Fluttershy was gritting her teeth, small sobs coming out from her as she cradled her leg. Ever since she had been bit, she expected it to feel hot, blistering where the infected had bitten her, but no. Her leg felt cold, almost numbingly so, where the bite was. She was taking deep, quick breaths as Louis navigated his way through the piles of cars.

"Fluttershy, how's the leg?" Louis asked pushing a car door out of the way.

"C-Cold. S-So... Cold." She said. "W-Why is it c-cold?" She asked opening her eyes until her tears stung them so bad she forced them shut again.

"That's no good." He said. "When I got bit, it burned. And I mean like putting your hand on a stove-top hot. My skin actually blistered a bit before it healed."

"W-Will I turn?" She asked. "I-Is there a cure?"

"If there was a cure, there wouldn't be any infected. So far though, the only cure we have come out of a gun." He said. "I had a friend that was bit one time, Kenny. He was a good guy. Didn't hurt anyone, didn't steal... Sure he got drunk a little, but the most he ever did was fracture his pelvis trying to do some drunk parkour."

"H-He sounded nice. W-What happened?" She asked sending a tremor through him.

"The infection. We were in a Food Lion, stuck in the back. He got bit earlier, and we both waited it out. Hoping that he was immune. When he stopped moving, I went to nudge him and that's when he changed and lunged at me. He bit me on the shoulder, nearly taking a piece of me as I pushed him off and... Well, you can guess."

"Why didn't you-"

"Shoot myself?" He mused. "I guess I was scared. Too scared to die, and so far, I think that's what has kept me alive so far."

"Y-You know what I think i-it was?" She said sniffling.

"What?"

"I-I think it was-"

"Fluttershy! Louis!"

They both looked ahead and saw Zoey, Bill, and Francis standing in an open clearing. They all had worried looks that turned into even worse when they saw the red on Fluttershy. Rushing over, they quickly stopped Louis and he handed Fluttershy over to Zoey.

"Louis, what the hell happened?" Francis asked. "She's covered in blood!"

"S-She tripped and cut her leg on some metal." He said. "We were being chased after I was jumped, she ran and when I caught up, she was sitting in an empty car."

Frowning, he turned to the pegasus who nodded in confirmation. Turning back to Louis, he lightly slugged him in the shoulder. Ignoring Louis, he turned his attention back to Fluttershy who was shivering. Putting a hand to her head, he immediately put it back to his chest as he stared at her in shock.

"Fluttershy, you're freezing!" He said rubbing his hand. "And I mean absolutely cold."

"I-I'm sorry. I skipped m-my checkup y-yesterday." She said before sneezing. "Sorry."

Nodding, he picked her up again and winced as she put a leg around his neck. Looking around, she noticed the cars and other vehicles had stopped in a pileup behind them. Looking behind herself as Francis began to trudge through the garbage littering the highway, she saw a large building, larger than most and resembled the Cloudsdale stadium.

"That's just one of the abandoned stadiums," Zoey said. "When the infection hit, there wasn't a need for sports, or in any case, sports literally died. So, the military set up a base here, moved a few vehicles, and posted a ton of soldiers."

"All of which got their asses kicked by the infected." Francis said. "Look at us, a rag tag team of misfits, and we're doing better."

"Oh my, that's horrible." Fluttershy wheezed out. "I-I don't feel so cold anymore, is that good?"

"Nope. You're still a walking case of frostbite." Francis said.

"Frostbite is here? I hope he isn't hurt." She said. "He was always so like Rainbow Dash, he'd fly right into the winter clouds and come out covered in frost. Everypony say's, even himself, that he's slightly frost retardant. I've never heard of being frost retardant, but I've heard of being flame retardant."

"...You do know I was talking about the medical condition, right?" Francis said slowly.

"...Now I do." She said timidly.

As they walked towards the stadium, she became acutely more aware of what was around her.

The road they were one was littered from debris, mainly clothes and empty suitcases arranged in piles, and then there were the bodies. Dozens of them rotting and being pecked at by birds, one of which just had to look at her with an eyeball in its beak.

"That-That bird h-has an... I-In i-it's..." Fluttershy said pointing towards the offending bird. "That's just horrible!" She said attempting to vomit but only making dry heaves.

"Eh, I've seen a cow eat a chicken before." Francis said.

Fluttershy squeaked, her eyes rolled up in her head, and her head fell on his shoulder. He tried to blow some of her mane out of his face and ended up with more of it covering it. Groaning, he looked over to see the others snickering.

"Now isn't that just adorable." Zoey said making him grip his pipe even tighter. "Francis carrying her around like that, almost like a mother holding a child."

"That's the ugliest woman I've ever seen then." Louis said.

"I wouldn't worry about her, I'd worry about the father!" Bill laughed.

Francis muttered an 'I hate you all' through Flutterhsy's mane.

Arriving at the stadium doors, the glass push and pull doors had long since shattered. There were a few bodies laying in the glass, some with bullet holes in their heads, most with shards of glass sticking out from their backs. As they all stepped over them, they all stopped and coughed as the smell of decay, mold, ash, used gunpowder and dried blood hit them.

