The mane 7 and Littlepip’s friends sat around a table, in a small restaurant. The mane 7 were still fully disguise, their heads and bodies were completely covered. The waiter soon came by and placed several bowls of oatmeal, on the table. After collecting his caps, he went to serve the other customers. The oatmeal looked like mush, and wasn’t very appetizing. Rainbow poked at it, with her spoon and looked at it, like it might come to life. Twilight took a small spoonful of it and place it in her mouth. The taste nearly made her vomit, and she had to choke it down. The rest of the mane 7 had similar experiences, while Littlepip and her friends eat it with no problems.

The mane 7 had no argument for that, the oatmeal did taste nasty. Making them wonder how was it was still editable. On top of that, they wondered how safe it was to eat 200 year old food. No way could any food last over 200 years and yet the prove was sitting in front of them. After a very unpleasant breakfast, they all went down to the book store, the guard mentioned. As they walked, they saw many ponies going about their day. Most of them acted like high horses, reminding the mane 7 of the ponies of Canterlot. When they reached the book store, they saw a single white earth pony stallion, with a dark blue mane stood behind the counter. Behind him was a large display case of old books. Most of them had their covers, either burned or ripped up. His store was filled with old shelves each filled with books, most of them in poor condition.

When they arrived at the restaurant, they found it was completely empty. While the surrounding restaurants were filled with ponies. Inside it was dead quiet, worn menus sat on the tables waiting for customers. A large banner hung above the counter, the original letters were so worn, they were no longer visible. So they were painted over, and replaced by a crud painting a fruit orchard. Rarity looked closely at one of the table to finding it covered in scratches. Most of them made recently, looking over to one of the walls she saw multiply old bullet holes. The wallpaper and paint were peeling off, revealing the reinforce concrete underneath. The restaurant was very well maintain, and extraordinary clean. It was puzzling why their were no customers, this restaurant looked a whole lot better, then the surrounding ones. As they walked up to the counter, they were surprised by a tall dark green unicorn.

The mane 7 looked at each other in doubt, while Littlepip, Calamity, and Velvet thought it over. The mane 7 weren’t ones for believing rumors, after all the rumors about Zecora. Made the whole town live in fear of her, before they even got to know her. While Littlepip’s friends did partly believe in them. They did do things that could be considered rumors. The way Homage/DJ Pon3, describe Littlepip and her actions. Ponies who do not know her, would assume she isn’t real. Just a mere pony’s tale used to comfort small fillies.

Once done Littlepip took her forehoof, and checked her Pipbuck. Now seeing a marker on a building, that was quite a bit north of the tower. She also checked if they was anything new or odd with her Pipbuck. After running through all the functions and files, she found nothing out of place. Everything was exactly the same, as it was before, the only change was the marker.

Up on the roof, Littlepip, Calamity, and Velvet got ready to find the store. Littlepip and Calamity loaded their weapons, while Velvet made sure she had plenty of medical supplies. To heal her friends, who are most likely going to get themselves hurt. Xenith decided to stay behind at the tower to continue looking for her daughter. Littlepip didn’t think this would take too long, it was a simple supply run. Also Xenith had more important things to do, then to follow Littlepip everywhere. As they were preparing to leave, they saw the mane 7 come onto the rooftop.

The mane 7 boarded the sky bandit, expect Rainbow, and Fluttershy. With them being able to fly, sitting in the sky bandit would be redundant. Plus with the sky bandit looking heavy enough on its own. They didn’t want to put too much strain on Calamity. Twilight had to ride inside the Bandit, due to the fact her wings were restricted by her clothes. Taking to the air, the mane 7 really got a view of the blasted remains of Manehatten. Below was the still burning campfires of Red eyes’ forces, that were camped outside the tower. Littlepip looked at her Pipbuck’s map and directed Calamity towards the marker. As they flew they saw, that most of the city’s destroyed building were self contained. Usually rusty iron skeletons, or building that collapses in on themselves. Leaving the spaces between buildings, mostly cleared of rubble. That was true for most of the city, but as they approached their destination. They saw a mass of tangled metal. Most of the tall buildings here had collapsed into one other, and melted together. Creating a tangled mess of metal, that formed a cage-like structure between the buildings. Littlepip quickly noticed that they were directly on the marker now. All around them was a mess of tangled, and twisted metal. They flew around the area, but couldn’t find a good place to set the sky bandit down. Every building was either a mess of twisted metal, or inaccessible, thanks to the buildings around it.  

