"Don't you dare move." a voice behind me snarled, presumably the one holding the weapon.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I bet you have no idea who you're dealing wit-"
"SHUT UP." He yelled, grinding the barrel a little into my forehead. More blood flowed but I was biding my time, desperately thinking up a strategy.
"You have nothing to say, understand?" he continued, both the masculinity and the accent becoming more and more obvious.
He trotted over to my backpack and began searching inside. A thought ran across my mind as he began tossing everything out, looking like a low-grade scavenger.
'He doesn't know how guns work'
I grinned to myself and kept in my position, figuring if he thought I didn't know I could turn it around easier.
He tossed out package after package of food for some strange reason. Looking for medical supplies perhaps?
During so I eased my head away from the weapon, not letting him feel if I had moved or not. From a different point, no longer near the weapon, I pretended I was still his hostage.
"If you're looking for a medicine box you should try the side pocket." I offered.
He nodded and kept looking. I used this to my advantage and snuck up behind him.
"Also, if you think you can keep me down you can find some lead in the back of your skull too." I cocked the hammer back of my still-silenced Eagle.
He gave a sigh. The sigh a fighter makes before he's about to whoop your ass.
How wrong he was.
There was a blur of a hoof, but I was already gone. He whipped around looking left and right.
"I told you, you were over your head." I called out from the trees, my voice echoing out.
I saw the sharp glint of a knife. I had to stifle a chuckle.
"He can't be coming at me with that, he nearly dropped the thing..." I thought, imagining how easy it would all be.
I planned it out in my head, I'd sneak up behind and take my spare gun back, before getting what information I could out of him. I'd decide whether to kill him or not later.
I shuddered. "Had... had the thought of killing him just cross my mind?" I gulped.
"Damn, that would be a first." I whispered, pulling out my weapon "And hopefully a last..."
I begun what had been my most daring take-down yet. All my previous ones had been on the mindless undead, not paranoid ponies. I took a deep breath and swung down from the tree, entering my 'stealth zone' as I did so. I don't know why, but I felt at the oddest of peace as I did so, like the universe or whatever was on my side. Some mumbo jumbo whatnot, but it was an overall "You can do this!" vibe.
I made sure to keep it in mind as I circled out slowly into the clearing.
This was going to get ugly.
(Derpy's POV)
I was outside the Ponyville I remembered. Sure, some of it was in shambles, but it looked normal-y.
Then I saw Flash, slightly behind a group of ponies galloping for their lives. He had turned around again and again to shoot down any zombies that got too close. One of the smaller ponies, most likely a filly, had stopped when Flash turned around one last time. He gave her no time to argue, as Ranger Trails ran and scooped up the filly, handing something off to Flash simultaneously. There was a shared nod between them and Ranger kept running. Flash Drive kept shooting, holding down the trigger as the bright orange weapon fire began lighting up the dark sides of the town.
Behind him the train began to move. He ran after it, with the zombies hot on his tail. Then just feet from the handrails... he stopped. He gave BM a grin. He swung around and brought up his weapon, pulling the trigger instantaneously. He only fired twice before the gun was empty, and it took him all of three seconds to jam in a new mag. He turned around a screamed at the top of his lungs "JUST GO! I'LL BE FINE! JUST GO!"
The train pulled away as Flash became smaller and smaller, nearing the horizon of our vision. The bright flashes of light we saw was hope that he was still alive somehow. And it was worth clinging on to.
I gasped sharply as I sat up, instantly awake. I was in my room in Canterlot, with Dinky snuggled up beside me. I was on the left side of the bed as I sighed. The right side was empty.
'But that could change.' I smiled at myself.
"Flash, just please make it back safe..."
(Flash Drive's POV)
I had looped around behind him, out of the barrel for my stolen weapon and out of throwing knife distance. I raised my weapon.
"Drop my gun and drop the knife. We can forget any of this ever happened." I lied. I was going to ask him one or two things after either he surrendered or I forced him into submission.
He did his 'sigh' thing again and charged with the knife. I was far enough away to put a bullet in his rear leg. He skidded and the glow around his horn faded, allowing me to go and retrieve my broken gun. Sheathing it, I used my still-silenced weapon to return to my attacker who was groaning in agony. I kicked his knife a few feet away and grabbed him by the arm. I dragged him over to a tree and laid him against it.
"Now that you don't want to kill me as bad how about we get something done? Hi, my name is Flash Drive, what's yours?" I said with an eerie innocence.