"Oh, dammit! That stinks!" Francis said effectively pushing the pink mane from his face. "Now it's worse!"

Coughing and wheezing, they all took a few seconds to adjust to the air. Looking around in the darkness, they all took into account the horrible condition of the lobby they were in.

The concession stand had most of the glass smashed in, tiles had been uprooted, mice and other small rodents rummaged through the filth, even a part of the ceiling where the tiles had fallen off was being used as an exit for a broken pipe that had long since dried up. And the scraps of clothing that were littered and stained laid by the doorways, barricades made from fencing, and anything cloth might get caught on.

"So, should we look around, or just head out into the stadium?" Louis asked casually walking towards a second set of unlabelled doors. "Because, if there's still power, I'm sure as hell not getting jumped in the dark."

As he left, Zoey quickly followed him with a mock salute goodbye. Bill, moving the cigarette in his mouth, looked over at Francis and nodded towards the concession stand. Francis got the idea and walked over, careful to not trip on anything.

"Alright old man, what is it?" Francis said sweeping some glass away to lay Fluttershy down.

"Did Louis seem a bit strange to you?" Bill asked looking at the doors. "Not himself in any way when he was talking to Fluttershy?"

"Not really, I failed at being a psychologist. By the way, it was the judge's fault that the convict was freed, not mine." Francis said.

"I'm just going to ignore that last bit." Bill said with a raised eyebrow. "But I'm getting off topic. Didn't you think Louis sounded a bit... Nervous?"

"Yeah, you know, now that you mention it, he did." Francis nodded. "But what does a nervous voice have to do with anything? He was nearly killed, and he is a huge wuss."

"He's been nearly killed plenty of times before, but not once did he sound like that." Bill said leaning against the metal edges of the counter. "You don't think he was lying, do you?"

"Nah, we both know he can't lie for shit." Francis said spitting on the ground next to him. "Nice to see she's still alive." Francis said as Fluttershy began to stir.

"I-Is the bird gone...?" She asked sitting up on the glass top. "Where are we?"

"Were inside the stadium." Bill said. "Fluttershy, is that story you told us true?"

"The one about Frostbite?" She said.

"No, the one about what happened to your leg." He said nodding towards the reddening cloth. "Speaking of that, how's it feeling?"

"O-Oh..." She said, her pupils dilating as the biker and veteran looked at her. "I-It still hurts." She squeaked out.

"Well, that's to be expected from a nasty cut like that." He said. "So, what happened out there? Because even I can tell, even being chased, you're to observant to just trip."

"I-I... Um... I-"

"Don't have to answer that." Francis said letting her breathe out a sigh. "Come on, if she say's she slipped, she slipped."

"Alright, fair enough." He shrugged. "Hod do you think Louis and Zoey are doing?"

"Doing what?" Fluttershy asked.

"Fucking." Francis said while whistling an innocent tune.

"For the love of! Francis, really?" Bill groaned as he slapped a hand to his face.

"O-Oh my..." Fluttershy said hiding behind her mane. "I-I think I'm just going to go and preen my wings a bit. If that's OK?" She asked.

Francis picked her up and set her down. As she walked away to a corner, Bill looked over at Francis with a glare, he merely looked back with a grin.

Louis and Zoey

"Do you even know where you're going?" Zoey asked as he led them through the dark hall with only a lighter.

"Yeah, of course I do, I'm following the signs overhead." He said stopping to raise the lighter. "Left to the junction box." It read. "Come on, let's hurry and get out of here. It smells worse down here then up top."

Feeling around on the wall, she pulled her hand back in disgust when it went into something wet and grainy. Gagging slightly, she wiped it on her pants.

In the darkness, a low moan was mistaken for a pipe rattling.

"Do you even know what to look for?" Zoey asked as Louis navigated through the halls. "Seriously, I'm really having doubts right-"

"Yeah, yeah, hold this, will you?" He asked handing her the lighter.

"Sure. Why not?" She said grabbing the lighter.

As she shined it no him, she leaned forward slightly to see him opening a large grey box on the wall. He gently grabbed her wrist and led the flame forward, fiddling with the switches and wires, he looked them over before flipping an orange switch at the bottom, to where the colored tab was green.

With a sudden whirring, the lights in the hall returned, and the venting was also turned back on. As he gave a clap and smile of self accomplishment, that quickly faded as he looked down the now lit hall.

"Zoey, I think I just fucked up." He said raising his gun. "I definitely did!"

She turned and dropped the lighter. Infected were picking themselves up off the floor, all of them now with their bloodied eyes on them, lips pulled back in one group snarl.

"Louis! This is all your fault!" Zoey yelled as she raised her gun and began taking the infected out by the two's.

Up above

Francis was twiddling one of Fluttershy's feathers in his hand, seemingly mesmerized by it. Every once in a while, he would hold it up to the light and squint, almost as if he were trying to stare at something hidden inside or outside of it. When the venting turned on, he jumped and dropped the feather in a small patch of dust.

