chapter 4:Blood and Chocolate“It's give or take, I know it well” Crickets, they were my sole companion that night. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t move, I was trapped. I was trapped by my own emotions, my fear, and my sadness. I scared to close my eyes because I knew the face of the dead waited for me, nightmares I couldn’t escape, and I was scared to keep my eyes open because I cried at the world before me. I was in Slender’s small house, pretending to sleep just to calm the others. The events that followed today’s attack were obvious; Slender brought us home, Star helped Alaina with Derpy and me, Slender barely watched or said anything, Shock looked at me the entire time. We were given stacks of hay soon after, and “slept”. I didn’t pay attention much during that, all I was focused on was Slender, I had so many questions, and so much rage. My heart weighed a pound, my head was numb, and my body was nothing but a heap. In more ways than one, I was one of them. The night almost looked inviting, it was speaking to me, that I would be safe, that I would be safe. I stood up then, because I knew that if I stayed, the night would take me. I limped, each step numb, difficult. I made my way in the dark to the front of the house, to him. He was just standing there, looking out the moonlight, staring. “You should rest.” He said. I wanted to yell at him, to tackle him but instead I spoke as well, “You should help more of us.” He didn’t move, he didn’t even flinch, and it seemed as if though my words meant nothing to him. “You don’t understand…this is not my battle.” I stopped then and sat down on a chair. “So that’s it? You’re just going to give up on this, on us?” “I can’t save everyone Austin….” “That is not what this is about. You control this! You monitor what happens to the dead! Why can’t you do your JOB!? “This situation is not mine to control. Tell me, how do you know they’re dead? “….” “Are you certain it isn’t a virus; A curse?” “YOU SHOULD KNOW! YOU’RE A DEMON FOR GOD’S SAKE! A FREAKING DEMON! “ He turned then, not his full body just his, just to look and “face” me. “So that makes me responsible for what happens to every individual here? I am not a savior, I’m not a soldier, and I am NOT A HERO” The last three words sent a chill up my spine. The numb rumbling sensation travelled from the middle of my spine to the very top of my neck. They weren’t even loud words, just cold, without emotion. “No one is….no one wants to be. With what’s happening now, being a hero is suicide. Thing is Slender, you don’t need to be a hero to help someone. You showed that today, you saved me and the others. Why is it so different from saving anyone else?” “….One day you will understand Austin, hopefully. For now, just go to sleep. Take back the rest you have lost.” He responded. I said no more words, and neither did he, we were both silent, I stared at the floor and he stared at the moon. I slowly stood up and made my way to the room which held my “bed”. I laid myself down and shut my eyes. Perhaps my nightmares were more bearable than my reality. The voices of my friends woke me up. Honestly I was kind of surprised I had slept at all. The sun was blinding, forcing me to squint just too barely make out my hand. I sat up and examined the room to find that I was the only one still in bed, even Derpy Pants was gone. The voices outside continued but I can’t make out anything they’re saying. It was then when I realized how cold it really was, and how close winter was. I rubbed my eyes furiously, the lack of sight annoyed me and the kaleidoscope-like shapes in my eyes weren’t helping. I slowly moved out of my bed, like an old man reaching for something on a high shelf. The hay was so tempting to just fall back into and sleep for a few more hours, but the voices and my nightmares made me push away the decision. It wasn’t long before I had reached the door and stepped outside. The wind was cold, yet bearable, the smell of fall felt so eerie and depressing, almost like it was mocking me; the perfect setting for the perfect disaster. My hand rose to shield the sun from my face, and I could make each and every one’s outline. It seemed like a pretty heated debate, with no real sides. I walked closer until everyone was aware of my presence. The chatter stopped then, but the looks on their faces didn’t change. Alaina, Shock, Star Dust, Derpy (in his wagon) and Slender were here. The mysterious pink pony that I saw earlier was nowhere to be seen. No one seemed to want to talk, and so, I began the conversation. “What’s going on?” Star and Alaina didn’t move, Slender watched Shock, and Shock spoke. “Alaina believes that we should go find Kim and Shimmer to make sure they’re okay.” That seemed to be correct, seeing as how no one moved and Alaina looked grim. Everyone was silent and so was I. I crossed my arms and placed my hand on my chin. Kim Coleman and Shimmer Tart were very 2 very close “friends” of mine and even more so to Alaina, at least before this happened. I had known them almost since the day I arrived in this place but the 3 of them have known each other almost since birth. I could understand the cause of conflict at that point, Kim and Shimmer each lived incredibly far away, not to mention that there may be the chance that they might be there anymore. Shimmer was at Canterlot when it fell, and Kim could be anywhere. They both might even be dead, making the entire journey just one long, sad, worthless quest. I couldn’t side with anyone in particular, it was a debate based on perspective and nothing more. I turned to Shock and said “Did you tell her about Shimmer at Canterlot?” I had told Shock Wave and Star Dust about my sighting of Shimmer and the others, but I think they already saw it for themselves. Shock opened his mouth to speak but Alaina beat him to it; “Yes, and I saw it too, but he missed what happened afterwards. Shimmer ran away from Canterlot, we don’t know why, maybe because since the shields ere down, she thought it was unsafe. We couldn’t find Kim.” I responded, “Which way did she go?” “Opposite Ponyville.” She went back home, I thought. Shimmer had run back in the direction of where she lives and where Kim lives. Now came the tricky part, what were my thoughts on this? I could understand Alaina wanting to find her friends, but how was it any different from asking the group to search Equestria for Noble, or Colgate or Aaron or Callie? There were so many names and so many risks. I was at a loss of words, which at that point Slender spoke. “Alaina received a letter from Kim at the asylum where she works concerning the news of an “outbreak” in Ponyville. The contents of the letter show that Kim was unsure about these rumors despite it becoming a reality 1 or 2 hours later. It is quite possible that Kim stayed in the asylum during the outbreak.” Star turned and spoke next “It still doesn’t give a guarantee that she’s there or that she’s even alive! Let alone the fact that to travel there isn’t going to take just a few seconds either, it’s still not worth getting killed for.” Shock then spoke, “And why are we just finding those two? What about anyone else’s friends or family?” The situation was quickly getting out of hand. Voices began overlapping, and soon it was no longer a debate. Slender then spoke once more, “Silence!” No one spoke, and the argument ended right there. Slender then continued, “For those who wish to search for the two mares there may be a way to do so without casualties, teleportation being one of them, just another benefit of being a demon. It’s possible that we may be able to arrive there via this method a few dozen meters from the place to allow ourselves to observe the area ahead. Once inside the asylum, we eliminate the threats inside if any and search for Kim. Now the only question is who would like to go…I propose Derpy, Austin, Alaina and Star stay behind, Shock may come if he chooses. ” I was shocked to say the least, last night Slender had trouble getting around the word “help” and now he was willing to go to an asylum to find one person, maybe even alone. It didn’t make sense; yet, I wasn’t going to stay here either. My leg was healing, I could run, and walk at normal pace. My priorities where saving the people who had made me laugh, cry and feel “human” despite me existing in a universe not like my own , these people were my friends and I’ll be dammed if I wasn’t going to help them. “I’m going!” “Me too!” said Alaina. “I’m not staying!” shouted Derpy. Voices overlapped each other again, and the situation got out of control once again. The four of us were yelling right at each other’s faces (except Derpy who was in his wagon and Star and Shock who said nothing). There was no compromise, no agreement, just rational opinions. Alaina wanted to save one of her best friends, I wanted to do the same, Derpy wanted to anything other