The door suddenly kicked open, knocking Hiro back as a human charged out with a huge sword in his hands. Without even waiting to ask who we were, he brought it down right on Hiro.

Hiro rolled out of the way, avoiding being cut right down the middle and instead getting a nasty looking cut on his side for it. "Stop!"

I waved my hooves would wildly. "Yeah, stop! We're not here to hurt you!"

Homer bristled, teeth bared, but he didn't charge. Good dog.

The strange person lashed out a booted foot, kicking Hiro back a few inches with a solid blow to the chest. "You're not getting me, freak. If you're a cop, you're barely half a step better."

Hiro grunted in pain, but stood his ground. "I know you're scared." He jumped to the left as the sword came down at him. "I know this situation's bad, but we're still people. We have to work this out."

"Forget you, government scum. I saw plenty of people get whacked trying to play by the rules." He had a face mask made up of a black and white bandanna over most of his face. He had short black hair and his hands shook as he lunged at Hiro with his blade, only for it to be caught in powerful claws.

Hiro winced. The blade was cutting right into his poor hoof as he pushed it aside. "Stop this. We're not here to hurt you."

I didn't like using instruments of fun for fights, but this felt like the right kind of situation. I pulled out the party cannon and lined it up with him. "Last warning!"

He looked up with surprise. "The hell?"

It was enough of a surprise for Hiro to suddenly dart in and slap the sword away from him, sliding far away along the street. "Enough. Listen to us."

Homer tilted his head at the cannon. "Where were you hiding that?"

The man pulled out a dagger with uncanny speed. "Look, just turn around and go home."

Hiro shook his head. "The longer you drag this on, the more you risk infection. My blood is infectious." He suddenly had to duck under a wild swing, then quickly roll away. "Unless you want to be on all fours, calm down."

With a loud thump, I fired the cannon at him, spraying him with confetti everywhere. He was knocked right onto his bottom, sputtering and cursing up a storm. "We're your friends, silly. Stop fighting us."

Hiro moved in and wrenched the dagger out of his hands while he was blinded. "We're here to help. You're not under arrest."

The young man cleared his eyes and glared between me and Hiro. "Damn it all to hell... How am I not arrested? I just cut you. You're full of shit."

Hiro gathered himself up with pride. "Maybe if you were dealing with the military. They'd probably kill you. I'm police, we're trained different. I know this is a tough situation, and you're scared, but I'm still here for you. Please, enough. We'll forget this ever happened."

I smiled brightly. "He's a hero."

The man laughed, swiping some of the mess off his pants. "Right out of a damn anime. Fine then, super cop. What do you want?"

Hiro pointed at the man. "First, your name. My name is Hiro Sasaki."

"You're shitting me." He laughed a little. "Seriously, Hiro? Hero?" Hiro rolled his eyes as if he heard it a thousand times before before the man continued. "Whatever. You can call me Ko. Now what?"

I waved a hoof excitedly. "I'm Pinkie!"

"Homer!"

Hiro nodded. "Good. We have a safe place for you to be. We'll take you back there. There are other survivors, uninfected. There are also infected, reasonable ones, like us."

Ko snorted. "You call this reasonable? I think you're nuts, but alright, and?"

Hiro pointed to the dark interior of the grocery store. "We're running low on supplies. This was one of the places we planned to search. Any objections? It'll become your meal eventually."

Ko shrugged. "Whatever. Owner ain't gonna need it."

Hiro went tense at the phrasing used, nodded, then walked right into the darkness. His slitted eyes seemed to widen, but he walked forward without delay.

"Pinkie..." His voice sounded off. Worried. Did he need help?

"Coming!" I moved to dash for the building.

"Stop! Do not come any closer. Back up, and wait for me. Do not under any situation come any closer."

Ko smirked a little. "Guess he found the house warming gift."

I scowled at Ko. "What did you do?"

Ko lifted his shoulders. "Survived."

Homer looked as confused as I felt, and pressed in close to me.

Hiro emerged with a few sacks that he set down. "There's plenty to take, but let me handle it. My order stands, do not come closer until I say so." He turned around and went back into the darkness.

Ground Stomper tilted her head, then I think I saw something click and she began to scowl at Ko. "Bad. You... Why?"

Ko looked up at Ground Stomper, only noticing her then. "Dear gods, they make horses in big sizes. What the hell are you?"

Ground Stomper raised a hoof to her chest. "Ground Stomper. Why? Why this?"

He moved for his sword and slipped it into a sheath he wore at his belt, and tucked his dagger away similarly. "Survival, didn't I just finish saying that?"

I still didn't get it?! "What'd he do?"

Ground Stomper shuffled nervously on her hooves and looked into the darkness a moment before looking back at me. "Person... live here. Person live. Ko... Person dead."

Oh... Oh... I felt weak in my knees and sick to my stomach. Another person, sent away forever. A person that might have been great fun, and had lots of friends, or family. Just... gone... "Why?" I echoed. "Did they do something bad to you?"