The redish-yellow pony said nothing, just stared into oblivion.
"You do know it isn't nice to steal things right? If ponies would just ask nowadays it would make everything just so much easier, you know?"
He still was silence, hatred burning through his eyes.
I stared at him for a long time, before gently moving my hoof over to his horn. For that split second, I was able to look into his mind and see what I wanted.
"Ouch. Wife is dead. But you have a good sized group going apparently. Five strong. One of you broke a leg badly, and the blood is attracting more and more of them." I stood up and walked to my backpack. I pulled out the medical tape and sat it right next to him.
"Look Candlelight, I get that you want yourself and everyone with you to survive." I paused. "So I have an offer."
This caught his eye, but he said nothing still.
"You can take this tape and fix up both your's and Bright Star's leg too. Or you can fix your leg, go back and get your group, let me take a look at her. Then we can all go to the stronghold in Canterlot."
Finally he spoke "Flash... I treated you like an enemy, how can you treat me like a friend?"
I chose my words carefully. "I don't. I treat your group like one that needs help, and that is something I can provide. If I sense any indication to back-stab me, I have no trouble leaving you as zombie bait."
"So you wish to help us, but being our friend is out of the question?"
"Not entirely true. Prove you all have a sense of humor and I'll reconsider." I smiled softly. "Now, do you want to bind your own leg, or have me do it for you?" I got closer to help.
"No no, I am doctor. Well... nurse. But I know how to treat a leg hole."
Fortunately for him, the bullet made a straight pass through and there wasn't any shrapnel. I looked away whilst he bound the wound, and I was astounded at the lack of noise that followed. I turned back around and saw while it wasn't audible, the pain was thoroughly expressed over his face. His face contorted with agony, I helped him tie the last of the bandage.
"I told you I did not need your help." Candlelight stared blankly.
"And I thought otherwise. How far away is the rest of your group?"
Candlelight was silent, then said "About a 15 minute walk. Here and back."
I glanced at the sun, it was high in the sky.
"I don't want to wait any longer than I have to. You all have 30 minutes before I start walking."
He nodded and turned towards the forest. After I was certain he was out of normal earshot, I slumped down on a tree and gave an exasperated sigh.
"That went well. No one was killed and we have our supplies." I thought, looking on the bright side.
But I flipped the coin. With more ponies we had more mouths to feed. I pulled over my backpack and rummaged through it.
"That food we dropped should have come in handy, it's a shame we had to leave it behind." I muttered as I counted the bags.
We had 50 miles to go, and less than 2 days worth of food. If the story about Bright Star's break was true, she could only move maybe 8 miles a day. Unless she was carried.
I checked inside the bags. Two of our many bags were rotten and had to be thrown away. It was a shame, but I'd rather be hungry than sick.
For a third and final time I counted, and we had just barely 2 days worth of food, and that was with heavy rationing.
I brought out 3 smaller packs, made for a situation like this. I put weight in them, not food, but things such as most of a tent in there. I wanted them to carry weight, but not to be inclined to take the packs and run.
There was a faint rustling from the bushes, and I glided my hand over my pistol just in case. It was whom I had expected. Candlelight climbed out first, followed by another stallion. There was a small colt helping a filly, but the two seemed so in sync one could call them twins. Finally, the pack was ended with a mare armed with a spear. She seemed to have the best indication to what was going on.
"And this is who I found, the one who gave me the bandage." Candlelight announced, breaking the silence.
I gave an awkward wave, and the colt happily returned it.
These ponies looked as if they had been surviving longer than most. All of them carried weapons, even the little ones had small wooden daggers.
The female from the back eyed me carefully. I had my guard up, and was almost taken by surprise when she pointed her spear at me.
"Who are you?" she growled "And how do we know you won't kill us for supplies?"
I laughed. "Honestly? You don't know." I casually pushed the spearhead towards the ground. "But if I wanted to kill you we wouldn't be having this conversation, now would we?" my seriousness returned.
"Was that a threat?" she asked, astounded.
"Not unless you took it that way." I responded bluntly.
I continued "Hi everypony. My name is Flash Drive, but so far everyone calls me Flash. Now I don't know how long you have been surviving together, but I can see it hasn't been easy."
The stallions I had yet to get a name for muttered "No shit..."
"And I want you all to know that the next couple of days will not be easy if you want to come with me."
The colt asked "But where are we going to? Bright star can't walk very fast..."
"I'm sorry, I didn't get your name?"
"Quicksilver." he chirped.
