The night was completely dark, the moon was out of sight and only the stars remained to illuminate the landscape. The Everfree Forest was dead silent, not a single creature chirped and roared as they normally did in the night. The recent guard activity had driven most of them into hiding, but that didn’t dissuade to of the forest’s latest hunters. They crawled on their bellies through the muck and dirt, faces covered in charcoal to better conceal them. As Johnny and Jen reached the ridge that overlooked Ponyville it became clear that their mission would be difficult.

“Heads up… Looks like there’s a lot of activity down there.” Jen whispered as she pointed down to the fields surrounding the towns. Patrols roved around with beams of light that undoubtly came from unicorns and both Jen and Johnny could hear the occasional bark of dogs.

“Maybe we can slip up through the orchard to the west.” Johnny replied, pointing off at the apple farm in the distance with minor difficulty. He had switched his hawaiian shirt for Jen’s camouflage jacket, as a result he found his movements slightly restricted, but that didn’t seem to affect him much. “It seemed lightly guarded when I was there.” Jen took the hunting rifle and aimed towards the farm, she could barely make out the shapes of the trees in the darkness. Something stood out amongst them, a very dim light, like a candle or a lantern.

“We’d need to be careful then… It looks like they’re hiding in the shadows.” She looked over to Johnny who gave her a slight nod, the two of them carefully and slowly began making their way down the embankment of the ridge. “Hey, Johnny?” Jen’s quiet question caught the man’s tone as he continued down the hill. “If… If this turns out to be real… What do you think will happen to us?”

“I don’t know…” Johnny whispered back, his shoe squelching the muddy soil beneath him. He nearly slipped but managed to grab a nearby tree branch, the experience leaving him with an elevated heart rate. “We’ll worry about that after we figure out if this is a place to be trusted or feared though, right?” Jen just hummed in response. “Come on now, you’re always telling me to cut the chatter. We can talk later…”

“Right…” Jen sighed as she and Johnny reached the bottom of the hill and started to skirt around the fields of Ponyville, the underbrush and trees proved to be great barricades against the piercing light of the occasional beam of light that passed over the area. The woman quietly closed her eyes for a few moments and took some deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Afterwards she shoved the worries and fears for the future behind her and instead focused on the task at hand.

“What do we do once we’re in?” Johnny quietly asked as he started following a white painted fence, on the other side Jen could see apple trees with their fruit hanging freely over the fence.

“Obtain some sort of news paper or other books and pray we find someone who can read them…” Jen replied, Johnny paused and looked at her over his shoulder. “What? It’s a better plan than kidnapping a guard and forcing him to talk.” Johnny just let out a soft huff as he continued following the fence, his hand running along the old wood as if searching for some sort of secret button. “Failing that objective, we’ll just have to wing it. We might have to go dangerously close to the village.”

“Fun…” Johnny mumbled as he stopped and looked at the fence, he patted the wood softly for a moment before peeking up and over to get a glimpse into the orchard. “Looks clear…” He whispered before kneeling down and grabbing a rock from the ground, he then stood up and chucked it hard at a tree. There was a loud thud as it made contact, a few seconds later a light appeared in the distance. “Down.” Johnny and Jen dropped to their bellies, the man crawled closer to the fence and dug out a small portion of the dirt beneath it. Through it he was able to get a good view of the area in front of him.

What he saw was nothing short of what he’d expected, at least five ponies were approaching the tree he’d tossed the rock at. It was difficult to make out what they looked like other than they all seemed to be mares, the light was obviously generating from a unicorn’s horn, but he couldn’t place the race of the other alien horses. He quietly slid over a bit so that Jen could come up and get a look of her own.

“... confound it, all them guards around and still them darn apple thieves come here…” He heard one of them mutter, the distance from them made it difficult to really hear the fullness of their sentences. “... Spot anythin’, Rares?”

“No… I’m afraid there’s nothing here.” A second voice replied, unlike the earlier one it was a bit more refined. Jen’s eyes widened as she heard that voice, Johnny took that to prove that her theory was at least in part correct. He wasn’t sure if it was the cold nip of the moonless night or the realization that he would most likely spend the rest of his life in a cartoon world that caused the chills to run up and down his spine. “Perhaps it was something in the Everfree forest?”

“Whatever… I can tell they ain’t took nothin’. Let’s head back, I think we scared ‘em off.” The first voice said, Jen and Johnny watched whoever they were turn around and begin walking away from the fence. Minutes passed until finally the light was in the distance near the farmhouse that had been spotted earlier. Jen looked at Johnny with an annoyed expression, as if chiding him for endangering their mission so early on.

“They think they’ve run us off… Their guard is down…” Johnny muttered as he stood up and pulled himself over the fence with a grunt. “Come on, let’s move.” Jen sighed and tossed the hunting rifle over the fence, Johnny caught it and waited for her to pull herself over into the orchard.

