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The Pastromorbo Epidemic

by Aeluna

Chapters

Introduction

Despite the great intelligence of its inhabitants, Equestria had always been considered a backwards nation in terms of technological advancements. With the readily available resource that was unicorn magic, it was perfectly understandable, of course; there had never been the need to develop new and power-efficient technologies.

Or so it had seemed until roughly one hundred years prior when the rebuilt army of changelings, under the vicious command of Queen Chrysalis, and Sombra's army of brainwashed crystal ponies had attacked the otherwise peaceful Kingdom. And, lo, the ponies' incapability of stopping an invasion—both thanks to the lack of technology and the pitifulness of the existing offensive magic—came to be known.

It was sheer desperation which ended the war. With an ancient battle spell at the ready, written at the time of the three rival tribes, Celestia recalled her forces and unleashed the magic on her attackers. As promised, the enemy armies fell—but, within the hour, the spell's true nature revealed itself and the entire land of Equestria was poisoned with a deadly and unstoppable disease.

Prologue

In the confines of a white-walled ward a pegasus mare waited, her only company being a struggling stallion in the opposite bed, tended to by a reluctant nurse who dodged his flailing limbs with practiced ease. She attached a plastic muzzle to his face to cut off his complaints before she jabbed a needle into his neck; he fell asleep almost instantly, or as close as was possible. The pegasus herself whimpered but otherwise lay still with her hooves over her ears, waiting for the moment when she could at last have some sane company.

She didn't have to hold out for long. Within a matter of minutes, the sole door to the white-walled ward opened without even a squeak.

A unicorn stepped inside, briskly trod over to her and paused at her side with an exasperated expression covering his face.

"Well, good morning, Bleu Celeste," he said as he levitated a small clipboard up to his face. He scanned it quickly and moved it out of his vision before he looked down at her with a scowl. He then reached forwards, fiddled about with her feathers a little and floated a thermometer over, forcing it underneath her tongue. He removed it a second later, grunted quietly and smiled—though it was truthfully perhaps more of a grimace. He spared a glance to his colleague before he then said, "The nurse says you can understand simple Equestrian now, yes?"

She nodded slowly and shifted about a little in her bed. "Please just call me Blue. Bleu Celeste... It's so fancy." She giggled a little before she noticed the doctor's scowl and blushed. "Oh, right. Yes, I can understand some." Her blush only grew and she was quick to look down at the clipboard. A frown graced her face as she did so; the symbols plastered across the page made absolutely no sense to her. "Can I... Can I leave now?"

The doctor gave a snort before he pulled a chair over and sat down next to her. "Yes, Miss Celeste. Once you've been briefed, anyway.” He hovered the clipboard back to his side, flicked to the third page and then held it in front of the her. Somewhat crudely drawn sketches of ponies could be seen, with yet more of the odd symbols beneath them. "Now you, Miss Celeste, are what we call a part-amnesiac." Levitating a pencil from behind his ear, the doctor tapped one of the sketches as he continued. "That means that, when you got infected with Pastromorbo Nostrae—the Plague—you fell into a coma like everypony else. When you woke from that coma a few weeks ago, you had forgotten all of your past life. But there's hope for you. With the right... encouragement, it's not unheard of for part amnesiacs to remember their lives."

Blue frowned and fidgeted a little more. "Well, sure. I know that already, doctor."

The stallion chuckled with dull, cold eyes before he hovered his pencil away from the clipboard slightly. "Yes, I know you do. But I’ve got to tell you to be careful. If you remember too much at once your brain could be overwhelmed and, just like that, there’ll be no more miss Bleu Celeste—and part-amnesiacs are hard to come by, so don’t go and kill yourself. Your sort is important to facilities; you’re a valuable mare, got it?” Blue scowled slightly but nodded slowly nevertheless, rustling her feathers in indignation. The doctor let out a sigh and shifted about before he continued. “Anyway, I am required to cover everything before releasing you. Don't want to see you back in here wondering what in Tartarus is wrong with everypony."