than stay in the wagon and Slender………I have no idea what Slender wants. “SILENCE!!” Slender yelled. The ground shook slightly with the yell and the arguing once again stopped abruptly. Before anyone could say anything or even react to what had just happened slender spoke once again. “SHOCK AND AUSTIN MAY COME IF THEY WISH, HOWEVER ANY FAULTS MADE BY AUSTIN WILL BE HIS OWN AND HE ALONE WILL ACCEPT THE CONSEQUENCES. DERPY PANTS WILL STAY DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE HAS NOT EVEN EXPERIMENTED WALKING AGAIN. ALAINA AND STAR WILL STAY TO TAKE CARE OF DERPY BUT ALAINA MAY LEAVE IF SHE CHOOSES. STAR WILL STAY TO CARE FOR DERPY WITH HER MEDICAL EXPERTISE. THIS IS FINAL….” No one moved, no one spoke; my heart pulsed at the speed of a jet and my knees shook with anxiety, and yet it took me what appeared to be hours for me to process this feeling. Fear, I was scared, not of Slender but of everything that had taken place and that was taking place. It wasn’t a recent discovery however, but this “reminder” of my emotions made me realize the severity of the situation and the true cost of our actions should we fail. I wanted to go, and in my heart I knew I would eventually, but the fact Slender Mane had singled me out made me feel about where I stood in this. Slender looked at Alaina for a moment and then then both of them walked back to the shed. Seconds later, so did Shock and Star. I was eventually left alone with Derpy Pants. I scratched my head and sighed heavily and moved to push Derpy’s wagon closer to the shed. I was walking behind the wagon when he spoke up from inside; “Austin...” “Yeah?” I need…you…to help me...” “What do you need help with?” “I need…to find her….” Instantly I knew what he meant, and instantly I knew my answer. “NO, I can’t.” “Please…” “Derpy-“ “She is all that I have left now! I won’t leave her!” At this point I was at a loss of words, and so, I looked towards the ground and ran through my options, biting my lip. “I’ll help you find RB and Callie,” Instantly my ears perked up at the mention of their names, and I looked Derpy straight in the eye. He knew that RB and Callie were one of people that are glued to mind since this started. Me and RB go all the way to the beginning of arrival here, and Callie is his girl; last time I checked, she was pregnant. Even if there was the possibility that I could reach them, there was no way I was leaving the group and there was no way Derpy could help much. I knew that his wing injury didn’t affect his walking but it obvious he needed a few more day of rest, then again, that goes for the two of us. “Think it over.” He said. I looked at Derpy one more time and rolled his wagon towards the shack. I was ready to the least, hammer, knives, map and binoculars. It was quite pathetic from a distance, especially when compared to Shock Wave who had a pickaxe, but it was all I had now. The 4 of us were ready and surrounding Slender with the exception of Shock Wave who was kissing Star good bye. It saddened me; the fact that anyone could die, even the ones who don’t deserve to or shouldn’t, that is why I was sad; but I tried to block the emotion out of my mind. Shock moved back to us and “stood” on guard. Slender spoke first; “Star and Derpy will be safe here, guarded against any attacks, is everyone ready?” We nodded without saying a word. Neither did Slender he turned around and didn’t do anything. A nanosecond later, I felt my entire body rushing through something like a wind tunnel with several unknown things passing by. It took my breath. Away literally, I couldn’t breathe and my vision began to dim. I wasn’t going unconscious; I just slowly lost vision of anything. Just as soon as everything had gone, everything began to slowly reappear again. I began nearing a white light and soon, my vision was blank. I couldn’t move or feel or breathe or do anything, all was still. Moments later I was slammed into the ground near Slender’s feet gasping. I was shocked, confused and nauseated. All of what had just happened took place in a matter of mini seconds, and my mind was still trying to process this. Teleportation; despite being portrayed as awesome in TV and film, was not very awesome after all. I looked to my left, and saw that Shock and Alaina had almost the same reaction as me but Slender was fine. I managed to let out a small smile, mainly because the experience was like 5 second roller coaster. We had teleported at the edge of a forest, I could see the mental ward clearly, and we were very close. My mind was spinning, my body felt useless and my stomach was doing back flips. I stood up anyways, because somehow my body was still functioning. My “relief” soon turned to horror when I “it”. It was just trotting right behind Shock Wave, mouth half way open, in a few seconds it would be over. I screamed Shock Wave’s name and reached for my hammer but I knew it was too late. I turned back to face him, expecting the worse, only to be surprised again. In one swift move, Slender had right through the head of the infected, tearing its head neatly into two pieces, splashing brain and blood bits away from shock and killing the infected. Shock dropped to the group and I just stood there. I didn’t have time to think just to notice what Slender was looking at. There 4 of them, all hunched over one corpse, staring at us, growling and rising from there fresh kill. Before they had even moved, 4 tentacles lashed out and severed each and every one of their heads in half. It was now that I realized that I was holding my breath, I let out a long breath of relief. These damn things couldn’t get any creepier could- Several growl and snarls came from behind me, and we all turned around to face the several infected which had seen the whole thing. There were some far and some close but all deadly, the door was right in front of us. There was only one way out of this, a very fast, insane sprint. “MOVE” boomed Slender. We didn’t need to be told twice, me, Shock and Alaina sprinted like hell was chasing us. Slender also “ran”, all the while killing anything that got close. His kills were enough to give me even more nightmares that the one’s I already had. My heart was pounding when I reached the door. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. I pushed the door open, only to be greeted by a snarling, infected doctor. Adrenaline saved me this time, without hesitation or thought; I brought the hammer directly on the late doctor’s skull. Shock moved past me and so did Slender as blood caked my shirt once more. Slender locked the door and Shock checked the area. I did nothing; I just stood there beating the brains out of this “monster”. I was panting by the time I was finished and I rose slowly from my crouching position. I was still panting, overcome by this weird feeling. I looked at my bloody hands, mesmerized. Why was I so interested in my hands? That’s when I realized that it wasn’t my hands, it was the blood. My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed Shock staring at me while Slender looked around. “I sense nothing, anywhere. This place is abandoned; nothing alive or dead resides here. I’m….sorry Alaina.” said Slender. Alaina said nothing; she only bowed her head and brushed a tear away with her hoof. I wanted to scream, to shout, and to cry. We had almost died to save our friend, one of us, only to find that we’re too late. I knew people will die during this, but I still kept this image in my mind of all of us making it, of all of us making it home. I didn’t want to face reality any more than I wanted to back on Earth, I wanted to believe the somewhere, somehow, Kim and everyone else were alive, and so, looked away from Alaina. I couldn’t take another breakdown, not today. It was several minutes before anyone said anything, and Slender was the first one to speak. “Wait, I sense something.” Everyone turned now, hoping for the best. “2 life forms; non-infected, however one is wounded. Alaina…..it’s Kim. Third floor, Room 208, everyone come closer!” Alaina stood with her mouth open, then again so did all of us. It was unbelievable, could Kim actually be alive? I was overwhelmed by joy and mystery that I forgot to move. It was Slender’s voice that woke me up again. In 5 seconds, we were in front of the door. Slender stood in front, and waited. 