(Flash's POV)

"Pinkie seemed really excited about this, didn't she?" I asked. Derpy and I were walking down the roadways, looking for the party we'd been told about.

"Why wouldn't she be? Parties are her LIFE." Derpy laughed. I wasn't at my full strength yet, Derpy had my right side supported as we walked.

Small talk had gone on for some time now. My spirits were high from the morning, yet I couldn't shake some bad feeling. Was someone else here? They had to be... right. Ponies live here. I mentally facepalmed.

As we walked further I heard something. By instinct, my ear perked up. I half knelt, half fell down, cringing at the reflex. The ear had hurt to perk like it did, but what had caught it's attention caught mine. I asked Derpy if she heard anything just then.

"I think so. Do you wanna see what it was or..." she returned.

I shook my head, telling her no. We had a party to get to.

It felt like we'd walked everywhere through the city already. My legs wobbled and threatened to give out, but I pushed forward. I hadn't walked so far in the past couple weeks to be carried around.

I thought to my chest. The rib still hurt, but nothing like it had a day or so ago. I made a mental note to thank Nurse... red… heart... whatever her name was when I saw her again.

"Where is this thing anyway?" I thought out loud, surveying my surroundings. Still only buildings were around me. But... it was better. The buildings had furniture, and some lights were on. It didn't seem like the ghost towns I'd come to dread. It was... alive. I don't know how else to describe it.

"She should be right he-" Derpy froze mid-sentence. She looked at me with soft gaze, but still a serious one. "Don't have a heart attack."

I wasn't given time to voice my confusion. All I heard was a collection of voices scream one thing; "SURPRISE!"

I reeled back, reaching for my weapon instinctively. It wasn't there, and thankfully so. With it there I probably would have done a couple things I would've regretted. I took a deep breath, one that turned into a chuckle. "This pink bundle of cocaine can surprise me. That's not necessarily a bad thing." I thought.

Pinkie hopped down from... I don't know exactly. Either way, she landed lightly and squealed. "Hey Flash! Happy welcomehomewethoughtyouwerentcomingbackbutyoudid party!"

I laughed. I was just beginning to get used to Pinkie's hyperactivity, and it took me a second or so to process what she said. "Thanks Pinkie. It's... it's nice."

Pinkie laughed, causing my eyebrow to raise in slight confusion.

"This is nice? You haven't seen the party yet!" she bounced, and I followed with Derpy by my side.

I looked around and smiled. This was gonna be fun.

(BM's POV)

I was on the way to the party, about 15 minutes before Pinkie said he would be there. Despite my pleads to not surprise the shit out of him, she ignored me. As long as he didn't have a gun on him, he wouldn't shoot everyone by reflex.

I hadn't gone too far when I felt my stomach hurt again. I hadn't felt that great this morning, and while I was better now I still had comings and goings of the nauseous sensation.

I sat down taking a moment to breathe. The feeling quickly subsided, but another took it's place. Yet it was different. I felt like there was... there was someone else here.

I kept walking. Under normal circumstances I would have drawn a weapon, yet oddly enough I decided against it. We were trying to live life here, and I kept being told that a gun to everything "Isn't a way to live.". Hell. From what I had known for the last couple years it was all we did to live.

Again...

I spun around, turning to whatever was behind me. Just empty air in a low breeze. I exhaled sharply, annoyed. "Fool me twice..." I muttered.

I kept going. I passed the corner of a building and saw Flash. Walking beside him was Derpy. I hid back behind the wall, not wanting to be seen. It was a semi-surprise party after all.

It was then that I felt cloth over my face. I had barely blinked and when I opened my eyes the world was shaded by the material. I reached quickly to pull off the bag before I felt a thwack to my head. I went down, dazed and fading fast.

"Did you hear something?" I heard Flash say... barely.

"I think so. Wanna check it?" Derpy's voice was even farther away.

"I probably imagined it..." Flash said, it felt just over a whisper.

I felt the grass move beneath me as I began to be dragged away, farther from the two I had heard. With nothing I could do, the sight before me faded to black as I lost consciousness.

It was some time later that I felt my strength return to me. Partially, but there no doubt. I opened my eyes and looked around me. There was one light source, the large floodlight seemed focused solely on me. I looked down to my position.