Blue scrunched up her muzzle, her displeasure still on her face. "Tarta-"

"Oh, don't worry." The stallion narrowed his eyes and tapped the image again. His ears flattened slightly. "Now, don't interrupt me again; I've got a job to do. On which note, these—" he pressed the pencil to a different sketch, "—are what ponies refer to as Mad'uns. Like you, they fell into a coma, but awoke from it with no grasp on rationality at all. Kind of like your friend over there." The doctor nodded to the struggling stallion and hissed at the sight. "Mad'uns are, basically, insane. They'll kill you as soon as look at you, but they're normally kept down in the basement. You won't be finding any in the main facility, rest assured.

"Next up, there's the mutants." He tapped a different picture once again, this time a pretty young mare with claws in place of hooves. "Pretty self-explanatory, really. Watch out for them; they're safe, but can easily descend into madness. It's best to steer clear when possible, though we do keep an eye on them when they’re here.

"Other than that, there's only a few types of ponies left: the normal amnesiacs, who are similar to you but have no hope of remembering things; there are those who lose senses—like myself, for example, 'cos I can't smell a damn thing; then there's the lucky buggers who are immune. Of course, they're not so lucky when everypony hates them. Jealous. Oh, and there's those who just die outright. Best way to go, really; they don't know a thing."

Blue let out a breath, suddenly aware of how dry her throat was. She rolled over slowly and took a quick sip of water before she returned her attention to the doctor. "That's not overly nice," she whispered as her ears fell.

The stallion only gave an explosive laugh. "The whole world isn't nice any more, little miss. On which note, ponies probably won't like you, either; you have a chance of recovering, to an extent, after all." The stallion quietened sat still for a few seconds before he stood and pushed the chair away. Returning the clipboard to her bedside table, he grunted quietly. "You're lucky you're in here, you know. The outside world… It's a dangerous place."

Her ears perked up and she leaned forwards, grey eyes focused on the doctor. "How so?"

"No more questions. I've got work to do." The doctor narrowed his eyes at her before his horn lit up. A second later, before she'd even had chance to react, a harsh needle had jabbed itself into her unmarked flank. A syringe of blood was drawn before it was then removed and floated away. She yelped and then screamed. The doctor only rolled his eyes and stuck a small wad of cotton onto the wound with a tiny strip of tape. "Celestia, you are a pathetic one, aren't you?"

Receiving no response, the doctor shrugged and walked out slowly, the syringe held at his side closely. He opened the door and prepared to step out. A second later, he was almost barrelled over when a second unicorn, somewhat smaller, careened into the ward. He stampeded over to Blue’s bed, skidded to a stop and waited with baited breath, eyes wide.

"Hey, hey!" he whispered whilst he nuzzled her chin, but she continued to writhe and squirm. As he stroked her forelock, however, she began to calm slightly; with a grin he then grunted and levitated her out of the bed, giving a short “oomph” when he placed her down on his back. At the same moment, a young stallion stampeded in after him, a white hat with a red cross on his head; a nurse’s hat. He shouted loudly at the larger stallion to think about what he was doing; the latter paid absolutely no attention when he instead said to Blue, "Come on, you. I'll show you around."

Blue frowned as she finally settled and relaxed with her head nestled into the stallion's deep-blue mane. She took a few deep breaths and then spoke quietly. "Um... Who are you?"

The stallion stiffened and paused in his walk mid stride. He then hung his head slightly and glanced back, giving her a watery grin. "I'm... RipEar. My name's RipEar. I'm a friend." He turned his attention back to the door and walked over briskly. "Now, shush. I'll look after you in this mad place. You've got my word."

Blue paused before she sighed and a small smile graced her lips. Perhaps she was being silly to trust this pony, but he seemed nice—and something about his smell was familiar.

She stiffened a little on the stallion’s back and her eyes went wide. For some reason, the rich smell flooded every one of her thoughts, made her vision blur as she breathed it in deeply. It filled her lungs and warmed her inside, making her let out a sigh despite her blackening vision. And then, when she lost all sight from her eyes and let them slide shut, she felt her body slip from RipEar’s. She landed on the floor with a thud and winced, though the pain that should have come did not; she could hear the stallion’s gasped cry of “Blue!” and yet did not register the terror which rung true.