3 tentacles lashed out and ripped the door to pieces. We all stepped in, weapons ready. Instantly there was screaming, but not ours. There was one voice repeating the same line over and over, “PLEASE DON’T KILL US! PLEASE, PLEASE!” We stepped further into the room, and found 2 ponies. One, who was a grey, male Pegasus, was crying out loud and sobbing holding in his arms, another equally panicking blue pony. In front of hem laid a dead infected pony nurse, and next to her a rather large saw. Her head was in pieces. They’re screams were loud and repetitive, and they cried and cried. I didn’t know who the grey one was but I recognized the voice of the blue one immediately before entering. It was Kim. Alaina rushed forward and “pulled” Kim by her shoulders with her hooves. The grey one held onto to her furiously, but Alaina still managed to shake Kim. She screamed at Kim, she screamed at her to tell her to calm down, that everything was fine, that it was Alaina and not a “monster”. Kim screamed and shook and cried. She was so scared the she couldn’t think clearly. She screamed and screamed until she finally looked straight at Alaina Kim hugged Alaina hard, sobbing and crying, relieved that her nightmare was over. It was then that I noticed Kim’s right eye. It was bloody and empty; there was nothing there, just an empty socket. I was horrified and sad by this, and so I bent down and sobbed while staring at Kim. Shock held back tears while trying to calm the other pony and Slender watched quietly. I sobbed because, even though we were late and Kim was hurt, she was okay and we made it. We had risked our lives and saved one of our own. I wanted to jump for joy and burrow my head my head in a pillow and scream while sobbing. I crouched there quietly sobbing while watching them both, listening very carefully to the words Alaina said to Kim while she stroked here mane, soft and gentle words which found a new hole to live in my mind. “It’s okay, it’s okay, everything is going to be better now. Everything is going to be fine…….”
Chapter 1:OutbreakFeast Chapter 1: Outbreak The key fell for what could possibly be the 20th time in five minutes. I wanted to scream my lungs out but managed to restrain myself, mainly because it was mid-day and almost every pony alive was awake. It was a bright and sunny day, like almost every day in Equestria. The trees were bright green, the wind passed by gently and no one seemed to have a care in the world, well at least not anyone human. The keys fell again, this time I swore under my breath. The reason I was dropping my keys so much was because I was using every available body part to hold the groceries I had just purchased. Finally, after what felt like hours of struggling, I got the key in the lock and opened the door. One of the many small mysteries about this place is how a pony, who has no hands or fingers, manages to get a key into a lock and open a door. I shrugged the thought off, making a mental note to reflect on it later. I stored all the groceries in their rightful place and collapsed on my bed. How long have I been here? I thought. 15 months, I thought again. It was crazy how just a year and a few months ago I was a normal human living among other humans and now I'm in some weird pony world. The house that I "own" was lent to me by a generous pony who noted I was without a place to call my own the first day I was here. It was long story, I was just sitting in my house alone on Friday night, when out of nowhere, two talking (yet slightly annoying) cartoon-like ponies popped out of nowhere and forced me out of my house and towards the nearest bar. Needless, to say, I was drunk in a hour. Somehow, I managed to make it home, only to wake up during a pony party with tremendous hangover. Ironically, the ponies that got me here would turn out to be some of my closet friends, despite being responsible for having me eaten, shot, almost killed on multiple occasions, turn temporarily into a pony, developing a second (homicidal) personality and throwing orange juice on me. This entire situation was surreal; in fact, my head hurt just thinking about it. I thought about going next door and visiting Simple and Noble Dreams but I was so tired that I could barely open my eyes. I rested my head against my pillow and let sleep do it's magic. ******************************************************************************************* I don't know how long I was out but I know that I never felt better, but sweaty? As if something was smoking, wait smoke? I jumped out of my bed and ran all over my little house. I opened the cabinets, checked the closet the stove, even the bathroom. Instinctively, I ran to the second floor of the house, and poked my head into the first room. I was covered in sweat by now, and adrenaline was only making it worse somehow. The first room was clear, so was the second but the third looked strange, shiny. I gasped when I realized what was on the floor, glass. The bedroom window had a crude, jagged hole in it, and on the floor, surrounded by glass, was a rock. I knelt down and looked it over, but there was nothing special about it. I then moved my gaze towards the window, but a fog covered my view, a hot fog. It took me that long to realize that the smoke was not from my house, and so I bolted to my door, fiddled with the lock and stepped out into the world before me. The sun, smoke and air hit me like a bullet, followed but by the light sense of copper, blood. I then opened my eyes, and immediately wanted shut them again. The world before me was not the world I knew, it looked more like Hell than the peaceful land that I had resided in for more than a year. Houses burned, the fires burning high into the daylight, screams of panic and fear filled the air. My ears rang from the destruction that was in front of me. I ran into the middle of the street and caught a glimpse of the citizens of Pony-Ville, they running but from each other? As I watched one tackled another and to my horror, bit straight into the neck-area. I began to sprint, but soon other feral-like ponies swarmed the dying one, and began their gory feast. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't take them all on, and that's when I saw it. Noble Dreams house, half on fire, half melting. Simple appeared in my mind, and I ran. It took all my might not to help the unknown pony being consumed alive by the feral one, but when a flashed a glace towards the group, one of them stared at me, making that moment the first time I caught I glimpse of the feral-ponies. Its eyes were white, in the sense there were no noticeable pupils to call eyes, and it was caked in blood, its mane dripping with the blood of its new kill. It opened it mouth, revealing a set of jaws not seen in ponies but something a shark would have. The thing snarled at me and went back to consuming its meal. I turned back, disturbed by what I saw, and was immediately hit by an unknown force. I fell on my back, as so did the other figure. I tasted blood in my mouth, dazed; I looked up to see the figure and was shocked. Isaac, Isaac Changeling. He wasn't disguised a pony like he normally was but he was in his changeling form. He looked scared, fearful, but of me, not anything else. I then realized, with the blood in my mouth and dazed look I had, I didn't look human at all. I tried to say something, but all that came out was a "Gugh-"as Isaac lifted me up with his telekinesis and threw me into the nearest building. I crashed into it with full force and sat uncomfortably on top of large pieces of wood. The pain was unbearable, I felt horrible. I wanted vomit, but I turned my head upwards, just as the rest of the house collapsed on me and everything went black. ******************************************************************************************* I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a freight train, my head was pounding and I could already feel the blood soaking my clothes. I was surprised I was still alive, living truly is a blessing. Without even opening my eyes, I knew something was wrong, it was quiet, there were no screams, collapsing houses or anything, just dead silence. I opened my eyes only to find myself covered underneath many large pieces of wood from the collapsed house. I tried to move, to look around, but my vision was obscured by the large mound on top of me and when I tried to, I sharp pain ran up my leg. I managed to see the problem; a small spike of wood was protruding from my leg. Luckily, I could reach and pull it out, and so, as I moved closer to the spike, one the ferals slowly trotted in. I slumped back into the mound, praying it wouldn't see me. It was the same one that growled and looked at me from earlier. It began to sniff the area, searching the collapsed house for food. I refused to be on the menu, I slowly began inching my way out of the mound, it seemed impossible but I was willing to try. I began to silently put wood on the floor. After what seemed like hours, my lower right arm was free. I moved my shoulder slightly, just to get comfortable for the rest of my body, when my shoulder touched a standing piece of wood making crash on the floor with large "THUMP". The creature reared its head in my direction, snarled and began to leap on the mound. I tried to escape as quick as possible but my leg wound only allowed me to get half of my body out. The creature jumped once more, this time landing on the piece of wood above my chest. I roared and brought its teeth down. I panicked and grabbed the large piece of wood next to me and hit it square in the mouth. It wasn't a hard hit, but the creature lost its stance and slipped. That gave me time and I quickly shed the wood off of me, and started to stand up. The creature roared once again, and charged. I wanted to run, but my leg let a sharp gust of pain, also at the same time the creature slammed into me. This time, it stood on me, and wasted no time bringing its jaws down on me. However I still had the piece of wood on me, and used it to block its jaws. I was panicking, and with all my might brought the wood upwards, directly into its neck. The creature recoiled and fell to the floor, growling and snarling. I stood up slowly, the adrenaline coursing through my veins, and I looked at the thing. "It isn't alive anymore, it isn't the person it once was", I thought. The creature was already trying to stand, and in a few minutes it would devour me. With these thoughts in mind, I raised the piece of wood above my head. The creature roared up at me one last time, before I drove the sharp end into its body. Again and again and again, and again. Warm blood splattered onto my pants and my shirt. