I was only partially awake. I could kinda squint an eye open, and I heard things like I had my head buried under a pillows.

The gunshot was clear enough. It's what woke me up. The weight on top of me moved, then pulled away as another shot fired.

Something left. It got quiet... I tried to lift a hoof from the ground, but I felt so weak. So tired... But ponies were counting on me! I had to... I got a hoof a foot off the ground and slowly swung it, and myself, over and began to prop myself up to my haunches.

"Stop right there."

I could see a shape. Biped. Human? They were little more than a blob to me right then. "Hi?"

He made a click sound. "It got you real bad, didn't it? Hell... Lay back down. If you try to bite, jump, or anything else fast, you're catching buckshot."

Laying down sounded good, and I started to slide a little. "I've gotta... gotta help... There's a guy in a building. He's scared... He's scared and alone and he has a gun, and we have to..."

"Have to what?"

"We have to save him!"

The shape came closer, and suddenly prodded me with something it held, and I fell over backwards, flopping out and looking up into the sky. "Save yourself first."

I could hear h.. her? It was a her. I tried to focus my eyes on her. She held a gun in her hands. It was different than the other guns. It had one big tube, instead of a little hole for the bullets. She wore big heavy boots and a jacket. She also had twitchy pink ears, like mine, and a fluffy pink tail, also like mine!

She must have noticed me staring at her and smiled. "See it now, huh? I'm already turned."

But she wasn't. Besides the ears and the tail, she looked perfectly human. "You look great."

She snorted. "I don't need to be flattered by a horse."

I didn't get it! "How are you not... more pony?"

She laughed suddenly at that, only to suddenly fire her gun. "And stay gone!" She looked down at me. "I didn't want to be a horse, so I said no. I said no hard and long enough... It just kinda stopped. They always did call me stubborn, but I never outright defeated a deadly disease with determination before."

I decided she was a very special human, and one that needed friends. With the dizziness starting to fade, I propped myself up again. "Look, we have a place, a hospital. There are lots of people, and ponies, living there. We have food, and it's safe."

She lifted her gun to point right at me between the eyes and I went still. "First, where did you see me?"

I pointed off back where I was pretty sure we came from. "We were walking past and you shot our friend. Why'd you shoot her anyway? I mean, I guess she's kinda big, but she wasn't hurting anything!"

While I talked, she kept taking out these little things and putting them into the gun. Did that make the gun work better? "I see. So you're friends with one of the titans?"

Titan? "I guess you could call her that. She's Ground Stomper, and she's pretty cool."

The ground suddenly shuddered with vibration. Was Ground coming back? I didn't want her being shot! "Look, please, no more shooting at her. She's really nice, I swear!"

The human tucked her gun at her shoulder as she rose to a full standing height. "Right. You're the most talkative horse I've met so far, and you haven't tried to get on me and re-infect me, so that's a point in your favor." She suddenly lifted the gun and pulled down, making it click oddly? "That your friends coming?"

I nodded quickly. "Probably. They didn't want me to come say hello to you all alone, but I didn't want you getting, you know, scared by a huge pony again."

She smirked softly. "Yeah, I probably would have shot them again. It's a woman, huh? A woman horse. She's huge..." She suddenly spit onto the ground in a large arc. "Supplies are running down. I guess I could die, starved or drying out, satisfied I didn't buy it from horse disease." She approached suddenly and thrust a hand towards me. I put a hoof in it, and she lifted me up easily. She was strong! She plucked me up to my hooves and I wobbled a bit, but I was standing.

I smiled at her brightly before letting out two streamers of confetti. "Great! You mean you'll come with us?" She nodded. and I grabbed for her free hand, shaking it vigorously. "We won't let you down, promise."

She suddenly grabbed my shoulder and shoved me down before lifting her gun. Before she could fire, the pony that had tackled me was on her, bearing her to the ground with a loud growl.

I wasn't going to stand for it! Or lay down for it. You know what I meant! I sprang up, cannon at the ready and gave a mighty pull. With a loud bang, the pony was knocked aside. I hadn't loaded confetti, instead a boxing mitt that crashed into its ribs and knocked it right to the ground.

The human rolled just enough to get her gun lined up with the pony, propping it right under its chin. "Bye." I didn't want that either! I thrust a hoof out, but it was already done. With a loud sound of thunder, the pony... was gone... I couldn't even look anymore. I turned away, feeling green.

She rose to her feet, dusting herself off. "Thanks. Quick thinking. Where were you hiding that? Horse? Pink horse? You in there?"

I mean, on one hoof, I understood. Really, I did... She had to act fast, or she'd get sick with the pony disease. It wasn't fair. She shouldn't have to make that choice. Ponies shouldn't be dying. None of it was fair...

"Pink?" She reached out and gently stroked one of my ears and I made a kinda sad sound. "It's alright. It's dead. It won't bother either of us again." She kept petting softly. She was trying to comfort me, but not about the right thing.

With a sudden thumping coming from the ground, I looked up to see Ground Stomper and everyone else. She hesitated when she saw someone with me, and slowed to a stop about a hundred feet out.