"Well Quicksilver, we are going to head to Canterlot. There is a safe haven there, one I was supposed to return to yesterday. You see, me and two others were dropped off in Ponyville, and from there-"
The mare spoke up "Ponyville? That's at least 15 miles from here though, isn't it?"
"Roughly 20." I corrected. "Anyways we were looking for survivor groups like you and a horde, maybe 80 strong, attacked us out of the blue."
I paused. "Did any of you hear the train last night?"
One of the stallions said something. "We heard it yesterday, if that's what you mean. Was it the one carrying your friends?"
"That's the one. I told them to go, otherwise the number of zombies would have overwhelmed all of us. Instead of everypony being stranded, it was just me."
"Hold on, let me get this straight... you walked 20 something miles in less than 24 hours?"
What could I do but shrug? "I guess so. But enough about me, who are you guys?"
"We are a small family from a miner town, not far from Ponyville. We rarely had visitors, but Equestria needs coal and minerals somehow. We thought about bunking down there, but after a gas leak we couldn't stay any longer." Candlelight went on "These are my brother's children. He is no longer with us..."
"Dead got him?" I suggested.
"Sickness. He had a heart problem long ago." He countered. "Blazing Meteor was his name, his older son is Creeping Cedar."
The green stallion from earlier waved.
"The mare over there is my oldest niece, her name is Crystal Light. I know she's a bit harsh, but she warms up to ponies. And you have met his younger children. Quicksilver and Bright Star." he continued.
"I'm sorry, but didn't you want me to take a look at her leg?" I interrupted.
He nodded and quit talking. I pulled out my secondary, slightly higher grade medical tape and unrolled it a little.
"Okay, Bright Star? Can you show me the break?"
Wearily, she pointed to the lower part of her leg. It was bad, part of the bone stuck out in a jagged fashion, and it was astounding that she was still moving.
"Have you tried to re-align the bone?" I asked Candlelight.
"Yes, but it hurts her too much. We can't risk that..." he droned off.
I zipped open my medicine pouch and pulled out a pain tablet, courtesy of the AFOGG laboratories. Handing her the small pill along with some water, it was down her throat within the minute. Another after that, she was out.
"That should put her out of commission for the next 30 minutes, but she'll be disoriented for the next day or so." I warned.
"Candlelight, can you try your realignment now?" I asked, motioning to the unicorn.
He nodded as the red aura glowed around his horn and her leg. With a sickening CRACK, the bone popped back into place, still broken, but at least not sticking out. Carefully, I wrapped the tape around it and gave a small injection above the break.
"This will numb the area." I explained. "Otherwise it would be agonizing constantly. She will need to take pain medication every four hours for the next week or so."
"Pain meds are something we have." Candlelight added.
"Shouldn't we move? I have the feeling we are no longer alone..." Creeping Cedar suggested, his accent very similar to that of his uncle's.
I hadn't handed out gear before there was rustling from the bushes. Spears and knives were raised, and my hand once again glided over my sheath. With my pack full, I decided to hand out weight if I needed to later.
After moments of tense silence, Crystal Light heaved Bright Star over her back, keeping the filly clear of her spear sheath. With the coast clear, I stepped out of the forest patch and out into the opening. Then, a wave of a 6th sense rolled over. I jumped and spun around, unholstering my good eagle as I did so. I pulled the trigger, and the stalker 3 feet from Cedar fell to the earth still.
Cedar stood speechless, and I reholstered my weapon.
And with that, we stepped into the sun.
OMG, I have meant to get this chapter out for so long now. To my betas, I apologize for not getting this story out earlier, or running it to you guys for that matter.
To everyone else, how goes it? Is that fire I smell? No... it's cake! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRULY ALIVE!
It was a year ago yesterday, 9/20/13, when I started this story. It took me over a week to get 10 views, and now I get almost one thousand A MONTH! It's all you guys. Never me. So R&R! I love you guys now just as I did a year ago.
For those of you who have heard about The Salient Link by Torrenta (TSL for short), it takes place in this book's future. I just can't get as far as I wanted by then, but nothing will be early revealed (hopefully). If you haven't heard of TSL, go check it out. Now. As well as A Mending Soul and Orbit.
More announcements! The story isn't slowing down, not at all? We still have the AFOGG lore and stuffs to cover! We have (let's see...) 12 more parts to go! That is part 7 out of 19. I can't wait till part 11! But you'll see in time ;)
Looking forward to another year!
-TDL