And then the blissful feeling ended. Her breath caught in her throat as her body was shaken, but she was incapable of pushing the force away. Her body slumped and she opened her mouth in a scream but could hear no noise; the cold linoleum cracked beneath her before it wrapped itself around her frame and seeped through her skin. No matter how much she thrashed she could not escape the icy grip. The linoleum fell into her open mouth and blocked her throat as her stomach and lungs froze up, flooded with charcoal and tar. She spluttered and coughed as the final dot of light disappeared from her eyes.

And then, in a flash, she could see everything again. Her mind burned and she heaved, the need to vomit overwhelming yet impossible. She could only watch and pant as the scenes before her eyes morphed into a horrifying reel of images: a young colt lunged at her with a foam sword; a trio of pegasi zipped overhead with a crackling trail behind them as the young colt laughed and clapped; a towering mare nudged her side heavily and threw her to her stomach so that she fell atop the colt’s back. Each flash lasted a mere moment, hardly time to comprehend anything that went on. And yet it seemed to last a lifetime, each frame making her burning heart pound heavier—until finally, at the fleeting and blurred sight of a full-grown stallion yelling at her with tears streaming down his face, she felt her breaths come to an abrupt halt and the images slowly faded away.

Escape

Three Years Later

A frantic banging awoke the mare from her peaceful slumber, eliciting a great yawn as she heaved her muzzle up into the crisp, cool air. She stretched out her wings and winced until she heard them click; relief then spread through her body. She looked up to the window of her own little bedroom—made even smaller by the clutter around the unpainted cobble walls—and groaned when she saw the betraying darkness of night. She immediately rolled back over and murmured, "Wha's'matter?"

She heard no response for a few seconds and smiled as she nestled deeper under the cover. However, there was no chance of returning to sleep when the hammering soon returned, louder this time. With a squeak the mare shot up from her bed and hovered in midair for a moment, before she then fluttered back down to the floor, letting out her held breath.

A somewhat rough and scratchy voice sounded through the keyhole. It was only a whisper, but enough to be easily heard. "C'mon, Blue!"

"Yeah, yeah, okay! I'm comin'..."

She stumbled forwards, her hooves intertwining. Blue then let out a breath once she reached the door and rested her head up against the old wood, her heavy eyes drooping slightly. Yet again, however, she got only a moment's rest as the rapping made itself known for the third time.

Ears flattened, Blue pushed herself away from the door and gripped the key. She twisted it until she heard the slight click and then lowered her hoof slowly. It drew close to the handle but never quite got there as the door was slammed open from the outside; leaping backwards with a spectacularly loud yelp, she landed awkwardly and groaned. Her ankle buckled underneath her, leaving her sat on the floor with a stinging rump.

Blue groaned as she clambered back up to her hooves and winced. The pain, however, was quick to dissipate when she looked up to assess the intruder; she took a sharp intake of breath and her mouth parted very slightly while her tail suddenly flagged a little higher. Her eyes widened at the blue-maned unicorn stallion before her. He was not particularly strong, though he was fairly lean, but the sweat which glistened on his fur and mane was inexplicably intoxicating.

Or perhaps it wasn't so hard to explain; it was summer, after all.

RipEar, however, didn't seem quite so excited, his own expression being one of great urgency. After he jerked his head to his left quickly, he jumped into the room and then began to skid to a stop. He crashed into the mare and crushed her against the wall, making her groan. He caught himself almost immediately and leapt away, his eyes narrowing as he picked up on her suddenly hungry expression.

"Listen to me, Blue!" he whispered, his voice scratchy and breathless. His ears were pinned against his neck, the left ripped almost down to the base; an old wound, it had always intrigued the mare as to how he had gotten it. "There's no time to argue, but we've gotta go!"

Blue frowned and cocked her head slightly before she glanced out to the corridor, then looked up to her window where the moon shone bright in the cloudless, star-lit sky. "Why? What's wrong with—"

"Look, do you trust me?"

"Well, yeah. You know I do, Rip, but—"

"If you trust me then just shut up and follow my lead. We've gotta get out of here, right now." RipEar spun around and trotted over to the doorway, his saddlebags catching the mare’s attention for the first time.

Blue remained where she was and looked around her tiny room as the stallion's magic engulfed an old set of her horseshoes laying in the corner and carried them over to his side. Then, whilst he peeked around the corner of the doorway tentatively, Blue trod forwards slowly as a thought popped into her mind; something pretty serious had to be going down for her old friend to need saddlebags.