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping me going, I couldn't stop. I continued the ordeal for what felt like years, the corpse in front of me looked unrecognizable, yet I continued. Finally I stopped, surrounded by a pool of blood, panting, I dropped the plank of wood and took 2 steps back before falling to my knees. The spike was causing me enough pain already. I couldn't just leave it there; my leg would be rendered useless. I took one last look at what had been Pony-Ville, before wrenching the wooden spike out my leg, screaming into the day.
Chapter 2: EnduranceI was limping, and every step felt like having a large needle stabbed into my leg. I didn't know where I was going; I just felt the need to move away from the corpse that was unrecognizable thanks to me. I was in shock, tears burning my face, I was hyperventilating, my heart wanted to explode, I wanted to dig a hole in the middle of the ground and hide in there forever, but instead I stopped, bent over and breathed. What have I done? You killed someone; you took that piece of wood and ended his life. But it wasn't itself anymore, it was, a monster. I needed to get myself together; I took in deep breaths, slow and big. Pony-Ville was deserted, there was no-one anywhere, alive or not. A certain emotion swept, over me, a strange sort of depression, the cause being that I couldn't do anything or go anywhere, I was lost. A few seconds after my last thought, the memory of my friends flashed into my mind, they could be dead or worse, I wanted to make sure they were alright, but that only made my sadness worse. I then focused my attention more on Slender, if anyone knew more about this he would, but the problem was, I didn't know where he lived. Crap he must have told me a bunch of times. Then my thoughts shifted back to my friends in general, I had to find out if they alive, but I was in no condition to do so, and so, I headed back towards my house, a plan forming in my mind. ******************************************************************************************* In about half an hour, I had strapped a large bandage over my leg (plus alcohol), several knifes in a pouch, and a hammer in my right hand. I pulled out the mini-map that I had and looked over to the closest house that belonged to someone I knew. It was close, and it belonged to Shock Wave. Unlikely he was even still there but he was the only pony that lived near here other than Noble, Kim, Rainbow Blitz and Callie. . My mind ran over the total amount of people that I had to find. Wow, I have my work cut out for me, and with that, I started walking. On my way to his house, I searched the other ones, only to find food, money and a corpse, all of which I took, except the corpse. Despite what had happened, I still searched Noble's house, only to find more bodies and bullet shells. Where Noble had gotten a gun, I had no idea. Finally, I reached the front door of Shock's house. Surprisingly, it was one of the few houses not looking completely damaged. I pushed the door open, only to be greeted by several bodies, none of which, were Star Dust or Shock Wave. I began to climb the stairs, slowly, quietly. If a zombified Shock Wave was waiting for me I didn't want to be caught surprised, so a gripped my hammer in one hand and my knife in the other. I found his room, and pushed the door open. I stepped inside, only to find nothing, in fact, the room looked very untouched. I turned around, as almost screamed as Shock Wave charged at me with a voice full of rage. He tackled me onto the ground on the floor of the room, and began to continue beating me anywhere he could. At least he's alive, I thought. I violently shoved the pony of me and readied my hammer. I was right; he was alive, alive and trying to kill me. The push managed to get him to notice me, his expression changed from angry to surprise. "Austin?" I nodded my head but before I could speak, we both froze at the sound of the all too familiar snarl of an infected pony, coming from downstairs, slowly moving towards the stairwell. We stood there for a few seconds before slowly inching away from the room and to the top of the stairway, careful not to make a sound. We peered down, and saw the feral pony, sniffing the air, looking for food. I then realized my failure. My leg had stopped bleeding but a medium sized spot of blood was still noticeable, even through the bandages. I had no idea whether or no these monsters cared much for smell but it certainly looked like it. Shock Wave saw this too and a look of fear spread over his face. I ignored it and looked back to the feral. It was directly below us, walking around. I was at a loss of what to do, but Shock began moving to the opposite hall. He entered the last room and came back out with a table. I was confused even more so as tried to put it over the railing. I got the idea then, and so I helped him get it over the railing and we waited for the perfect moment. The feral moved closer, closer, perfect! We pushed the table off, watching the table fall, trapping the monster under it. I moved closer, but Shock Wave moved faster, and beat the creatures head into a pulp. I was shocked, but I kept that to myself. "Nice to see you too Shock." I said. "In case you haven't noticed, it's okay to be too careful" he responded. He had a point; it wasn't Trust-Everyone-You-See Day. I then asked "Where is Star Dust?" "Upstairs, she's fine; we managed to hold up here when these things appeared." "What happened?" "I don't know, we didn't notice until a small crowed was running and soon after them another and another and another." I nodded, and we made our way upstairs and we recovered Star. She seemed fine despite the horror that they both just witnessed. "Hey." She looked up, in shock and both happiness. "Hey! How did you get here?" she asked. "Long story" I responded stupidly. Shock spoke up then "So where are you headed?" "Originally to find you guys, seeing as how you were the second closest to my home" "What about Dreams?" "Gone, no trace of her anywhere but I wouldn't count her out." "Did you find anyone else?" "No, you both were the first." "What do you suppose we do?" "Leave, the more you both move the better chance of you finding a safe location. Celestia has to be taking some form of action towards this." "And you?" "I don't know, I might look around, see if I can locate anyone else" "This place is infested with those things!" "I know but the chance that someone might still be alive here keeps me here." Shock wave paused and looked at his hooves, deep in thought. At the moment, Star spoke up. "Maybe we should go with you?" "What?" "I mean, we would be better off as group right?" I stared at her blankly, she was right but we would be more vulnerable mobile and I didn't want to be the cause of their deaths. "No, it's too much of a risk; I can't be the reason why you both end up dead." "You won't, this is our decision. Not much of a choice anyways. We're going." Shock said. I looked at them both considering the possible outcomes of this. There was a second choice for them both, they could go to Canterlot and make it but it was obvious they weren't moving if not with me. "Fine I said let's go". ******************************************************************************************* Next on the list were Rainbow Blitz and Callie along with Kim. We slowly walked our way to RB's place, mainly because my leg was not helping. I noticed during this time I caught Shock peeking several times at my leg. He looked away each time I noticed him. We discussed our (very) limited knowledge about the ferals when Shock said "Why do you