“Take point. Stick close to the trees… Don’t take anything.” Jen said quietly, Johnny nodded and the two of them began moving with him at the front. He handed the rifle back to Jen as he moved, instead opting to stick to the Revolver she’d loaned him. With years of hiding and sneaking under his belt, he was as silent as the wind and as agile as a cat. This was why he’d always taken point, it was easier for Jen to follow his footsteps rather than risk stepping on a twig or something of that nature.

Jen’s thoughts were cut short as Johnny held up a hand and dropped to one knee, she looked around in the pitch darkness as if searching for the reason. Johnny for his part, had stopped them simply because his gut had told him to. Something about the area ahead of him felt off, it was too open for an orchard of this size to be natural. He quietly inched forwards, running his hands up and down the tree trunks of every tree he passed.

“Booby trap.” He muttered as his hand rested on a piece of rope, he followed it with his hand and saw that it seemed to lead to some sort of trap in the clearing ahead of him. “Divert right, keep your wits about you…”

“Roger…” Jen and Johnny began moving to the right past the trap into the orchard again, it seemed they were halfway to the flashlight from the ponies that had been around earlier, the beam of light giving a good indication of where the patrol was. Each step for Johnny was careful and measured in a way that seemed unnatural for a man of his stature, Jen couldn’t help but think that the man would be an excellent infiltrator, perhaps even a CIA operative.

Johnny, for his part, was more focused on the ground in front of him. The darkness of the night made it difficult for him to see much of the ground, the only way he was really able to navigate was by using the trees. That would do him no good in finding any traps that may have been laid on the ground that didn’t rely on trees or open space. Ahead of him he could see the beam of light had gone out, that most likely meant that the ponies had entered a building of some kind. Still, Johnny was a paranoid man by nature, and so he didn’t let his guard down.

For several tense minutes the two of them navigated the dark orchard, on one occasion Jen nearly ended up setting off a booby trap that would have caught her in a net. Johnny had thankfully pulled her back just before she stepped past the trip wire. They eventually reached the tree line and dropped to their stomachs to observe the farmhouse and barn several yards away. Johnny was about to start crawling towards the house only for Jen to put a hand on his shoulder and point off in the distance.

“Look.” She whispered, Johnny followed her gaze and slowly crawled back into the shadows. What he saw certainly threw a wrench into their plans, and that was at least two patrols marching down the road, they were only visible by the dimly lit lanterns they carried and by the somewhat loud marching orders. “What the hell are they doing here?”

“I don’t know…” Johnny muttered as the patrols got closer, the stomping of their hooves creating an eerie rhythm as they marched. The two humans held their breath as Jen reached into her backpack, she pulled a net of foliage that she and Johnny had made earlier from within and covered the two of them as quickly as she could. Through the thin weave both she and Johnny watched the patrols get closer.

“Company! Halt!” One of the officers shouted as the guards stopped outside the farmhouse, Johnny and Jen were frozen completely as they watched the guards begin dispersing and covering certain parts of the house.

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” A melodic voice echoed over the open ground, Jen and Johnny then spotted two ponies with horns and wings, once again Jen tensed up as she held her breath.

“P-Princesses…” She whispered, Johnny couldn’t help but internally groan. He could handle sneaking past guards and civilians, but it seemed that these were Princesses. If that was the case, he had no doubt that the guards that had just arrived were this world’s equivalent of SEAL Team Six of The Secret Service.

“I think we may need to abort…” He whispered as the guards began roving around, to his surprise he saw Jen shake her head. Part of him wanted to bolt then and there, dragging Jen with him, but the other part trusted the woman beside him.

“Follow my lead.” Jen quietly tossed off the camouflage net and stood up, still hidden by the trees. Johnny did the same and let her take point, she began quietly skirting around the house and barn using the trees as cover until finally they came to a stop. Johnny could see that they were on the dark side of the barn and house, there was more shadow to hide in and it was easier to see the guard’s lanterns. “Do you want to take the farmhouse or the barn?”

“Breaking and entering was my specialty…” Johnny replied as he looked at the house, Jen nodded silently.

“We’ll move on my mark…” Jen began speaking before looking at Johnny. “John… We’ll meet in two hours on the ridge. If one of us isn’t home by morning… We’ll just have to assume something went wrong…”

“We’ll be fine…” Johnny whispered and gave the woman a slight hug before going back to watching the guards patrolling around the house. Jen smiled slightly and gave him a slight peck on the cheek. “Once you clear the barn maybe you can provide some over watch for me, fire a shot off in the air if you see them running, okay? It fucks with their ears.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Jen’s voice was shaking slightly, after a few more deep breaths she’d psyched herself up enough to start watching the guards marching by. It took a few minutes for her to get their pattern down before she stood up and patted Johnny on the shoulder. “Five seconds…” The man nodded and slipped his revolver into the waistband of his jeans, he counted it down in his head before feeling Jen’s hand pat him on the back. “Go.”