Nopony ever left the facility—or, perhaps more truthfully, very rarely. It was a safe haven, offering refuge from the dangers of the outside world in exchange for just a few medical research tests now and then. It was, most ponies would agree, a fair trade—so why would the unicorn before her need saddlebags?

“RipEar, I'm really not sure what's going on," she mumbled as she inched closer to his side and poked her own muzzle around the doorway, scanning the orange-lit corridors—there were no windows out there—but finding nothing out of the ordinary. Before she could receive a response from the stallion, though, she felt something chilly and unsubstantial wrap around one of the feathers of her wing. After a moment, she was then jerked from her room as RipEar broke into a rapid gallop through the corridors. She fumbled to keep up and her own hooves pounded against the floor heavily. With a large push, though, Blue soon managed to make up the distance between them so that she ran just behind him.

"RipEar!" she yelled, stumbling a little when her hoof tripped over the edge of an old carpet. The stallion, however, made no attempt to acknowledge her. "RipEar, what's wrong? Just tell me already!"

Still being dragged along by her wing, Blue groaned and tossed her head. She strained not to be left behind as she pushed her muscles into action. The burn of acid rose up the very instant she began, not too much worse than the searing frustration which coursed through her veins at being ignored. In truth, she was not altogether surprised that he hadn't yet answered her—he had a tendency of avoiding her questions sometimes, it seemed—but it was nevertheless an incredibly aggravating habit. In fact, it was an obsession that every single pony who lived in the facility seemed to have developed when in her presence; with the exception of RipEar, who at least appeared to merely have selective hearing, nearly every mare, stallion and foal would send her smouldering glares when she stepped into a room. Or, if they were feeling slightly more sympathetic, they would just blatantly ignore her until she left. Why they would act that way, Blue could not fathom, but such was life; it was all she knew, from the first day she woke up in one of the facility's operating rooms. Back then, she was a newly infected victim of the pastromorbo nostrae epidemic (or simply the Plague, as it was justifiably known), having no recollection of her life before, or even any knowledge of how to walk or talk.

The end of the corridor approached sooner than Blue had anticipated, the dreary grey walls drawing closer as she galloped towards the turning with no ability to throw on the brakes. Instead, she gave a shrill cry tilted her body to such an angle that she could nearly brush against the carpet in an attempt to make the turn. For just a few metres she felt okay and her body continued without falling any lower—and then her hooves slipped. She crashed down to the floor and screamed, her wing crushed beneath her. The other remained entwined in the unicorn magic which kept her speeding along for a few seconds before RipEar skidded to a stop, releasing the mare just before she smashed into the wall.

For a moment, the stallion's need to run seemed to dissipate and he rushed to where she lay, reaching under her belly with his muzzle and hoisting her up onto her hooves. He then trotted to her side, nuzzling her wing gently but drawing a scream from her. It was, however, only a momentary concern before he leapt into a splayed, flight-ready position, his eyes focused in the direction they had just come from.

"Cobdamnit," he whispered and looked behind himself with eyes larger than any beast Blue had ever read about, his ears pinned. "Listen, Blue, just listen. And trust me—I know what I'm doing."

"Really?"

"Shut it!" The stallion gave her rear leg a gentle buck before he continued hastily. The sweat glistening on his side had only increased and, by the looks of it, he was even more out of breath than he had been before. "We've gotta get out of here, now. They're gonna kill you, Blue, and me too for helping you. So, just do what I say?"

Blue took a jerky step backwards and raised her fore hoof quickly, a breath catching in her throat. "K-kill me?"

RipEar nodded and began to nuzzle about in his saddlebags. He paused for just a second as, seemingly out of nowhere, the heavy thudding of hoofsteps shook up the whole corridor. But Blue had barely had a chance to see them before RipEar re-emerged, a spherical device emblazoned with the facility’s logo—a broken watch held together with tape—held in his mouth. He wasted no time and immediately wrapped it in magic. He lobbed it with a well-practiced hurl towards the furthest wall.