I freaked out. I was sitting down and strapped into a chair. I pulled, trying to worm my way out of the tight straps, but to no avail. I wasn't about to give up. I tried again and again, finally stopping as my forearms felt like fire from the friction.

"Hello?" I called, now certain someone had put me in this predicament. Whether or not that person was still here or not was another question.

She walked closer, out of the darkness blinded to me by the harsh light. When I saw who it was, my jaw hit the floor.

"Y-you?"

(Flash Drive's POV)

The party was still going on and I was having an amazing time. Yet something was missing. I looked around, not yet certain of what I was looking for.

"Pinkie said everyone was here right?" I asked, thinking.

"Yeah! Everyone's here. Why?" Derpy returned, briefly pausing from her partying.

"I don't see Jake here. Think he's not feeling well?" I continued, raising my head above everyone to look again.

"Sick or something. He seemed excited when I told him about it." Pinkie appeared at my left, and I cursed myself under my breath for letting her sneak up on me.

"He's probably fine." Derpy glanced over her shoulder, then back to me with a grin. "Come on! We got a party to enjoy!"

So I cleared my doubts and did so.

(Jake's POV)

"What do you even want?" I spat. She had been poking through a variety of tools; scissors, scalpels, knives galore. Her bright orange hair contradicting her dark and calm attitude.

"I want to know what makes you." She said bluntly. "How you work, how you wear that skin as a disguise. The three of you."

'Three?' I thought. 'Is she talking about Jordan and Dean?'

"What are you talking about? It's my skin, it's my body, it's mine." I fought back

A white hoof smashed into my jaw, nearly sending my whole chair down with me. A hot pain exploded in my face, and crimson taste filled my mouth.

"I won't be lied to. You obviously don't have the answers I'm looking for, so I assume I'll have to get them for myself." The eerie calmness sent shivers down my spine. She reached for one of the tools and I knew what was coming. I strained against the straps, pulling frantically.

"Just hold still, will you." she said, the lack of emotion was even more... lacking. I didn't have time to think. I pulled, and had a small sliver of hope when I felt it. My left hoof became slightly loose, but not enough to get out. I focused any and all efforts towards it, the blade reflecting in the corner of my vision.

I felt another hit, this time from the opposite direction. The world around me swirled as I saw stars. I came close with losing consciousness, but didn't pass over the horizon there. The blackish blurriness that swirled my vision slowly faded back to reality. She had the blade lined with my sternum, and began to press down. I felt the sharpness… it dipped in, then retreated.

Then she stopped. She looked to the left. My head turned as well, and I thought I heard the noise of... a knock?

She sighed "Looks like you have another moment. Enjoy it."

She headed towards the blackness, to where apparently there was a door. I took advantage, I knew I did not have long.

I stained my left hoof for all the good it did, pulling and twisting in any way I could. I was feeling defeat and I sunk my head. I caught a glimpse of my chest, where a small cut had been.

My eyes locked to it as the grim reality struck: "You're gonna die if you don't get out."

I pulled more, truly understanding what would happen if I just let myself stay here. I tugged up as much as I could. One thing prevented me from pulling farther and getting out; bone was not that flexible.

I was done thinking. I was almost out of time, and I need as much as I could get.

"1... 2..."

I slammed my forehead into where the wrist would normally be, hitting the strained bone. It cracked, and hot pain began to course through it. I reached forward and grabbed a knife, every second the fire in my hand getting hotter. I bit down on the knife handle, allowing me to tolerate some of the pain.

Quickly I undid my other hoof, then both of the leg straps. I threw myself out of the chair and hit the floor. Hard. I crumpled to the ground, and pushed myself to a stand with my good hoof. I looked around, assessing the situation.

She was trying to kill me.

I looked to my hoof. It hung at a lopsided angle and you could see where it was tied down, but I didn't have the leisure to think about how it would heal. I spied light coming from the wall, and immediately thought "door".

With the best three-legged sprint I could do, I rushed the door. It was closer than I thought, and I had to make a decision right now. Slam into it, or stop and pull it ope-

There wasn't time. I jumped and threw my legs forward in a less-than-graceful air kick.