Ko frowned. "He wouldn't share. He rather I died, or become a horse. Deserved what he got." He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "He was all big talk while the door was in the way, not so much with a sword shoved through him."

I felt green and wobbled. It was all... so petty. So small. Everyone on every side acted so small, then they were sent away forever. There was no way to undo the damage. I wanted to cry, so I did. I felt Homer hug me and rock me. It was nice, but I couldn't thank him. I was too busy crying.

Hiro emerged with a new load of goodies and saw me weeping. He frowned sharply, then looked to Ko a moment before he withdrew again. Soon he had all the supplies he could find, and got it loaded up onto Ground Stomper, who supported the weight easily. "Ko, I have a question?"

"Fuck, what is it now?" Ko turned to face Hiro.

Hiro pointed to the hospital. "I just thought I should warn you, the military has control of our safe spot. They're far less forgiving than I am."

He slid back half a step. "What? Is that a threat? I thought we had a deal!"

Hiro put his still bloodied hoof on his chest. "We do. I have forgotten your assault and attempted murder on me. It's over and forgotten. Your successful murder is another matter entirely. It's not in my power to bring you to a non existent court right now, but it is in the military's power to decide."

He slid another half step. "You can forget that! You said I'd be safe!"

Hiro scowled at Ko. "Tell me why anyone should forgive you?"

Ground Stomper suddenly jumped forward, landing on all four sides around Ko, towering over him. She brought up a hoof and suddenly brought it down. Ko had faster reflexes than I would have credited him for, since he managed to jump mostly out of the way... mostly.

Her hoof caught his feet and slammed them to the ground, pulverizing them to pulp. His screams... They were terrifying.

"You deserve... worse," she said, scowling at the screaming human.

Hiro looked shocked as the rest of us. "Ground Stomper! Back away! This isn't right. You are not the law."

Ko rolled when Stomper stepped away. He was practically bent in a ball, screaming and wailing, but unwilling to touch his mauled and bloody feet. He cried. Not emotional tears, but of the pure shock of the violence visited on him.

Hiro made quite a face. "Look, we need to get you to the hospital. If there's any hope, it's there."

For better or worse, the trauma was too much, and he slipped from consciousness. Hiro cursed softly under his breath. "Quickly. He's probably bleeding to death and I didn't bring bandages."

I rushed forward and helped him get Ko up onto Stomper. When all three of us, and Ko, were mounted, she trotted back towards the hospital. We were quiet for the ride. There was so much I'd seen and heard. I wasn't sure how to feel exactly. I mean... Ko was a bad pony, but I didn't want him to die. I didn't want anyone else... to go away forever.

When Stomper arrived at the hospital, she settled down at the front door and some soldiers rushed out and began unloading the supplies, only to stop when Hiro and I slid down with Ko.

"You're hurt," noted one of the guards, looking at Hiro. "Report to triage immediately."

I waved a hoof. "He's hurt super bad! Help him!"

One of the two soldiers took a look, a real look, at Ko's mauled feet and winced. "Holy... Take him with you, but I'll be surprised if they do much other than cutting it off cleanly. The hell happened out there?"

Oh no! If he told them what Stomper did, they might hurt her. I looked at him, hoping he'd understand. He nodded at them. "Trip mine. Went off, took his feet practically off."

One of the soldiers hissed in sympathy. "Rotten luck. Get going. We'll handle the unload."

We hurried through the hospital. I had his arms. Hiro had his legs, and Homer walked between us, supporting the rest of his body on his back. Between the three of us, we could support him well and got him to an operating room and set him carefully on a table as the doctors swarmed in to start checking the wound. "We have it from here. Go get that looked at." We were dismissed, and Hiro got some cleaning and bandages for his boo boos. Compared to Ko, or that shop owner, I guess his didn't seem so bad anymore.

Homer leaned up and licked my cheek. "We did good."

I tilted my head at him. "Did we?"

Hiro nodded firmly. "We did. We fed the hospital, and found an entire bus of innocents and got them to safety. I'd say that's not a day wasted."

I nodded a little stiffly. "I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time capturing that 'yay we did it!' mood."

Hiro wrapped his forelegs around me and pulled me close, and I felt Homer joining the hug. Despite my down feelings, I felt a smile coming on, and I nuzzled gently into the hug. "You guys..."

We weren't alone, at least. Friendship was the most powerful kind of magic.

Author's Notes:

A sobering chapter in many ways, and a reminder that things are not pretty out there, and some people are willing to do what it takes to survive.

Was Stomper's... stomp a typo of karma, or due recompense?

Eep, forgot a vote!

1: They move on to another grocery store, to find it populate by ponies!
2: They're asked to raid a warehouse for more longterm supplies.
3: They're sent out to watch the pony movements for any patterns.
4: Aiko is ready to go! Take me along or you'll regret it!
5: Pinkie needs to talk to somepony about her feelings.