The sphere whistled as it flew through the corridor. It then collided with the wall and exploded with such a ferocity that the brick was simply blown to pieces. Fragments hurtled in all directions, many bursting from the building through the now gaping hole in the wall, others zooming down into the exposed rooms below whose ceilings had already caved in. The remainder tore through the poisoned air directly towards the very being who had decided their fate.

It took less than a second for the screams to ring out, sleeping ponies in their bedchambers nearby awoken when debris fell atop them. Some were agonised, pain overwhelming their cries as they inevitably struggled to be free of whatever rubble had since crushed them. Others merely bellowed with more fear-induced howls, understandably hysterical.

Blue’s own cries quickly joined the rest of the victims’ as the shards, propelled at such an astounding speed, sliced through the flesh of her shoulder and flank. They cut so deep that blood poured from the wounds immediately. She gasped as she felt the hot liquid cascade down her sides and immediately felt her legs buckle underneath her. She collapsed to the ground, only able to whimper while the torrent of brick rained down upon her.

"Blue!" RipEar's shout was barely audible over the sudden chaos and his words blurred into  a stream of unintelligible nonsense; laying on the floor and whimpering, her entire body quivering as her mind swam, Blue could hear nothing but the pounding of her own heart. She didn't pick up on the stallion's aggravated snort, nor did she really recognise the way he grunted and groaned as his magic surrounded her body. He hoisted her up slowly and dumped her down on his own back, but still she did not respond. But there wasn't time to wait for her to come to her senses. And so RipEar let out a breath, his legs suddenly trembling beneath her weight, before he then looked straight ahead and sluggishly dragged his first hoof forwards. The others soon followed suit as he adjusted to the extra mass.

"Hey! You!"

From somewhere not-too-far behind, a guard's thunderous cry echoed as RipEar began to creep forwards faster. With his hooves still dragging, however, he was going almost nowhere; he threw his head about, snorted and then focused all of his strength on his hindquarters as he reared up. He pushed off with as much force as he could muster. It was, he was surprised to find, fairly successful. When he landed heavily from the leap on his forelegs, he fought not to let them buckle; instead he brought his rear hooves forwards and sprung off once again. The lunges he continued until they evolved into a pattern of sorts and his hooves hammered against the floor as he galloped onwards.

"Oi! Stop right there!"

He didn't even flinch at the guard's shouts and instead snapped Blue's wings open as he neared the gaping hole. Then, with a stolen sideways glance, he shouted back to her in as loud a voice as he could muster, "C'mon, Blue! You've gotta fly for me!"

The mare only mumbled something unintelligible, her entire body now rigid as she gasped for air, her eyes wide but unperceptive. RipEar had no time to wait, however; with a grunt he made a mighty leap and threw himself across the hole in the floor, landing on the crumbled remains of the wall unsteadily. But even then she made no noise, made no attempt to even struggle, caught up in her own little world.

"Blue! Blue, wake up!"

RipEar's cry was now more of a plea than a command as he dove from the wall. He jumped as far as possible as arrows and bullets shot overhead. But, even with Blue's wings open, he could not remain airborne; she was not using her pegasus magic properly, could not prevent their fall in the state that she was in.

Screams and shouts filled the air as the pair plummeted, soon added to by the stallion's own bellows when the ground drew closer and closer. The mare on his back, however, remained deadly quiet; pain and fear still controlled her mind. So she remained for a while, completely incapacitated—until, that was, the moment when she finally began to notice the howling of the wind, recognised that she was falling.

With a shriek of horror, Blue focused all of her strength on moving her already shredded wings. She screamed as her body roared with newfound pain. As she laced her hooves firmly underneath RipEar's stomach she then began to flap, each stroke through the air blinding and achieving very little in the way of slowing their plummet. The ground still sped towards them, though slightly less urgently, and there was no way to escape it.

Blue drifted away from RipEar at the last minute and gave a blood-curdling cry as she fell the last few metres. She reached out for the stallion forlornly in the hope that somehow, he could save her. But he could do no such thing; he barely succeeded in wrapping his magic around the both of them before they smashed into the ground. The earth shuddered when they met.

But Blue felt no pain as she collided with the rocky, unforgiving bed of dirt. All she could feel was a slight discomfort to add to her existing pain before she let her eyes drift shut and reality fell away as she slipped into a warmer and much less arduous world of nothingness.