call them ferals?" It was a good questions Shock kept calling them the Z word but I stuck with ferals. "I don't know, maybe because I don't like the other name." Shock nodded then stared at the ground and stopped moving, then so did Star Dust. I stopped as well and followed their gaze. It lead to a pool of blood but not a dried one like all the other here, it was fresh. We followed the blood trail carefully to its destination, a house, not of anypony we know. I pushed open the door; hammer in hand, just in case the pony inside wasn't himself or herself anymore. I opened the door, to have the strong smell of fresh blood viciously attack my nose, and to my horror, I saw freshly severed wing on the floor along with a machete. My mouth was wide open as I looked towards the bed that stood in front of the door to the right side, and recognized the gray, unconscious, yellow haired pony lying on it. Shock and Star were already moving towards Derpy Pants, trying to stop the bleeding, Star was screaming at me to help, but I was frozen, their pleads fell upon numb ears. I felt like I was hit by a grenade, my ears ringing from the blast, when at that moment, a leaf flew into the room and landed in one of the puddles of blood. It wasn't a green leaf but a read one blending in perfectly with the blood. I forced myself to move then, when an unrelated yet very horrible realization came to me. It wasn't summer anymore, fall had begun.
Chapter 3: FallShock Wave was shouting, I didn’t know what it was, nor did I care. The only thing that came to my mind was Star Dust, as she opened a kit that she had, and screaming the only words audible since we stepped inside the house ; “AUSTIN!”. Somehow, those words sprung me into action and I moved beside Shock Wave. Star Dust gave us simple instructions, or at least, simple to her. She ordered me to wrap a pair bandages around the stump of the wing to stop the excessive blood flow, and for Shock to elevate Derpy’s hind legs in case he went into shock. I wasn’t a medical expert, but I wasn’t an idiot either. On the floor of the doorway stood a machete and right next to it the amputated part of Derpy Pant’s wing and on the wing was large, red bite mark. No one had done this to him; Derpy had done this to himself to prevent his own infection. I bent over Derpy but was instantly told to move back by Star. A pair of gloves and a medical mask was then thrown to me and Shock thanks to the wonders of pony telekinesis. I looked at them curiously and then to Star. “Better to be safe than sorry, if there’s any chance he’s infected, you don’t want his blood in your system; I don’t think you want to be running around eating people.” was her response. This was mine; “How do you know that?” “I used to study to be a doctor, still remember a lot actually.” “I meant how do you know how’s it spread.” We all stopped then. Silence filled the air, and Star looked at Shock, unsure about something and biting her bottom lip. The silence was interrupted by a gurgle form Derpy’s throat. Not a zombified gurgle, just a collection of saliva in the throat. That broke the silence. Star Dust explained (after the three of us quickly put on the things she gave us) that if Derpy any more blood, he won’t be alive for long. She told me to wrap “these” bandages, around Derpys wing stump and to apply pressure to stop him from losing any blood. Shock was told to raise Derpys back legs, to “get him out of shock”. I took the bandages handed to me and went to work. Star turned back to her med pack, looking through it for something I couldn’t see. I turned back to Derpy, the medical bandages almost wrapped completely around. I didn’t understand how this was supposed to work; the bandages seemed to be pushing the blood out of the wound, not stopping it. I tied the bandages closer to the end of the stump and gagged; the sight of it all burning my eyes. 10 minutes later, I turned to Star, who was now helping Shock get more of a response from Derpy. He was pale; the leaking had slowed but was not nearly close to done. I figured that we should have sewn have the wound shut, but I realized my stupidity only moments after. Every now and then Star would come over and pour a small drop of a potion onto the wound. I said nothing, more worried about Derpy. 20 minutes later, the bleeding had stopped and Star Dust had wrapped more bandages on top of the wound, completely covering it. We had tied a metal pole to the side of the wing and position Derpy in way to keep the wing elevated. Star had also taken blood from Shock via clean (and large) needles, into a packet with a tiny pump and attached it to Derpy. I asked what if they were not the same blood type. She reassured me that they were the same, also stating that she had treated them both. It appeared then that we were finished; I stood up, looked at Derpy and bolted. I ran out of the room, the kitchen, the door, bent down, hugged my stomach, and threw up on the ground. The stream of yellow, green and brown seemed endless. The clenching of my stomach made the feeling worse, and my brain was too fuzzy to process my emotions properly. When I was done I walked back to the porch, sat down, buried my face in my arms and sobbed quietly. I sobbed for everything, the creature, the people, everything. The horror that had just taken place shook me to my very core. I prayed that I would not lose my sanity. Sometime after, Star stood next to me and spoke softly. “Austin?” I didn’t respond. “Listen we’re all tired, maybe we need some sleep” It was almost night by then I realized. “Yeah where? We turn our backs for one second, we’re dead!” Star responded casually “Shock found a door leading to a basement, he already searched it, and it’s safe.” I said nothing. “Okay, come when you’re ready, we’ll be waiting.” She left, I followed. We all helped move Derpy but Star did the majority of it. We slept on hay that night, but the problem was I couldn’t sleep. Nightmares where waiting for me, and I was not ready, shortly after, somewhere in the distance, screams filled the air. The breeze brushed my hair lightly, the smell of fall heartwarming, yet depressing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shock come out of the house. He rubbed his eyes gently with his hooves, yawned and spoke. “Why are you up so early?” I motioned him to be silent and my eyes moved back to the large structure barely visible. Shock followed my eyes and opened his mouth in surprise. At that moment, Star also came of the house, opened her mouth to say something, only to look at what we were; a purple/pink dome, sparkling with energy, a force field. We could only barely see the top but we knew exactly what it covered. “Canterlot” I said. “Why?” Shock asked. “Protection, it’s there to protect it.” I responded. “I meant why just Canterlot? There a bunch of other places suffering from this! Canterlot shouldn’t be the only one with protection!” “Maybe, but it only provides a sense of direction, a safe haven.” “Should we go?” Shock asked. “No”. “WHY NOT?” “Think, if we travel directly towards Canterlot, we’re traveling directly towards the infected.” Shock was silent for a moment, then nodded. “Where do you say we go?” asked Star Dust. “To find the Slender Mane” The Slender Mane, a demonic being with incredibly close ties with death, pain and hell itself. Yet somehow, we’ve achieved a neutral standing, almost a friendship. However, he was too different for many; he has witnessed extraordinary things, despite dimension reality or time and has done those things as well. His vast knowledge and wisdom of what occurs and his insatiable taste for flesh (among other demonic traits) alienates him from anyone, except those who try to see past that, or those who he deems “worthy”. Therefore, Stars reaction was not surprising. “WHAT? The world is in chaos and you want to go look for him!!?” “I told you that you did not have to come with me but you chose otherwise. If anyone knows more about what’s going on, it’s him. “ “And if he doesn’t? What if we don’t make it? Where does he even live?” I sighed, “I don’t know, and I don’t suppose you know either that’s why I’m at a loss.” Silence once again. I could understand, it sounded like quite possibly the most stupid idea ever but it was the one I was going with. I opened my mouth to tell them that they could stay or go their own ways when at that moment, a voice came from the doorway of the house. “The Everfree forest” said a, pale, bloodied and panting Derpy Pants; “He lives in the Everfree forest.” 