Johnny took off into the open, running as silently as possible. He kept his breathing as quiet as he could as he saw the farmhouse getting closer, noting that there were two guards on the roof. Thankfully they were looking away, but he knew that climbing up would be an issue. The two storied house was nothing special otherwise, he’d have no problem busting in with his old tricks, but considering that the ponies inside were still very much awake, it was going to be difficult hiding his presence. He just hoped none of them paid much attention to damaged windows.

The man stopped in the shadows of the house, pressing his back up against the wooden siding and taking a few moments to breathe. The man slid left along the wall towards the beginnings of a porch, his point of entry was just above that. There was a corrugated tin roof that he intended to pull himself up onto, afterwards he’d slip in through a window just above that. With a quiet grunt he hopped up and gripped the edge of the roof, then pulled himself up onto the platform. He could have sworn he felt something grabbing the back of his jacket and hoisting him up, but shrugged it off as nothing.

The man prepared to begin breaking into the house through the window, but paused and simply reached out. To his utter shock the window was unlocked, he thanked his lucky stars that these ponies were complete and utter idiots before lifting the window open and slithering through. He landed with a slight bump and looked around, he’d landed in a hallway. It was dimly lit via light from the downstairs and Johnny could hear chatter from whoever lived there and the other ponies. Normally he would have gone off to find something of value, but considering there seemed to be government officials here he figured it wouldn’t hurt to eavesdrop a tad.

Quietly the man moved to the end of hallway, his shoes leaving rather muddy tracks behind him on the soft carpet. Johnny stopped at the top of a set of wooden stairs that lead to the first floor, he could see that part of the house seemed to be illuminated by oil lanterns.

“... -cess Luna, can you please tell us what happened at the hospital? We’ve all been concerned about it, considering all that’s been happening in the world lately.” A female voice asked, Johnny remembered its owner as the unicorn that had been casting the light beam earlier that night.

“Nay, I’m sorry to say that information is classified for the moment.” A regal voice replied, Johnny remembered it as the one that had belonged to the mysterious visitor he and Jen had had earlier that day.

“Come now, Luna. They have a right to know.” Another voice responded, Johnny paused at that voice. It reminded him of his old english teacher if she was a pornstar, not that she was. Johnny had just had a very active imagination when he was in school. Johnny leaned closer to the stairway to better listen. “You all know Dominic, correct?” Johnny assumed that the owner of sexy english teacher voice had received nods. “Well, all I can say is that he has a very particular interest in the hospital incident. Specifically who perpetrated it.”

“Princess… Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Asked a raspy tomboyish voice, Johnny leaned forwards to get an even better position to eavesdrop from. It would have worked if it weren’t for the floorboard creaking under his foot. The voices downstairs stopped, prompting Johnny to begin backing up towards the window.

“Applebloom! Go back to bed!” He heard someone call up to him, Johnny simply went to the window and peeked out for a moment. When he slipped out he was sure to close the window behind him, but it didn’t seem like it would matter, he’d tracked dirt and mud all over the hallway. The man took a moment to check beneath him before he dropped down to the porch and began skirting along the outside of the house towards the barn.

“Hey, wanna hear a joke?” Asked a voice from around the corner of the house, Johnny froze and flattened himself as much as he could against the side just as a pair of guards came into view. “What’s green and has four wheels?” Asked the first one, a skinny looking stallion.

“I don’t know… A cart?” Replied his annoyed female companion, the stallion shook his head with a big smile.

“Wrong! Grass! I lied about the wheels!” Johnny nearly broke out laughing as he watched the annoyed mare stop and look at the stallion, then smack him in the back of the head. “Worth it.” The man was just happy they hadn’t noticed him, and once he’d seen them go out of sight, he took off towards the barn. The thirty feet of open ground between him and the barn were some of the scariest steps he’d ever taken in his life. Thankfully he wasn’t out in the open for too long, and soon enough he’d slipped through the front door.

“Jen?” He called out in a quiet whisper yell, there was a soft whistle from upstairs in the barn’s hayloft. Johnny quickly spotted a ladder up and climbed his way there, peeking around the open space and taking note of how much hay was stored there. It was practically packed to the gunnels with the stuff, with just enough space near the hayloft door for a certain woman to be hiding behind to stood up bales. She signaled for him to crawl towards her, most likely due to the two snipers that seemed to be perched on the roof of the house.

“Learn anything good?” She asked when he finally reached her, Johnny nodded quietly.