Outside

The mare moaned as she felt herself begin to stir. Her body ached as she slowly floated back into the world of reality. Everything felt wrong; it was too quiet, too cold and—a fact which she became aware of once her eyes began to adjust to the impenetrable blackness—much too dark. The smells, too, were all foreign and unknown, with no comfort to be found in them whatsoever. It wasn't at all like the unnatural but otherwise homely cleanliness of the facility halls.

As she scrunched up her nose, Blue raised her head slowly and winced; her shoulder grumbled in discomfort at the movement. She did her best to ignore the pain, instead looking around herself with a stiff neck and hazy eyes. She tried to take in as much of her surroundings as was possible.

She had no recollection of how she had ended up there, but Blue could note with clarity that she now lay at the back of a frankly claustrophobic cave. So small, in fact, that if she were to rear up, her ears would have easily brushed the damp, dripping ceiling. To be more specific, she lay on a bed of moss, of which there was no shortage at all—the stuff seemed to thrive in this place! On that note, though, to say that the peculiar, writhing blue plant on the left wall was moss seemed like a bit of a far cry.

Though far from being cosy, Blue couldn't help but be grateful for the shelter from the wind which hurled somewhere outside. The coldness, too, wasn't such an issue at first; stationed at the mouth barely fifteen metres away a small, slowly dying fire crackled feebly, fighting to live despite the chill. It gave off hardly enough light to illuminate the entire cave, let alone to warm the place as well, but the promise of relief closer by was incredible.

Wincing as another, somewhat stronger bout of pain wracked her body, Blue shifted about a little and tried to keep herself focused and alert. She placed her hooves down on the bitingly cold rock and then took a deep breath in. As she flattened her ears against her neck further, she pushed upwards, applying all of the force she could muster on her forelegs to get herself up into a sitting position—and then a scream tore from her mouth as her shoulder roared at the startling pain which manifested.

With a gasp, Blue collapsed to the floor as she panted and trembled. Every breath seemed to only feed the pain; the fire blazed fiercer under her skin than the flames which flitted by the cave's mouth. Momentarily incapacitated by it, Blue could do nothing but quiver and whimper as she lay curled on the floor, her mind incapable of any thoughts other than those of pain.

The flames under the mare's skin settled slowly—torturously so—as her moans calmed and her rapid, fluttering breathing slackened. With newfound determination, she then took the opportunity for warmth before the fire died out. Still, as she raised her head slowly and glanced down at her shoulder, she couldn't help but wince at the sight of the wounds.

Her left shoulder, once the palest of greys, was now stained a sickly pink, fresh blood caked and dried on her fur all the way down to her hooves. The skin was ripped jaggedly; a cringe-inducing laceration stretched across the entirety of the muscle—though not deep enough to see bone, which was surely a good point. Her flank, too, was equally bloodied, looking more befitting of a war-veteran than a simple facility—no, ex-facility— mare; the gash there was shorter but much more severe, still not revealing white but, if she had any on hoof, would have easily been deep enough to fit an apple slice inside.

Blue gasped at the sight of herself and snapped her head around to face the cave's mouth; her vision blurred momentarily and her world spun. But no matter how hard she tried, she could do nothing to shift the crimson-stained image of herself from her mind.

Feeling bile rise in her throat, Blue moaned as she rocked very slightly. Even that little action sent fiery sparks up her spine in a momentary cascade of pain and she gasped, shocked out of her confusion into reality once again. And, as she finally brushed off the tiredness and the mind-numbing pain, she could suddenly feel her other achings, too. As if on cue her stomach growled, its fussing echoing all around the small cave, and she shivered as the cold air around her wrapped ever tighter, chilling her to the bone.

By now, the fire was beginning to look more and more appealing with each passing second, though it ebbed rapidly. It called out to the mare, barely louder than a whisper but audibly enough to be distinguished; shivering ever more prominently, she could do little to resist the temptation.

She wasn't even sure if the air in the cave was that cold, to be quite honest, a fact which she considered as she slowly began to move her shoulder, tentative. It was quite possible that she simply hadn't acclimatised yet—but, at any rate, she still felt as if she'd been dunked in a tub full of icy cold water, a discomfort which urged her to fight the pain.