40 minutes. That’s how long it took for us to pack, scavenge the rest of the house, put Derpy in a hay wagon we found and begin to travel towards Everfree. Before we left however, I found a pair of flowers next to the bed Derpy was in. I don’t why, maybe it was instinct, but I took them and put them in my bag. I had volunteered to pull the wagon, mainly because I couldn’t stand watching them doing it. Another 10 minutes later, we had begun to climb a slanted, yet tall hill. The purpose of this was to be at ta better position in case of any other attacks. Sweat dripped from my face. I won’t lie, this was hard work, and I wasn’t the most muscular or strong. Pony-Ville wasn’t safe at all anymore when we left. There were infected and the higher we traveled, the more of them we saw. I was right; going to Canterlot would have been suicide. I turned back to the hill. Star and Shock were in front, keeping an eye if any of the infected were close by. I looked back to the wagon and to my surprise, I found Derpy sleeping. After he had told us where Slender was, we immediately made him rest. Poor guy I thought but I had question that kept nagging me. What was Derpy doing in Pony-Ville? If I was to guess where he would be, it would be with Colgate (his girlfriend), and she was nowhere close by. I wanted to ask, but it wasn’t the right time, or place for it. I gasped as we reached the top of the hill. I lay on my back on the dirt, panting and grateful we were here. I reached for my bag and took out an apple and bit into it deliciously. I had a clearer view of the force field now so I asked Shock for his binoculars, made myself comfortable, crouched and pointed them to Canterlot. The sight was not pretty, not even close. There appeared to be a number of openings around it, yet each one had its problems. There were a number of guards allowing other ponies inside, but for every 1 pony going in there was 1 infected pony waiting to assault the guards. In fact, even inside there were infected, ponies who had been fine going in, but had turned while inside. It was a horrible sight, blood stained the ground, and a feeding frenzy was ensuing. I moved the binoculars around focused on the inside and froze. Isaac and Dusk, two of my friends, helping a guard fend off a group of three of the infected. In short, they won, but I lost sight of them after. Instead I caught a glimpse of a dark and light pink mane, not Pinkie Pies but someone else; Shimmer. I moved around and saw the most of unlikely of people there, Kyle Mosley, a friendly, quiet pony, and he was beating an infected pony to death. The situation seemed hectic but under control. I wanted run down there and help them, but that would only guarantee my death. I lowered the binoculars, I had seen enough. I handed the binoculars back to Shock, stood up and moved back to Derpy. I was surprised to find him awake now, looking in my direction when I approached. “Hi Derpy.” He smiled slightly. “Hey.” “How are you feeling?” “Okay, tired.” Awkward silence ensued, followed by even more awkward glances. “Uh, what were you doing in Pony-Ville?” Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could I say something like that? I just spit it out! I was mentally beating myself up; Derpy looked up to me with sad, tearful eyes. “You know the flowers you found?” I tried not to look surprised, instead I simply nodded. I had no idea Derpy was awake then. “I ordered a bouquet of them and I went to Pony-Ville to get them.” He was crying now, a certain memory triggering pain. “They were for her Austin, they were for her.” I didn’t know what he was talking about, and I wanted to know, but Star and Shock called me over, and so I left Derpy. “What is it?” I asked. “Look, in the sky.” Shock responded. I looked in his direction, and I saw it. Dozens of pink and purple swirly orbs descended from the sky surrounding the force field, and they weren’t stopping. I felt like I knew what these were but I couldn’t remember…. That’s when Star shouted the answer. “They’re spells, big ones!!” I didn’t turn around; I just looked at the orbs of doom. I understood then what they were for, they were to exterminate the remaining infected surrounding the sphere, killing everything in its blast radius. Or was it? I had yet to see an explosive spell, but I wasn’t going to take that chance. “Can it reach us?” I asked. Star responded with a no. I looked back to the spells, as they touched the ground with deep rumble... The blast was blinding, light erupted from each of them, causing me and everyone else to shield their eyes. I felt I wave of pressure and force and wind knock me flat on my back and keeping me there. Slowly, the light died down. I sat back up and rubbed my eyes. I forced them to look at the Canterlot, blinking several times. I was right, anypony around the force field had been eradicated, yet the majority houses and buildings remained untouched. It was almost if the spells were meant just for ponies. There was the occasional corpse on the floor, but that didn’t matter; what mattered was that the giant force field was no more, Canterlot was vulnerable. I heard the growls and the galloping first, standing straight up and reaching for my hammer. Star and Shock reached for their weapons, also household items and we prepared ourselves. The sight couldn’t have been more terrifying. There were dozens of them, some exposing flesh while others seemed relatively unharmed, but they were all the same thing, infected. They came down from the hill opposite from us, snarling, roaring and screaming. They were all different, Earth-Ponies, Unicorns and even the scariest of all, Pegasus’. There were only two but that didn’t stop me from telling the others to run, it was impossible, we couldn’t them all on. Star screamed, Shock grabbed his pack, I grabbed Derpy, slung him over my shoulder, and together we ran. I didn’t want to think of the pain Derpy was in right now, I just ran, and ran, and ran. We began running down the hill, left where we came from. I didn’t know where we would go; I just didn’t want to die like this. The hill was incredibly steep, causing me many times to almost trip. Shock motioned to cave up ahead, causing me to look, trip and twist my ankle. This is it, I thought, this is how I die. I tried to move my ankle, only to have pain shoot up my leg like a bullet. Dirt and mud covered my face. Shock and Star had stopped and were screaming at me to get up. They were begging me. I ignored them, and instead facing the incoming group. One of the Pegasus’s flew down toward me, teeth sharp and yellow; I closed my eyes, and prepared for the worst. The bite didn’t come, nor did anything for that matter, just the spray of blood on my pants. I looked up, and saw 2 black tentacles holding one half of the now dead Pegasus, its intestines landing on the ground with a sickening flop. Suddenly, more of the same tentacles appeared, tearing each of the infected apart, in different, brutal ways. Soon, there were now infected left, just mangled corpses. I looked up to see our savior, or saviors to be precise. The slender mane floated several feet in the air, holding a live and healthy Alaina, a close friend of mine and another pink pony whom I have not seen before. They floated to the ground, and Alaina ran towards Shock and Star, hugging as if this was a family reunion, and began moving towards me. I didn’t care, I only locked my eyes with Slender, and he “looked” back. I said nothing, but once I could walk again, I and he would have quite the conversation. Alaina tried speaking to me, trying to get me to move my leg, but I turned away, and focused on the flowers only a few feet away. On it there was tiny paper, and written on it was a name, a name I knew all too well, Colgate.
Chapter 4:Blood and Chocolate“It's give or take, I know it well” Crickets, they were my sole companion that night. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t move, I was trapped. I was trapped by my own emotions, my fear, and my sadness. I scared to close my eyes because I knew the face of the dead waited for me, nightmares I couldn’t escape, and I was scared to keep my eyes open because I cried at the world before me. I was in Slender’s small house, pretending to sleep just to calm the others. The events that followed today’s attack were obvious; Slender brought us home, Star helped Alaina with Derpy and me, Slender barely watched or said anything, Shock looked at me the entire time. We were given stacks of hay soon after, and “slept”. I didn’t pay attention much during that, all I was focused on was Slender, I had so many questions, and so much rage. My heart weighed a pound, my head was numb, and my body was nothing but a heap. In more ways than one, I was one of them. The night almost looked inviting, it was speaking to me, that I would be safe, that I would be safe. I stood up then, because I knew that if I stayed, the night would take me. I limped, each step numb, difficult. I made my way in the dark to the front of the house, to him. He was just standing there, looking out the moonlight, staring. “You should rest.” He said. I wanted to yell at him, to tackle him but instead I spoke as well, “You should help more of us.” He didn’t move, he didn’t