Chapter 2: What We Became Part 1

Applejack was pacing back and forth. The whole group was shaken with worry, but she clearly was unnerved the most. Twilight, being the most level headed of the group, approached her in an attempt to calm her down.

“Applejack, he’ll be fine.” The orange mare looked at her with a hint of resent. How could she be so sure, she had heard those words many times in the past weeks, and it had often led to a terrible realization. “How could we send him out by himself?” the honest earth pony broke down. While it was true that she did hold some anger, it was mostly at herself. “Applejack it’s only been a few days, I’m sure-” Applejack stopped her. In this new form of Equestria a few days was all that was needed to lose hope.

Applejack had already lost so much; her cousins had written to her when the news of the outbreak was broadcast. It all started as a few weird stories, there was no known origin, but before long most cities had fell. Small towns like Ponyville had been lucky enough to withstand a few weeks before their first encounter. After she lost communication she had assumed the worst. Now all she had was Applebloom and Big Mac; Granny Smith had lost her youthful athleticism long ago and when Applejack refused to leave her side, the old mare convinced the younger it was her time to go. Applejack had regretted her decision to leave ever since.

Twilight had gotten up, feeling there was nothing more she could do, she let her friend lay near the sturdy apple tree while she gathered the group. Twilight was the unofficial leader of the group as she was the most capable of them. Contact with the princess was lost almost immediately, but she had been fortunate enough that she had escaped with her friends. Well most of them anyways; Rainbow Dash had been ill-fated and had gotten into a crash just a week before the outbreak. She looked fine, but the accident put her into a coma. Everyone had been so preoccupied that they forgotten about her until Twilight gathered them together. They all mourned the expected loss, but even more so for Twilight; she had been the most organized, she didn’t know how she forgot, but it killed her on the inside.

Slowly each member of the group had appeared one by one. Pinkie, whose mane had lost its wild and ecstatic nature, had looked up to Twilight. The pink pony had kept a smile on for the most part, but it had clearly been a facade. Pinkie was friends with everypony in ponyville. Now they were all gone, and it had taken her happiness along with them. She was glad that some of them survived, but her usual joyful personality had faded. Still she was the most comforting pony out of the group, often helping others get out of the slump. She could cheer up anypony, with the exception of herself. She wasn’t always grim, but something had been eating away at her, bringing her to the brink of depression constantly.

The next pony to arrive was the white unicorn. She had lost most of her shine; her passion for appearances was gone. Her tidiness had been her undoing, she had put her obsession with cleanliness above the life of another; that was the way she saw it. She never really talked about what happened, but when one of the many admirers and coltfriends she had went to save her, she had forced him to go the extra mile to avoid things she dubbed “filthy”. It was her nature to “avoid acting like the monsters we are running from”. Upon the poor colt’s death, the realization of her stubbornness hit her. She would have lost all sanity had she not ran into Twilight.

Lastly was Fluttershy, she had been the most grim of the group. She thought she had betrayed her animal friends when she was forced to leave them. The shy pegasus felt useless; her element, the element of kindness, did nothing to help the small woodland creatures she had abandoned. She felt so weak and helpless, and out of everybody in the group, she was the only full grown pony to not take down one of the undead. She had relied on the others to save her. The yellow pony looked up, now that she arrived they could discuss their next move. These were the four that would make the decision, missing one now that Applejack was mentally lost; the others in the group had been okay with this form of decision making as they could not do it themselves.

“Okay girls,” Twilight gained her composure, “Big Mac hasn’t returned, and we are running low on food, which is why we sent him in the first place. It is only safe to assume that the farm is overrun and therefore our best course of action is to leave soon.”

They all nodded their heads, since the outbreak they had idly agreed with Twilight on everything. “I’ll go break the news to Applejack,” Pinkie bleakly said. As Pinkie left Twilight sighed; these small meetings were only a testament to how hopeless they had all been. In the distance she could hear Applejack sob even louder upon the news.

Twilight could see a figure in the distance. She wondered if Applejack’s cry had given away their position. The purple mare used her magic to pick up a nearby pot. She readied it as the figure peaked over the hill. Now she saw two shadows, it would be easy for her to get in over her head, so she figured she should get help. The unicorn then noticed the figures were going straight to the two earth ponies. “Applejack! Pinkie! Run!” Twilight yelled, but they were frozen in place, eyes locked on the approaching shadows. When she got close enough to recognize the features she realized that they were not frozen in fear, but rather in shock. The shadows transformed into the silent red stallion, now carrying a buckload of apples, and an old face, the blue pegasus.

In that moment, Rainbow saw the faces she all knew, and Big Mac saw them too, but this time it was different; they were all filled with hope, one of the emotions they hadn’t displayed in the weeks before. With the new food and new member, they group celebrated. They threw a small party, oblivious to the outside world, and for the first time in a long time, they returned to their normal selves.

(AN: Sorry for the relatively short chapter and the gap between releasing. I returned to school from break and now much busier. I should be getting another chapter or two out by the next few days. Hope you guys like it.)