They were soon out, that part of the city and into the more “cleaner” part. Calamity scan the area for a safe place to put the sky bandit, quickly found a nice rooftop of an old apartment building. Drop off his friends and the mane 7 on the ground, he flew it up to the rooftop and parked it. He quickly unhitching himself from the wagon, and went into the back to get some saddlebags, for the mane 7. He then spotted an old wooden door, that stood a few feet away. Finding it unlocked, he slowly pushed it open, the door instantly snapped off its hinges and fell. It quickly tumbled down, what was once the building’s stairway. Which had collapsed long ago, now leaving a vertical shaft, that went all the way to the ground floor. Calamity watched, as the door fell, impacting every floor on the way down. The door quickly reached the end of its journey, slamming into the ground with a loud crash. Obliterating itself on impacted, and sending splitters everywhere. Calamity smiled widely and trotted over to the building’s edge. Flying down to his friends, who were waiting in the street below. Littlepip floated out Little Macintosh, and loaded it. Velvet checked her medical boxes, and saw she had plenty of medical supplies. Velvet shook her head a little, she knew her friends are most likely going to get themselves seriously injured. Which means, her current medical supplies will not last very long.

Velvet had to agree with Calamity, it seem unwise for the mane 7 to be carrying weapons. Once they were all prepared, they began walking towards the marker on Littlepip’s map. The tangled metal frame of the building around them loomed overhead. The wind blew gently through the buildings, and the quiet sound of creaking metal filled the air. There were several old posters were hanging on the walls of some of the buildings. Most of them were advertising some product, like Sparkle Cola or some new toy for the foals. A few however were ministry posters, most notably was the “Pinkie Pie Is Watching You Forever” poster. It made the mane 7 uneasy, even Pinkie found it creepy. As they walked along the empty streets, the city was dead quiet, which made Littlepip and Calamity suspicious. Littlepip drew out Little Macintosh, and pulled up her Eyes Forward Sparkle. She began scanning the areas for hostiles, sure enough there were multiple red markers on her E.F.S.

No sooner had she said that, a bullet impacted the ground in front of Calamity. It was immediately followed by the report of a rifle. Several raiders popped up from their hiding spots and began filling the air with projectiles. Littlepip and Calamity scanned the street for something to take cover behind. Unfortunately the street was totally empty, making them all sitting ducks. While the raiders had great cover and had the element of surprise. As bullets began to whiz pass them, Littlepip felt a horrible pain in her left rear leg. Glancing back at it, she saw a stream of blood coming from a small bullet wound, just below the knee. A bullet had torn through her leg, and exited on the other side. Barely missing the bone, the loud sounds of gun fire had caused Twilight to instinctively throw up her shield spell. It enveloped all of them, in a protective bubble, but came a few seconds too late for Littlepip. Velvet hurried over to check Littlepip’s leg, it didn’t look too bad, and Velvet could easily fix it. Bullets bounced off the shield, as the raiders continued to fire on them. Calamity knew the raiders were not going to stop their attack. He scanned the street looking for the sources of the attack. It was coming from the right side of the street, right in front of them. He spotted about six raiders, in one of the more intact buildings. There were four on ground floor and two in the second floor windows.

Calamity shook his head and ran out of the shield, much to everyone’s surprise. He let out a quick burst from his battle saddle and duck back into the shield. His attack didn’t manage to hit anyone, but made the raiders take cover. He waited a few seconds, before jumping out again and repeating his attack. Following his example, Littlepip jumped out of the shield and fired off three shots, from Little Macintosh. At the raiders on the second floor, then she quickly jumped back inside. Two of her shots missed, impacting the window frame. The third shot hit home slamming into one of the raiders' heads. Their head exploded like an overinflated ballon, painting the pony next to them with blood. Their lifeless body, then fell from the window and slammed into the ground below. The sight of the pony’s head exploding made the mane 7 feel ill. Calamity fired off six shots, at the ponies on the ground floor. Two of the rounds slammed into one of the raiders’ foreleg, and chest. Blowing apart their foreleg in a mess of bone fragments, muscle tissue, and blood. The third round slammed into another raider’s gut, taking them out of the fight. The final two rounds missed their target and impacted the wall behind the two remaining raiders.

Littlepip was just about ready to start her attack, when she saw a grenade coming towards them. She quickly focused on it and caught it in her magic, stopping it in midair. Immediately she threw it back towards the building, where it landed next to one of the dead raiders. The grenade immediately exploded and filled the room with shrapnel. It also obliterated the raider’s body, adding bone fragments and blood to the mix. One raider was unlucky enough to be standing up, out from cover, when the grenade detonated. Receiving a face full of metal shrapnel, and bone fragments. Their face was covered in blood and some blood was spilling out of their eye sockets. Jumping out of the shield Littlepip emptied Little Macintosh into the last raider upstairs. The rounds tore through their body, they quickly fell forward and hung from the window. Seeing this, the final raider went into a fit of rage and charged at them with a sword. They were greeted with a blast from Calamity’s battle saddle. Their head was taken clean off, and their body flew back a bit. Twilight let her shield fall, as she and her friends looked over the body in front of them.

After finding nothing else of value on the body, Calamity went to check out the building. Littlepip was already busy, trying to open a locked ammo box. Velvet and the mane 7 follow Calamity inside. He wasted no time and began looking through all the containers, he could find. When Littlepip got the ammo box open, she was surprise to find a lot of useful ammo in it. She found plenty for Little Mac, and a decent amount for many of their guns.