"Dammit." He muttered picking it up. He paused before a sudden realization hit him. "Oh no..." He only managed to say before Fluttershy pounced on his back with a sudden death grip. "That's alright, I didn't need a spine anyway." He said attempting to stand.

"Relax, kid, it's just the air and lights." Bill said. "Nothing to be afraid of."

"B-But what about the... I-I hear them! I-I can hear them!" She said pointing at the unlabelled doors. "T-There are so many! Listen!" she squeaked as she ran behind a crate.

The two men shared a look before listening. Bill was the first to tear his eyes and ears away from it, he was shortly followed by Francis who went over to help Fluttershy calm down.

Fluttershy wouldn't calm down, and before they could react, she flew past Francis and grabbed the gun out of Bill's hand, aimed it at the door and fired. As the shots still vibrated through the air, a single infected fell through the doors, a bullet hole between its eyes. Fluttershy, looking down at her good hoof, dropped the gun and promptly fainted.

"Um, if she knew that thing was behind the doors, do you think she actually heard more of them?" Bill asked retrieving his gun.

"I wouldn't doubt it." Francis said. "Who knows, her hearing may be better than ours." He said picking up Fluttershy and his pipe.

"How do you think Zoey and Louis are doing?" He asked.

Before the biker could respond, the two people in question came running through the doors and nearly slammed into Bill. They were panting and covered in blood, before Bill or Francis could speak, they pointed towards the doors to the stadium and ran. Bill or Francis didn't need to be told twice as they heard the sound of the infected from the other side of the door.

They all ran out, meeting in the front row of the stadiums seats. Not looking back, they all jumped the rail and onto the field where a few were just wandering, not yet alerted by the rest of their brethren and sisters.

"Where the hell are we going to go!?" Bill yelled as he ran around on of the few vehicles dotting the field.

Before he could answer, a roar tore through the concrete bowl. They stopped, if only momentarily along with the infected, to see the goliath infected smashing its way down the rows.

"Tank!" Francis yelled as he sprinted ahead.

"Oh fuck my life! A Tank too!?" Louis yelled. "Where!?"

"Not a zombie! A tank!" Francis yelled as he reached the treads of the armored vehicle. "Come on!"

The others, not wanting to be in the open, quickly ran to it just as the flood of infected came screaming down on them. Tightening the hatch, Francis and the others were all crouched inside the vehicle as it rocked gently.

"We'll, isn't this just great?" Louis said. "Trapped inside a tin can like sardines," the tank suddenly lurched to the side. "And with a bunch of hungry cats outside!"

"Well if you hate it so much! Go outside!" Francis yelled as he undid a panel below a monitor. "Blue to red, red to green and black to yellow... I hope." He paused as a spark flew between the wires. "Oh yeah! That's more like it!"

"... Did you just hot-wire a tank?" Bill asked.

"Maybe." Francis replied. "Out of all the times, this has to be the worst." He said looking as Fluttershy started to raise her head.

"W-What's going on?" She asked before noticing her surroundings. "W-Where are we?"

The others merely looked at each other quietly, not wanting to scare her even more. With a roar from the outside, followed by the sound of metal hitting the tank, Francis looked over to his right at another screen and saw the monstrosity pulling puss and blood covered pieces of metal from its body before throwing them.

"O-Oh my..." Fluttershy said putting a hoof to her mouth.

"Uh, guys, you may want to cover your ears." Francis said as he took the controls and the end of the tank's barrel came into view. And he held it there, looking at the controls, and glancing at the others before Zoey hitting him in the back of the head shook him from his stupor. "What!?"

"Fir the damn thing already!" The other humans yelled.

"Would now be a good time to tell you I failed boot camp because I didn't pass the tank simulation?"

"Francis, I hate you so much right now." Zoey said.

"Uh, Bill, do you know how to fire this thing?" Francis asked.

"Do you think I honestly remember being in a tank?" Bill said.

As they were bickering, Fluttershy was looking at the other screen. She saw the infected hurling pieces of metal at the tank, each one ricocheting off. Looking at the controls, she glanced at the others before pressing a button.

The vehicle rocked drastically after giving off an almost ear shattering bang. All of the humans looked at Fluttershy before slowly looking over at the other monitor. The infected that was once standing, now had a massive hole blown through its chest. As it slowly put a hand to the wound, its knees finally gave out and it fell into the dirt.

"S-Sorry... My bad." She said. "I-I didn't know!"

"Um, it's alright." Zoey said. "You may have just saved our lives."

They all sat quietly inside, listening tot he screams of the infected as they tried to get in. eventually, Francis took the controls and started to move the tank, crushing any infected unlucky enough to be caught in the treads.

Author's Note

Fluttershy is the only living thing that can apologize for getting sick. And have a reasonable excuse for why.

So, on to King of Velrain! And, I might also be working on an alternate version to my self insert story... I feel a strange emotion considering it was easier to write the first chapter, then the first of the other one.