“I think I did. Something about a guy named ‘Dominic’, I heard them talking about his interest in what went down in the hospital…” Jen looked confused at the name, signalling Johnny that they seemed to be on the right path. “They heard me eavesdropping though, I had to get out of there before they said anything good. What about you, anything good?”

“Not really.” Jen replied as she peeked out the open doorway at the guards patrolling the outside again. “I’ve been trying to figure out these guys though. The armor is all different from what I remember, and so are those crossbow type thingies…” The woman sighed quietly and crouched back down behind the hay bale she’d taken for cover. “I’ve got a feeling we’re going to need to hide here until those guards are gone, otherwise I doubt we’ll be getting out of here at all.”

Johnny just nodded and reached into his waistband to withdraw the revolver, the man handed it to Jen while Jen handed him back his hunting rifle. He took the weapon and rested it on the hay bales, rising to look through the scope. He panned his vision over the area in front of the barn, pausing on the two snipers on the farmhouse roof. After he’d taken in the view for himself he hid behind the bale with Jen, subtly cuddling up next to her.

The silence they shared was out of necessity, but Johnny didn’t mind. He enjoyed just sitting next to Jen, having someone else's warm body close to him helped calm him down. It was a luxury that he had been enjoying for the past several months, and deep down he knew that Jen liked it just as much as he did. With so many cold lifeless bodies walking around, it helped knowing there was still someone alive. In their current position Johnny normally would have been stressed beyond measure as if he were surrounded by infected, but Jen was his port in the storm that eased the waves of fear.

Jen quietly put her arm over Johnny’s shoulder and held him close, her eyes focussing on the ladder that led up to the hayloft. She couldn’t help but smile as she felt him nuzzle into her chest, sighing and patting him on the head as if to non-verbally admonish him for it. Outside she could hear the rhythmic clop of the guards hooves on the earth, in her mind that was good. It meant that for the time being she and Johnny were safe. She did her best to focus on that rhythmic sound, but eventually she felt her eyelids grow heavy. Before she could shake herself awake she found herself drifting off.

Jen found herself standing on a beach, staring out at the ocean as a beautiful sunset painted the sky. She could feel the sand between her bare toes as the wind blew against her face, in that moment she closed her eyes and felt someone gently take hold of her hand.

“Jen.” Johnny’s voice echoed through her mind. “Wake up!”

Her eyes shot open to the sight of Johnny training his rifle towards the ladder that lead up to the hayloft, she felt her heart beating heavily in her chest as fear rushed into her system. Jen could hear someone in the barn down below, that must have been what had alerted Johnny to their presence.

“Hmm… We could have sworn we felt something…” A female voice mumbled downstairs, Jen recognized that voice. It was one of the princesses, Princess Luna if she wasn’t mistaken. It had been so long since she’d seen the show that she’d somewhat forgotten how the characters actually sounded, only what she thought they should sound like. Jen almost chuckled to herself as she realized just how odd her situation was, but seeing just how serious Johnny was taking it brought her back to earth.

After several minutes the door to the barn door opened and closed, only then did Johnny dare venture near the edge of the Hayloft. Jen meanwhile slid over towards the hay bales that guarded the window. To her surprise there was a fair amount of activity in the area outside, the guards were roving around much more aggressively. The woman caught a glimpse of the flowing mane that belonged to Princess Luna before she ducked back down to avoid being spotted by the snipers on the roof of the farm house.

“We’ve gotta get out of here.” She said quietly as she stood up and made her way over to the ladder, Johnny followed her with a concerned expression crossing his blacked out face. The charcoal dust was beginning to fall away, giving both of them a ghostly look. “That was too close, we’ve gotta run for the trees.”

“It’s twenty yards to the trees, then another two hundred or so through the orchard. Even if we make it there, there’s a likelihood we’ll end up stumbling on one of those little presents they left behind.” Johnny replied as he slid down the ladder, Jen was already on her way over to the rear barn door. She slipped her revolver into her own waistband and turned to look at her companion with a no nonsense expression.

“It’s either we get caught now or we get caught later.” She said in her normal tactful tone, Johnny could see she was doing her best to put up a front of toughness. The man sighed and looked down at his rifle, then held it out for her to take.

“You’re a faster runner, I’d rather you carry this.” Johnny said quietly, Jen gazed at his eyes for a few moments before taking the weapon. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she neared the rear barn door. Johnny would have offered to go out first, but knowing Jen, she’d just push him back and charge out anyway. The two stopped and peeked out the door at the dark orchard just twenty yards away, and seemingly there were no guards patrolling around there.

“John…” Jen took Johnny’s hand in her own and looked deep into his eyes. “I love you.” Johnny felt himself tearing up as he squeezed her fingers.