I looked to my new friend. "That's Ground Stomper. Can she come over?"

She nodded. "Yeah, sure." She even raised a hand and waved at Ground, who took it as sign enough and stepped closer at a leisurely walk.

"Pinkie!" she cried as she got close enough to talk. "Hurt?"

The others slid down, and I soon had a Homer propped up under one hoof, nuzzling at me.

Hiro was speaking to the lady. "Everything alright now?"

She nodded. "She's filled me in on the story, after we saved each other. I'm going with you all. No kisses, licks, or anything like that. This is as much horse as I'm allowing."

Aiko pointed back to the hospital. "If you'd like, we can have Ground take you back to the hospital, where you'll be safe."

She snorted. "I think not. Oh, my name's Yuka. Yoshida Yuka. Yuka's fine. You don't have any weapons."

Hiro frowned a little. "Speaking of which, why do you even have a shotgun?"

She reached into a pocket and flipped out a wallet. "Legal."

Hiro leaned in and looked it over. "Huh... It is... You're a hunter?"

Yuka flipped the wallet shut and stuffed it away. "It was a hobby."

Hiro scowled at her. "A hobby?! That's a hell of an expensive hobby!"

Yuka. Tapped the end of her gun on the ground. "Worth every yen, I'd say right now."

Aiko looked as surprised as Hiro did. "Is she real? It's all legitimate?"

Hiro waved Aiko away. "Yeah. She's a licensed hunter, with a license to own an explosive firearm. If we weren't in the situation we were in, I'd have you run up for improper use of firearms and have that license taken away from you, Miss Yoshida."

Yuka raised a brow. "Good thing this isn't a normal situation. Are you done lecturing me? What are you, anyway, a police officer?"

Kuri coughed softly. "Actually, he is."

I thrust a hoof towards Hiro. "He's our hero!"

Hiro rolled his eyes. "None of that matters right now. I trust you have proper discipline with that firearm?"

She nodded. "Safety's on right now. No accidents. I can have it back off fast enough to aim and fire without knowing the difference. I've taken the classes, run the drills, and I even have a fancy locker back home, all registered. If there's ever a law to worry about, my bases are covered."

I clopped my forehooves together. "Now that we're all friends, we can get to finding all that food, right?"

Homer circled around Yuka, sniffing at her before he offered a paw towards her. "Hello! My name is Homer."

Yuka accepted his paw carefully. "No getting drool on me."

Homer drew in his waggy tongue sharply. "Oh, sorry."

Ground suddenly knelt down beside us. "Hello. Yuka? Ground... Stomper. Friend?"

Yuka raised a brow at the huge pony. "You aren't a little bit angry I took a chunk out of you?"

Ground frowned a little. "Mistake. Not shoot... again. Yes?"

Yuka put up the palm of a hand. "Swear. You're awfully nice for a huge horse."

Ground softly pawed at the ground. "I... not... I..."

I decided to hop in. "Ground was a human, just like you, or you, or you." I pointed to a few of my friends as I talked. "I think she's still super smart."

Ground nodded a little. "Not... good... talk. Very..." She thumped the ground with a hoof. "Angry."

Yuka frowned. "That sucks. I'd be pissed too if I couldn't say what I wanted to say. Alright, Ground, we're friends enough for now. No more gun wounds, promise. You took that like a pro, I have to say."

Ground squirmed a little. "Hurt. Alright... now."

I pointed up on top of Ground. "We should get going. If we get a nice big bag of flour and sugar, maybe I can throw you a 'welcome to the hospital!' party when we get back! That'll be fun." I quickly scrambled up on Ground and softly pat her behind her head. The others came up behind me, and soon we were all loaded.

Hiro leaned to the left a little. "By the way, did you have any supplies you wanted to bring to the hospital?"

Yuka shrugged. "Nothing worth the extra trip. Let's score some real food."

Ground rose up and began at a light trot that became faster over time until she was just short of a gallop as she ate up the distance in a hurry. She wasn't in a panic this time, and easily moved around walls and over small buildings without crashing into anything or making too much noise besides the thump-thump of her big hooves.

We wouldn't return empty-hooved, I was sure of it!

Author's Notes:

A short chapter, but I feel like you guys should get a vote now that a new character has hoisted themselves into the mix. Say hello to Yuka! Yes, a Japanese person can own a rifle or shotgun if they jump through all the hopes and and the few thousand dollars of american dollars for the privilege, shop at the few places you're allowed to, and register everything!

Not mentally sound? Get into trouble with the law? Look at them funny? Your gun is going away. The permit's only good for three years, so you get to renew it constantly. Not an easy place to own a gun.

Yuka seems pleased with her life choices.

Vote!
1: A violent gang has secured the shopping plaza they wanted to raid. They don't look ready to make friends.
2: A duchess or equivalent rank of feral has assembled a pack and lives in the area, hunting anything that isn't part of her herd.
3: Whoever used to live here, doesn't anymore, but left more than enough traps to remember them by.
4: What do you mean it's already stripped bare?
5: Equestria reaches out, refusing to be ignored!

Vote now!

Short chapter annoy you? Let me know!