After finding little in the main room, Calamity headed to one of the adjoining room. Where he noticed several cooking pots, stoves, and an old refrigerator. He also noticed a tripwire strung along the bottom of the doorway. Following it, he saw it lead to a shotgun mounted to the counter. If someone had triggered the wire, they would have received a shotgun blast to their flank. Calamity quickly disarmed the trap, and headed into the room. He found several cans of vegetables, and a three box of instant rice, in the cabinets. He also found several bottles of whiskey in the fridge. After collecting everything of value, they continued on to the marker. They hadn’t walked very far, before a rain storm picked up and started drenching them to the bone. With the mane 7 getting the worst of it, their clothes quickly growing heavy, as they soaked up the rain.

He soon found a large building, that was nice and dry inside. The mane 7 immediately ran in and threw off their soaking wet clothes. When they all entered, Littlepip scanned the area for any hostiles, with her E.F.S. Luckily she came up with nothing, there was nothing inside the building. Or at least not close enough to be picked up by her E.F.S. After confirming the building’s safety, they began to dry themselves off. Inside the building it was pitch dark, and it was hard to see anything. After taking a brief looking around, they discovered a small fountain. Littlepip turned on her Pipbuck’s flashlight and began looking around the building. The building was huge and had several large balconies, that surrounded the central area. Each one was connected by walkways, but a few of them had collapsed. Calamity’s eyes grew wide, as he saw that lining the sides of the building were stores.

Rainbow looked at him with suspicion, but was satisfied, with the explanation. She slowly walked away from the entrance and back towards her friends. Much to the relieve of Calamity, as he wiped sweat from his brow, he didn’t know he had. They all walked into the old mall, and looked around at the stores. Most of them didn’t look all that interesting, being filled with rubble or garbage. Looking at the stores, Calamity suspected, that this part of the mall had to be picked clean by now. Up ahead, there was a stairway, that lead down into pitch blackness. They all stared into the darkness, unable to see more, then few feet down. This quickly caught Calamity’s interest, as he began to head down.

Littlepip groaned and followed him down to help light his way. She turned up the brightness on her Pipbuck’s flashlight. Revealing a sub level of the mall, that was also filled with shops. Velvet threw her head back in annoyance, and quickly went after them.

Velvet was a little nervous about leaving them alone and unarmed. Then again, they looked very capable of being able to handle themselves. She gave a long sigh and quickly head down, to catch up with her friends. Once she was gone, the mane 7 looked down the stairway to make sure. Once the coast was cleared, they began talking about Littlepip’s group.

After drying the clothes out, she began to flatten out the winkles, the best she could. After a bit of work, she made them look a little more presettable. Despite this, it was still not enough for her and she disliked how she couldn’t do more. Rarity began to folded it neatly up, when they held a low gargling sound. Looking around, they saw about three ponies wandering around the entrance. Their coats were gone, their flesh was covered in red splotches. The rain seem to be washing away their skin. As trails of blood ran down their bodies, mixing themselves, with the rain. They were wandering in circles, and were make gargling sounds.

The ponies quickly charged towards them, at high speed. Knocking, Trixie, Rarity, and Fluttershy onto their backs. Now they could be the inside of their mouths, which were filled with rotten yellow teeth. The ponies tried to bite them, flaying around trying to get to any piece of flesh. The rest of the mane 7 tried to pull them off. While, Trixie, Rarity, and Fluttershy held them off with their fore hoofs. After pulling them off, didn’t work, Applejack turn around and bucked one of the ponies across the face, with her hind legs. Sending them flying around the room, landing with a loud thud. Rainbow sent a flying kick into the second one’s side, causing them to be knocked back, a few feet. Twilight fired a magical blast, at the final one, knocking them off. The first pony didn’t move, while the other two quickly got back up. They charged again, Rainbow gave one of them a powerful uppercut to the face. While Twilight fired a more powerful magical blast, to the second one. This time, they didn’t get back up, as they lay there motionless. Once they were sure, the threat was over, they help their friends back up. Just then, Littlepip and her friends returned, when they saw Calamity, he had a disappointing look on his face.

Calamity froze in his tracks, when he saw on one the ghouls get up. He quickly gave it a blast from his battle saddle, blowing their head apart and painting the floor with blood. Suddenly a realization dawn on him, he bolted over to the entrance. Went outside into the rain, and took to the skies. He soon returned, drenched in rain, and had a relieved look on his face.

The other two ghouls, regained conciseness and began to get up, Littlepip quickly place two rounds into their heads. Taking them clean off, much to the surprise and horror of the mane 7. Pus and blood now gathered on the floor, creating an unpleasant smell.

Next Chapter: Alicorn Friends? Estimated time remaining: 24 Minutes