“I love you too… Be careful.” His voice caught in his throat, Jen nodded silently and turned to the doorway. After a minute of waiting she pushed out of the door and took off sprinting towards the orchard. Johnny leaned out the door, watching the area around her for any coming patrols. To his dismay he spotted a ray of light from a unicorn’s horn, Jen would run right into it. He was certain she was so focussed on the trees she’d completely forget to dodge the beam.

In a split second Johnny was out the door and charging towards the unicorn, his heart racing as he panted. His shoes made loud noise against the dirt, drawing the guard’s attention just in time to miss Jen. The unicorn’s beam of light nearly blinded him as it shined brightly in his eyes, Johnny let out a loud yell to further get the guard’s attention. He lowered his shoulder and held his arms out wide in preparation for a tackle, the guard let out a loud yell of his own before the two of them collided. Johnny used his momentum to pin the guard to the ground, he briefly looked towards the tree line to see Jen staring at him in shock.

“RUN!” He yelled loudly. “DON’T LOOK BACK!” Jen stared for a few more seconds before disappearing into the dark. Johnny focussed on his current problem, the guard that he had beneath him. He pulled back his arm and delivered a punch to the stallion’s jaw, then another and another. With the guard sufficiently knocked out Johnny armed himself with the sabre on its belt, oddly enough it seemed as if it were designed for humans.

Already the other guards were converging on his position as he took up a ready stance, holding the sabre in imitation of the Civil War movies he’d seen. He was certain he wouldn’t be able to stand up in a fight if they came at him all at once, but maybe he’d be able to get one or two of them before he went down. He briefly closed his eyes as he felt tears running down his cheeks, images of Jen and the rest of his family running through his mind. All infected aside, he was certain he’d lived a good life.

When he opened his eyes he found himself staring at at least a dozen guards, all of whom had their odd crossbows trained on him. Furthermore there were the same five ponies he’d seen at the beginning of the night, as well as the two ‘Princesses’. He ground the ball of his foot in the dirt as he bit his cheek, holding the sabre behind him.

“Lay down your weapon!” Shouted one of the guards, Johnny responded with a solo fingered salute.

“Eat me, you fuck!” He was speaking in true Jersey fashion now, if only to buy Jen that much more time. One guard responded by firing a bolt of blue energy from one of their crossbows, it impacted Johnny’s shoulder and forced him to lean forwards. The pain wasn’t much more than the fact that it felt as if he’d been punched. Oddly enough he felt tingly and filled with energy, everything seemed to move a tad slower.

“Hold your fire, damn it!” Shouted another guard.

“Please! We don’t mean you any harm!” Shouted the white Princess, Johnny didn’t buy it for a second. He readied the sword in his hand and quietly began humming a song to himself, ‘’, it was one of the many songs he had sung along to in the car before the world had been fucked over. Slowly Johnny brought the sabre forwards and pointed it towards the Princesses, his tongue briefly passed over his chapped and dry lips as he prepared himself for the end. At least Jen would get away, she’d maybe be able to find herself someplace safe to hide, maybe live a relatively normal life.

“DROP! YOUR! WEAPON!” Shouted the first guard, Johnny quietly sighed and was about to charge forwards when he heard a distant gunshot. Judging by the time that had passed, Jen was in the trees by now, that was her way of letting him know she was safe. At least, he hoped it was. Slowly Johnny’s fingers unwrapped themselves from the sabre, the blade clattered to the ground moments later.

In an instant Johnny felt himself tackled to the ground by at least three of the guards, his arms were forced behind his back in a fashion he was familiar with. He didn’t resist, not wanting to take a chance with the ponies playing cops. He was then pulled up on his knees, the five ponies that he’d seen earlier and the princesses were now approaching him. They stared at him for a few moments, so he shot them a confident smile. In truth he was terrified, but he’d be damned if he gave them the satisfaction.

“Where is your friend?” Asked the white princess, Johnny continued that smile of his.

“I have the right to remain silent.” He replied, expecting some form of rebuttal or angry reply from the princess. Instead she simply nodded to the guards behind him and he felt himself hoisted back to his feet, he was now on eye level with the white mare.

“You do… But something tells me you have questions you want answered.” She looked to her navy colored counterpart for a moment as if communicating her thoughts to the other, afterwards the white pony turned and began walking away. Johnny watched the navy colored one step closer, he could see her eyes staring directly into him.

“We art Luna. Thou shalt be coming with us.” Luna looked to the guards behind Johnny for a moment. “The cuffs will not be necessary, he did, after all, surrender as asked…. More or less.” The guards looked miffed, but Johnny couldn’t help but smile as he felt the metal binders be removed, he rubbed at his wrists for a few moments. “We assume thou recognizes us, or at least, our voice?”

“You’re the weird cave lady.” Johnny said bluntly, occasionally looking over his shoulder towards the tree line, something that was not lost on Luna.