All my thoughts until now had been slow compared to this one: "This might hurt if it opens the other way."

I hit the door and it flew open. I tumbled, rolling over the broken bone in my arm. I hissed at the feeling, but fear kept the pain from lasting. Fear gave my working legs one clear message.

Run.

I ran. I didn't pay attention to where I was or where I was going, I just ran. Everything was a blur as I knew my one goal was met. I got away. A new spark entered my train of thought as the pure adrenaline rush began to wear off. And I began to question due to it.

Where the hell am I goin-

(Flash's POV)

I walked out a long time after I'd thought about my friend. I was a bit unsteady, probably because I had a hell of a time. It was fun, and the best part of it wasn't the food, or the number of ponies there. It was learning.

Up until now, I had never really danced. So when Derpy had pulled me onto the floor, I had no real idea what I was getting into. Out of all my years, I'd never thought that something like that could be… fun. It had always seemed like hard work, and that everyone was either good at it or wasn't, or did it to impress people. But when I knew she wouldn't think different of me, I let her teach me. To be honest? It was fun. Very fun.

All things had to come to an end, and the party wrapped up after what had seemed like forever. Saying goodbye to Pinkie was a struggle in itself.

"I'll see you guys later?" The pink cocaine pony looked at me with sad eyes.

I laughed. "After something like that? Definitely."

"Alrighty! I'm happy when my friends are happy, and you seemed super duper happy so I'm super duper luper happy that you were super duper happy!" her bounce replaced her walk as she followed Derpy and I.

"We'll see you soon Pinkie." Derpy grinned, then looked back to me. She rested her muzzle on my back, near my neck. "I'm tiiiirrrreeeed…"

"Yeah… me too." I sighed, looking up. The night sky was full of stars, and Luna's moon shone bright.

"You know what I want right now?" Derpy's eyes turned to the beauty above us.

"I want this whole thing to be over. For you and I to just… I don't know. With everything that's happened, I want something simple."

I nodded. It's exactly what I wanted too.

"It's weird. For the longest time I've always wanted something exciting to happen, something that I could play the hero or I could be in some action movie type or… something like that. But since this started, all I want is peace and quiet."

I rested my head on hers. "That's what I wanted too. It's what I wanted back home, and when I couldn't find it I came here. All I wanted was to be in a place that was peaceful. I got that for a while, but it didn't last."

I looked at Derpy, her eyes momentarily uncrossing. "I didn't get the lasting peace I was looking for, but I got something much, much better."

"That right there is why I love you too." She nuzzled against my neck "Well, one of the reasons."

Taking her head off my neck, she looked forward with a grin. "We got time… but you do know which way you're going right?"

I shrugged. "Not really. I know we're kinda that way."

She giggled. "This way. Good thing one of us has been here before."

"Eh, I'll leave the smart one to it."

"Oh stop it." she blushed

"Make me." I stuck my tongue out at her.

She laughed, but I wasn't able to laugh with her. Out of nowhere, I felt something crash into my side. Back far enough to miss my broken ribs, but with enough force to send me to the ground. I groaned, not fully awake. I reached for my gun.

Right. Not there.

So I did the next best thing. I scrambled to my feet and got into the best fighting stance I knew. I lowered my hooves as I took a close look at who it was exactly.

"J-jake?" I stuttered "Where were you? Why did you-"

He cut me off "You gotta help me man! She's fuckin insane!"

I looked at him. His chest was bleeding, his left forehoof was hanging disfigured, and there were compression marks along his arms and legs. Jake had my full attention now. "Who? What happened?"

"I don't know exactly! I was walking to the party when she knocked me down and dragged me to this dungeon lab thing. She was getting ready to cut me open and everything, saying some crazy shit! She's not right man!"

"Wait, she tried to torture you? To kill you just… because?" I stared

"She thinks us, who came from the other Earth, are the cause of the Z outbreak and that killing us solves it. So if she kills us…"

"Then the Z's would just disappear. The conservationists all over again." I sighed. "Who the hell would do this? Would be this far gone? Why?"

"I told you! I don't know why she jumped off the deep end, she's just…"

"JAKE! WHO?!" I shook him.

"Celestia."

(end)