even flinch, and it seemed as if though my words meant nothing to him. “You don’t understand…this is not my battle.” I stopped then and sat down on a chair. “So that’s it? You’re just going to give up on this, on us?” “I can’t save everyone Austin….” “That is not what this is about. You control this! You monitor what happens to the dead! Why can’t you do your JOB!? “This situation is not mine to control. Tell me, how do you know they’re dead? “….” “Are you certain it isn’t a virus; A curse?” “YOU SHOULD KNOW! YOU’RE A DEMON FOR GOD’S SAKE! A FREAKING DEMON! “ He turned then, not his full body just his, just to look and “face” me. “So that makes me responsible for what happens to every individual here? I am not a savior, I’m not a soldier, and I am NOT A HERO” The last three words sent a chill up my spine. The numb rumbling sensation travelled from the middle of my spine to the very top of my neck. They weren’t even loud words, just cold, without emotion. “No one is….no one wants to be. With what’s happening now, being a hero is suicide. Thing is Slender, you don’t need to be a hero to help someone. You showed that today, you saved me and the others. Why is it so different from saving anyone else?” “….One day you will understand Austin, hopefully. For now, just go to sleep. Take back the rest you have lost.” He responded. I said no more words, and neither did he, we were both silent, I stared at the floor and he stared at the moon. I slowly stood up and made my way to the room which held my “bed”. I laid myself down and shut my eyes. Perhaps my nightmares were more bearable than my reality. The voices of my friends woke me up. Honestly I was kind of surprised I had slept at all. The sun was blinding, forcing me to squint just too barely make out my hand. I sat up and examined the room to find that I was the only one still in bed, even Derpy Pants was gone. The voices outside continued but I can’t make out anything they’re saying. It was then when I realized how cold it really was, and how close winter was. I rubbed my eyes furiously, the lack of sight annoyed me and the kaleidoscope-like shapes in my eyes weren’t helping. I slowly moved out of my bed, like an old man reaching for something on a high shelf. The hay was so tempting to just fall back into and sleep for a few more hours, but the voices and my nightmares made me push away the decision. It wasn’t long before I had reached the door and stepped outside. The wind was cold, yet bearable, the smell of fall felt so eerie and depressing, almost like it was mocking me; the perfect setting for the perfect disaster. My hand rose to shield the sun from my face, and I could make each and every one’s outline. It seemed like a pretty heated debate, with no real sides. I walked closer until everyone was aware of my presence. The chatter stopped then, but the looks on their faces didn’t change. Alaina, Shock, Star Dust, Derpy (in his wagon) and Slender were here. The mysterious pink pony that I saw earlier was nowhere to be seen. No one seemed to want to talk, and so, I began the conversation. “What’s going on?” Star and Alaina didn’t move, Slender watched Shock, and Shock spoke. “Alaina believes that we should go find Kim and Shimmer to make sure they’re okay.” That seemed to be correct, seeing as how no one moved and Alaina looked grim. Everyone was silent and so was I. I crossed my arms and placed my hand on my chin. Kim Coleman and Shimmer Tart were very 2 very close “friends” of mine and even more so to Alaina, at least before this happened. I had known them almost since the day I arrived in this place but the 3 of them have known each other almost since birth. I could understand the cause of conflict at that point, Kim and Shimmer each lived incredibly far away, not to mention that there may be the chance that they might be there anymore. Shimmer was at Canterlot when it fell, and Kim could be anywhere. They both might even be dead, making the entire journey just one long, sad, worthless quest. I couldn’t side with anyone in particular, it was a debate based on perspective and nothing more. I turned to Shock and said “Did you tell her about Shimmer at Canterlot?” I had told Shock Wave and Star Dust about my sighting of Shimmer and the others, but I think they already saw it for themselves. Shock opened his mouth to speak but Alaina beat him to it; “Yes, and I saw it too, but he missed what happened afterwards. Shimmer ran away from Canterlot, we don’t know why, maybe because since the shields ere down, she thought it was unsafe. We couldn’t find Kim.” I responded, “Which way did she go?” “Opposite Ponyville.” She went back home, I thought. Shimmer had run back in the direction of where she lives and where Kim lives. Now came the tricky part, what were my thoughts on this? I could understand Alaina wanting to find her friends, but how was it any different from asking the group to search Equestria for Noble, or Colgate or Aaron or Callie? There were so many names and so many risks. I was at a loss of words, which at that point Slender spoke. “Alaina received a letter from Kim at the asylum where she works concerning the news of an “outbreak” in Ponyville. The contents of the letter show that Kim was unsure about these rumors despite it becoming a reality 1 or 2 hours later. It is quite possible that Kim stayed in the asylum during the outbreak.” Star turned and spoke next “It still doesn’t give a guarantee that she’s there or that she’s even alive! Let alone the fact that to travel there isn’t going to take just a few seconds either, it’s still not worth getting killed for.” Shock then spoke, “And why are we just finding those two? What about anyone else’s friends or family?” The situation was quickly getting out of hand. Voices began overlapping, and soon it was no longer a debate. Slender then spoke once more, “Silence!” No one spoke, and the argument ended right there. Slender then continued, “For those who wish to search for the two mares there may be a way to do so without casualties, teleportation being one of them, just another benefit of being a demon. It’s possible that we may be able to arrive there via this method a few dozen meters from the place to allow ourselves to observe the area ahead. Once inside the asylum, we eliminate the threats inside if any and search for Kim. Now the only question is who would like to go…I propose Derpy, Austin, Alaina and Star stay behind, Shock may come if he chooses. ” I was shocked to say the least, last night Slender had trouble getting around the word “help” and now he was willing to go to an asylum to find one person, maybe even alone. It didn’t make sense; yet, I wasn’t going to stay here either. My leg was healing, I could run, and walk at normal pace. My priorities where saving the people who had made me laugh, cry and feel “human” despite me existing in a universe not like my own , these people were my friends and I’ll be dammed if I wasn’t going to help them. “I’m going!” “Me too!” said Alaina. “I’m not staying!” shouted Derpy. Voices overlapped each other again, and the situation got out of control once again. The four of us were yelling right at each other’s faces (except Derpy who was in his wagon and Star and Shock who said nothing). There was no compromise, no agreement, just rational opinions. Alaina wanted to save one of her best friends, I wanted to do the same, Derpy wanted to anything other than stay in the wagon and Slender………I have no idea what Slender wants. “SILENCE!!” Slender yelled. The ground shook slightly with the yell and the arguing once again stopped abruptly. Before anyone could say anything or even react to what had just happened slender spoke once again. “SHOCK AND AUSTIN MAY COME IF THEY WISH, HOWEVER ANY FAULTS MADE BY AUSTIN WILL BE HIS OWN AND HE ALONE WILL ACCEPT THE CONSEQUENCES. DERPY PANTS WILL STAY DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE HAS NOT EVEN EXPERIMENTED WALKING AGAIN. ALAINA AND STAR WILL STAY TO TAKE CARE OF DERPY BUT ALAINA MAY LEAVE IF SHE CHOOSES. STAR WILL STAY TO CARE FOR DERPY WITH HER MEDICAL EXPERTISE. THIS IS FINAL….” No one moved, no one spoke; my heart pulsed at the speed of a jet and my knees shook with anxiety, and yet it took me what appeared to be hours for me to process this feeling. Fear, I was scared, not of Slender but of everything that had taken place and that was taking place. It wasn’t a recent discovery however, but this “reminder” of my emotions made me realize the severity of the situation and the true cost of our actions should we fail. I wanted to go, and in my heart I knew I would eventually, but the fact Slender Mane had singled me out made me feel about where I stood in this. Slender looked at Alaina for a moment and then then both of them walked back to the shed. Seconds later, so did Shock and Star. I was eventually left alone with Derpy Pants. I scratched my head