“Aye, we art ‘The weird cave lady’.” Luna giggled slightly and looked over her own shoulder at the five ponies that seemingly lived at the house, then she turned back to look at him with a soft smile. “Who, may we ask, art thou, human?” Johnny blinked several times as he heard his own species uttered from an alien’s lips, his body tensed up and the confident facade he’d projected quickly began to falter.

“J-John… Friends call me Johnny…” He stammered. “How did you know I was…” Johnny trailed off, Luna gave him an odd look before turning to look at the five ponies again. The were all whispering amongst themselves, occasionally looking at him, and then going back to their whispering. “A-Are they pressing charges?”

“What?” Luna asked in surprise. “No, they shall not press charges. Why would they… Unless thou happened to track mud all over their upstairs hallway.” Johnny remained quiet for a few minutes. “Listen, John. We understand thou art confused and fearful, who would not be? However, we ask that you kindly keep yourself composed until such time as we art in private, once there we shall answer any question thou may have. Okay?”

“O-Okay…” Johnny said in quiet confusion as Luna began walking him away from the group, in his mind he was contemplating his escape. Part of him knew that sticking with the ponies for a bit would give him a chance to really learn about them, but flight was still foremost in his mind. He was just glad he had the fortitude to keep his still relatively calm composure.

[♦]

Jen watched through the scope of the hunting rifle as Johnny was led away, she briefly considered opening fire on the ponies and giving him an opportunity to run, but she knew that doing that would likely lead to Johnny’s death sooner than his escape. Currently she was laying on her stomach on the ridge the two of them had started out on, Johnny had marked it by leaving his own backpack behind while she’d carried hers. Jen tracked both Johnny and Princess Luna as far as she could, her breath becoming more frantic as he got further and further away from her. She was forced to pull her eye away from the scope to wipe away another tear, by then Johnny was out of sight.

Her sight drifted over to the five mares that she recognized, they were now chatting with some of the guards while the other guards began clearing out. Watching them from a distance made her think of all the times she’d sat down to watch them when the world was still a relatively safe place to live. In that moment she had a moment of clarity, she was honestly surprised a lightbulb didn’t come on over her head. She knew these ponies, more importantly, she knew about these ponies. What they did, where they hung out, who their family was.

The gears in her head began turning as she hatched a plan to not only learn more about what strange place she was in, but also to free Johnny and take him off with her to someplace where they would both be safe. She would use her knowledge of this world to her advantage and wage a one woman war of sabotage and subterfuge until she got what she wanted. Jen watched the ponies further, the guards were slowly filtering away from the farm now, and it appeared the ponies would be going their separate ways soon enough.

Jen quietly stood up and looked to one of the bags that had been left there, she felt a soft shiver pass over her body, the air was rather chilly for her liking. She remembered that Johnny had her camouflage jacket, but that didn’t matter, she still had the long jacket she’d carried with her. With a sigh Jen unzipped her bag and pulled the double breasted trench coat from within, she held it out in front of her and stared at it as she remembered how she’d gotten it.

Her childhood friend Mark had given it to her as a gift when she’d first joined the National Guard, the patch on the shoulder she had added herself after attending a convention. She’d dubbed it her Judgement Day Jacket as a joke, considering it seemed like something that a doomsday romanticist would wear. The irony that she was wearing it post doomsday was not lost on her, but she decided not to dwell on it.

Jen first slipped her arms into the jacket with a shudder, unused to the feeling of the jacket liner at first. Once she’d pulled it on and buttoned it up tight she pulled her hair back so that it wasn’t caught in the jacket. She gathered up her belongings, then looked at Johnny’s bag. Jen could see the fabric of his Hawaiian shirt hanging from the mouth of the bag, a feeling of grief ran through her.

“He’s still alive…” Jen whispered to herself as she picked up the bag. “He’s still alive.” Quietly the woman began skulking through the dark, following the path that she had memorized back to the cave. It was eerie just hearing her boots in the dark, she was so used to Johnny’s coming up right behind her. A sad smile crossed her face as she recalled the time she’d nearly shot him when he’d come out of the dark and given her an awful scare, something that he thought was hilarious.

The rest of her journey continued in that hollow silence, it was almost as hollow as the feeling she felt rising in her chest. The loss of Johnny had hit her like a punch to the stomach, no amount of positive thinking could shut out what she imagined he would be going through. By the time she’d reached the cave she was a shaking nervous wreck, thoughts of Johnny enduring the worst tortures she could imagine had her biting her nails like she never had before. Her composure only lasted as long as it took her to get deep into the cave and not a moment more, Jen found herself sitting in the fetal position and rested her head on her knees.

After an hour or so the stress from the day caught up with her, the surge of adrenaline she’d been surfing came to a crashing halt and before Jen knew it she was struggling to remain awake. Her eyelids felt as if they had weights attached to them, finally she let out a quiet sigh and let go of consciousness.

”Whisky Five Five. Whiskey Five Five. What is your ETA on Civilian Evac Point Echo, over?” The radio squawk jerked the sergeant up in her seat, she adjusted the helmet on her head and looked out one of the windows of the Chinook she was currently in. Below her she could see pine trees and vast meadows, mountains off in the distance, and an eerie clear morning sky took up the rest of her vision.

“Uh… Roger that Crystal Palace. ETA is two mikes, over.” Jen could hear the pilot reply in the cockpit, she looked around the inside of the helicopter and found that aside from her and another Guardsman it was empty. The guardsman she recognized as one of her few friends, a rather pasty looking corporal with thick rimmed glasses and a bad case of acne. “Sarge! We’re two minutes out! Get ready!”

“Roger that!” Jen shouted back, she stood up and gripped the M4 assault rifle strapped over her chest. Her vision turned to the corporal who seemed a little too nervous to have heard the notification. “Smalls! Ready up! When we set down we can’t let any more than fifty three people on, try not to break up families!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Smalls replied, he readied his own rifle and stood up. Jen and he walked towards the end of the helicopter as the rear door began opening.

“Gas masks!” Jen shouted over the wind, Smalls nodded and the two quickly pulled on the gas masks that had been issued to them. They already were wearing thick welders gloves beneath the rather thick jackets that they’d also been given, Jen honestly wondered what the point of that was. It was almost as if they were gearing up to fight rabid dogs rather than evacuate people.

With the masks on, Jen and Smalls looked out the now open cargo door. Beneath them they could see houses on fire, an old sounding air raid siren echoed in the distance, and swarms of people were fleeing from other swarms of people. Some were firing into the second swarm, but to Jen’s surprise, it didn’t seem to be having much of an effect. Behind their Chinook, the two soldiers could see the other helicopters that had been assigned to the other evacuation points in the small town below them.

“Holy fuck! Evac Point Delta is compromised!” Someone shouted over the radio, Jen watched the helicopters for that point begin circling over what had once been their evacuation point. She could see it almost looked like an old folks home, below she could see police and private citizens firing away at the incoming swarm of seemingly invincible people. “Open up on ‘em!” Chaos was breaking out, and Jen felt a lump form in her throat as she caught sight of something. Even at the distance and altitude she was at, she could still see it happening. A young girl tackling her mother and father, before all three turned on what looked like the son of the family, who was then forced to lay waste to them with a shotgun.

“Jesus Christ… What fresh hell is this…?” Smalls muttered as the flaming building and compromised evacuation sight was left in the distance. Jen looked over to her fellow guardsman, then back down at the earth below. She felt a pit growing in her stomach, prompting her to pat her right breast pocket. Within was her father’s old marine cover, something she carried with her for good luck. Feeling it there gave her mild courage for the things to come, something told her she would need it.

“Thirty seconds!” The pilot announced, Jen and Smalls gripped the cargo hooks on the either side of the Chinook as it began angling itself for a landing. She could see below them was a large football field, most likely for the high school located right next to it. Hundreds of people were swarming the school, police and national guard forces were already setting up a perimeter. Jen briefly looked over at Smalls, the young man looked unsteady on his feet.

“Smalls. You with me?” Jen asked loudly over the noise of the engine, the young man looked at her for a few moments. She could see the fear in his eyes, it was obvious that he could see the fear in hers. “Come on! Head in the game! These people are depending on us! Are you gonna let them down?”

“No, ma’am!” The man, more a kid than a man, replied loudly with false courage. That was all Jen could ask for out of the kid, she focussed her attention instead on the ground growing ever closer.

“Sarge! Be advised! Check them for any bite marks! Those are command’s orders, not mine!” The pilot shouted loudly, Jen just nodded in response.

“What if they have bite marks?” Smalls asked in reply.

“Keep them away from the chopper, if they resist…. Shoot ‘em.” Was the pilot’s final word, Jen and Smalls felt knots twist in their stomachs as they grew ever closer to the ground. The pilot had said it with an equally melancholy tone, as if somehow that would make it less of a sickening command. When the helicopter finally touched down Jen and Smalls rushed out the back and began motioning the people towards them.

“Come on! Come on! Get in!” Jen shouted at the first group of people, meanwhile other helicopters were touching down nearby. Overhead she could see Apaches patrolling off in the distance, occasionally opening up on anything trying to get near the evacuation center. Jen came to the horrible conclusion that that included people that needed to be evacuated, but hadn’t arrived in time.