and sighed heavily and moved to push Derpy’s wagon closer to the shed. I was walking behind the wagon when he spoke up from inside; “Austin...” “Yeah?” I need…you…to help me...” “What do you need help with?” “I need…to find her….” Instantly I knew what he meant, and instantly I knew my answer. “NO, I can’t.” “Please…” “Derpy-“ “She is all that I have left now! I won’t leave her!” At this point I was at a loss of words, and so, I looked towards the ground and ran through my options, biting my lip. “I’ll help you find RB and Callie,” Instantly my ears perked up at the mention of their names, and I looked Derpy straight in the eye. He knew that RB and Callie were one of people that are glued to mind since this started. Me and RB go all the way to the beginning of arrival here, and Callie is his girl; last time I checked, she was pregnant. Even if there was the possibility that I could reach them, there was no way I was leaving the group and there was no way Derpy could help much. I knew that his wing injury didn’t affect his walking but it obvious he needed a few more day of rest, then again, that goes for the two of us. “Think it over.” He said. I looked at Derpy one more time and rolled his wagon towards the shack. I was ready to the least, hammer, knives, map and binoculars. It was quite pathetic from a distance, especially when compared to Shock Wave who had a pickaxe, but it was all I had now. The 4 of us were ready and surrounding Slender with the exception of Shock Wave who was kissing Star good bye. It saddened me; the fact that anyone could die, even the ones who don’t deserve to or shouldn’t, that is why I was sad; but I tried to block the emotion out of my mind. Shock moved back to us and “stood” on guard. Slender spoke first; “Star and Derpy will be safe here, guarded against any attacks, is everyone ready?” We nodded without saying a word. Neither did Slender he turned around and didn’t do anything. A nanosecond later, I felt my entire body rushing through something like a wind tunnel with several unknown things passing by. It took my breath. Away literally, I couldn’t breathe and my vision began to dim. I wasn’t going unconscious; I just slowly lost vision of anything. Just as soon as everything had gone, everything began to slowly reappear again. I began nearing a white light and soon, my vision was blank. I couldn’t move or feel or breathe or do anything, all was still. Moments later I was slammed into the ground near Slender’s feet gasping. I was shocked, confused and nauseated. All of what had just happened took place in a matter of mini seconds, and my mind was still trying to process this. Teleportation; despite being portrayed as awesome in TV and film, was not very awesome after all. I looked to my left, and saw that Shock and Alaina had almost the same reaction as me but Slender was fine. I managed to let out a small smile, mainly because the experience was like 5 second roller coaster. We had teleported at the edge of a forest, I could see the mental ward clearly, and we were very close. My mind was spinning, my body felt useless and my stomach was doing back flips. I stood up anyways, because somehow my body was still functioning. My “relief” soon turned to horror when I “it”. It was just trotting right behind Shock Wave, mouth half way open, in a few seconds it would be over. I screamed Shock Wave’s name and reached for my hammer but I knew it was too late. I turned back to face him, expecting the worse, only to be surprised again. In one swift move, Slender had right through the head of the infected, tearing its head neatly into two pieces, splashing brain and blood bits away from shock and killing the infected. Shock dropped to the group and I just stood there. I didn’t have time to think just to notice what Slender was looking at. There 4 of them, all hunched over one corpse, staring at us, growling and rising from there fresh kill. Before they had even moved, 4 tentacles lashed out and severed each and every one of their heads in half. It was now that I realized that I was holding my breath, I let out a long breath of relief. These damn things couldn’t get any creepier could- Several growl and snarls came from behind me, and we all turned around to face the several infected which had seen the whole thing. There were some far and some close but all deadly, the door was right in front of us. There was only one way out of this, a very fast, insane sprint. “MOVE” boomed Slender. We didn’t need to be told twice, me, Shock and Alaina sprinted like hell was chasing us. Slender also “ran”, all the while killing anything that got close. His kills were enough to give me even more nightmares that the one’s I already had. My heart was pounding when I reached the door. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. I pushed the door open, only to be greeted by a snarling, infected doctor. Adrenaline saved me this time, without hesitation or thought; I brought the hammer directly on the late doctor’s skull. Shock moved past me and so did Slender as blood caked my shirt once more. Slender locked the door and Shock checked the area. I did nothing; I just stood there beating the brains out of this “monster”. I was panting by the time I was finished and I rose slowly from my crouching position. I was still panting, overcome by this weird feeling. I looked at my bloody hands, mesmerized. Why was I so interested in my hands? That’s when I realized that it wasn’t my hands, it was the blood. My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed Shock staring at me while Slender looked around. “I sense nothing, anywhere. This place is abandoned; nothing alive or dead resides here. I’m….sorry Alaina.” said Slender. Alaina said nothing; she only bowed her head and brushed a tear away with her hoof. I wanted to scream, to shout, and to cry. We had almost died to save our friend, one of us, only to find that we’re too late. I knew people will die during this, but I still kept this image in my mind of all of us making it, of all of us making it home. I didn’t want to face reality any more than I wanted to back on Earth, I wanted to believe the somewhere, somehow, Kim and everyone else were alive, and so, looked away from Alaina. I couldn’t take another breakdown, not today. It was several minutes before anyone said anything, and Slender was the first one to speak. “Wait, I sense something.” Everyone turned now, hoping for the best. “2 life forms; non-infected, however one is wounded. Alaina…..it’s Kim. Third floor, Room 208, everyone come closer!” Alaina stood with her mouth open, then again so did all of us. It was unbelievable, could Kim actually be alive? I was overwhelmed by joy and mystery that I forgot to move. It was Slender’s voice that woke me up again. In 5 seconds, we were in front of the door. Slender stood in front, and waited. 3 tentacles lashed out and ripped the door to pieces. We all stepped in, weapons ready. Instantly there was screaming, but not ours. There was one voice repeating the same line over and over, “PLEASE DON’T KILL US! PLEASE, PLEASE!” We stepped further into the room, and found 2 ponies. One, who was a grey, male Pegasus, was crying out loud and sobbing holding in his arms, another equally panicking blue pony. In front of hem laid a dead infected pony nurse, and next to her a rather large saw. Her head was in pieces. They’re screams were loud and repetitive, and they cried and cried. I didn’t know who the grey one was but I recognized the voice of the blue one immediately before entering. It was Kim. Alaina rushed forward and “pulled” Kim by her shoulders with her hooves. The grey one held onto to her furiously, but Alaina still managed to shake Kim. She screamed at Kim, she screamed at her to tell her to calm down, that everything was fine, that it was Alaina and not a “monster”. Kim screamed and shook and cried. She was so scared the she couldn’t think clearly. She screamed and screamed until she finally looked straight at Alaina Kim hugged Alaina hard, sobbing and crying, relieved that her nightmare was over. It was then that I noticed Kim’s right eye. It was bloody and empty; there was nothing there, just an empty socket. I was horrified and sad by this, and so I bent down and sobbed while staring at Kim. Shock held back tears while trying to calm the other pony and Slender watched quietly. I sobbed because, even though we were late and Kim was hurt, she was okay and we made it. We had risked our lives and saved one of our own. I wanted to jump for joy and burrow my head my head in a pillow and scream while sobbing. I crouched there quietly sobbing while watching them both, listening very carefully to the words Alaina said to Kim while she stroked here mane, soft and gentle words which found a new hole to live in my mind. “It’s okay, it’s okay, everything is going to be better now. Everything is going to be fine…….”