The first group of evacuees rushed towards the Chinook, some of them looked like they’d been through hell. Many of them were armed with blunt instruments of privately owned guns, something that made Jen uneasy. She and Smalls began checking them as the passed by, thankfully at first none had bite marks, though some had head wounds or burns, and others were limping along with sprained ankles. Preppy looking teens and their rich parents, poor looking broken families, all of them made equal by the horrors of whatever god had deemed fit to unleash upon earth.

“Sarge!” Smalls yelled, catching Jen’s attention. She looked over to Smalls and saw him nervously rubbing the back of his neck, in front of him was a family that looked absolutely devastated. The sergeant pushed through the oncoming crowd of people, prompting one of the already present guardsman on the ground to take up her position. She approached the family and felt her heart sink as she spotted a young boy, no older than ten, with a bite on his forearm. The mother was in hysterics, the father trembling as he tried to contain the emotion that Jen knew was eating him up inside.

“H-He says you won’t let my son on the helicopter! Why won’t you let him on! His sister bit him when they were having a silly fight, nothing else! Please!” The mother wailed loudly, Jen felt as if a knife was being plunged deep into her chest. She reached up to her ear and activated her radio.

“Crystal Palace, this is Sergeant Poplawski on Whiskey Five Five. I’ve got someone here who sustained a bite wound, but they claim it wasn’t inflicted today. Can we let them on, over?” Jen asked desperately, her eyes shifting towards the frightened looking ten year old.

“Negative, Sergeant. Do not let them on.” Was the sharp and harsh reply she received.

“But he’s only ten years old-!”

“Negative, Five Five. The order comes from the President’s office. No exceptions. Out.” The radio cut out, Jen felt as if she could vomit right there. Quietly she looked at the dismayed family, she could feel her entire body shaking.

“I… I… There’s nothing I can do…” Jen felt her voice crack, the family looked absolutely shattered. It was all she could do to internalize the emotion and look at Smalls, he was looking at her with an equally dumbfounded look in his eyes. Even with the gasmask on, she could see just how confused he was. “We… We got a job to do still… Get back to it…”

Jen did her best to drown out the sobs of the mother and father as she walked back to her post, but it was no use, it was a sound that would follow her for the rest of her life. The looks she received as she continued her work were just as haunting, some of them were hateful. She could understand those, and in a way she knew she deserved them, but the ones that seemed understanding were what really struck her.

“Fifty-one… Fifty-two… Fifty-three!” Smalls yelled, snapping her out of her thoughts. The people began yelling angrily as Jen and her companion stepped back onto the cargo ramp. Jen looked out over the crowd at the family, all of whom were huddled together. The boy looked at her with a confused expression, as if asking her why he wasn’t worth saving. Jen could have stepped off the chopper, she could have offered him her place. It would have been the human thing to do… But she didn’t step off the helicopter, she didn’t offer the boy her place, all she could do was continue staring at the boy as the cargo door began closing and the helicopter lifted off.

Once the helicopter had gotten into the air the crowded chinook was dead silent, an hour after take off the radio exclaimed that the site was successfully evacuated, save for those that had bite marks or other injuries that prevented them from leaving. They had been left behind to fend off the tide of destruction alone. It was only at that point that Jen pulled off her gas mask. In front of fifty four people and over the radio she openly began to weep, in her mind she began imagining the worst fate possible for the little boy she’d been forced to leave behind.

Officially the ‘Weeping woman’ that had been heard over the radio was a distraught civilian, but those aboard Whiskey Five Five knew the truth.

Jen awoke to the sound of chirping birds, laying down alone in the cave with tear’s on her face. Normally Johnny would be there to hold her close, to ease her fears and tell her what she’d done was all she could do. Normally… But Johnny wasn’t there, her fears weren’t eased, and no amount of talking to herself could convince her that what she’d done was ‘All she could do’. For the first time in a long time Jen felt overcome with emotion. She began to cry, the size and shape of the cave only serving to amplify the sound.

To the residents of Ponyville, that morning the call of the mourning dove was drown out by weeping that lasted for well over an hour. All that was known was that it came from the Everfree forest, and from that day forward the legend of the Weeping Woods began to circulate. This sudden development was not lost on a group of three small fillies with oddly lenient fight or flight reflexes, and though their elders warned them explicitly against searching from the source, it was obvious to them there was only one thing to do. Investigate, and maybe gain something each of them had sought after for so long.

It was certain to go down as one of the oddest, and perhaps depressing, chapters in Ponyville’s history.

Author's Notes:

Here's another one for all you guys and gals, it took a bit of time to work out how I wanted it to go down, but I think it turned out okay. As always, I'm open to criticism. As Patton once said: "If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking."

Please leave your comments below, as well as a rating, and if you feel like it maybe add it to a library. It helps me get a feel of what I'm doing right and what I need improving on. Now... That being said... I'm going to go pass out, because I am Tired with a capital 'T'.