As she placed her forehooves down firmly, Blue squeaked as sparks shot up her spine again; tears flooded her eyes as she squeezed them shut. Taking a few deep breaths, she then shook her head a little and tried to throw off the pain—an action which only served to leave her dizzy and even more distressed than she had been prior.

The world spun once more; Blue moaned and gritted her teeth as she placed even more weight upon her forelegs, feeling the sparks in her spine morph into powerful, unforgiving jolts. Once again tears sprung forth immediately and blurred her world as her eyes were flooded with liquid. Using a feather to brush them away, though doing so only heightened her distress—her feathers were, quite literally, shredded!—she then began to shift her hindquarters about. She had to bite back a scream as she placed them down on the floor and began to push up.

With a moan as she trembled, her body surely made from shattered glass, the mare began to inch forwards; every step exerted even more pressure on her already tortured legs. She could hear every thud of her heart as it rung loud in her ears, the great veil of pain which cloaked her senses allowing nothing from the outside world in. And, as she struggled further at a sluggish pace, the excruciating torment only grew more violent and intense.

It felt like years, the pain stretching each second out into months as Blue dragged herself forwards. Each step annihilated every one of her senses. Small squeaks tore from her mouth with each breath as her teeth began to chatter, the world hunting her down like some tiny, defenceless mouse.

As she squinted her eyes open, even that tiny movement inexplicably unbearable, Blue could just make out the blurred orange light of flames a short way off. But those last few trudges were easily the hardest of them all; as she placed her fore hoof down slowly, a shrill scream tore once more from her throat and reverberated around the entire cave as a sudden surge of pain rushed through her body. Panting, she then scrunched up her face and screamed once more as she took one final step, her shuddering body unable to support her any longer.

Blue collapsed down to the floor below and yelped as she landed on her underbelly rather heavily. She let her head smash to the ground and then heaved, desperate for air as she trembled on the freezing rocky floor.

The flames, by now, were barely larger than a flicker, not even strong enough to illuminate the entire space. After all of her turmoil, however, even their pathetic warmth was well appreciated. Unable to move any closer, it was all she could do to reach her neck forwards desperately in search of any heat the tiny flames might donate. But they were not so generous; with a shudder they reached out to her muzzle and scorcched the fur there. The mare gave a yelp before the flames then finally gave in and receded to leave only faintly glowing embers.

Now that the faint crackle of the fire no longer entertained her mind, the cries of the outside world could suddenly be heard much more clearly. Somewhere fairly near—or so Blue assumed, a realisation which sent a shudder down her spine—the echoing moans of a wolf's howl rang out along with the wind's own roars. A terrified scream blared even closer by soon after, getting louder with each passing second. By the time the wolf's drawn-out howl finally ceased, the mare huddled up inside the cave could almost feel the vibrations of the terror-induced noise.

But if it was just her imagination, why could she still feel tiny tremors beneath her stomach?

Blue whimpered as her ears flicked about rapidly. As she gritted her teeth she flared out her tattered wings and let her head shoot up as she looked about wildly. Her unfocused eyes could see little more than blurry outlines and shadows, however, in the feeble light from a sneaky hole beside the boulder; her ears were not so hindered and could pick up on the sound of frantic galloping easily and, later on, the heavy breathing which accompanied it.

Blue knew there was no time for her to get properly away as the hoofsteps drew closer. Instead, she merely scrunched her eyes shut and grabbed a warm stick from the died out campfire. She clamped her jaw shut around it and moved quickly. She forced herself up onto her hooves with one smooth movement. The action drew an involuntarily gasp at the rush of pain which, though anticipated, was even worse than she could have imagined. Immediately she bit down on the branch and then stumbled backwards blindly, her hooves landing anywhere flat; her mind was much too pained to allow her any control.

Falling up against the wall of the cave, Blue trembled and panted as she collapsed back down onto the floor; her sides seared as she released the shattered fragments of wood from her mouth. She then pressed herself up against the wall as close as she dared and tried her best to hold her racing breaths and keep quiet.

The newcomer, however, was far from cautious. Small enough in stature to fit through the slim gap at the base of the boulder, they galloped in at full speed with barely a moment's hesitation, seemingly unbothered by the insanely sharp rock. Blue couldn't even tell if they'd been caught in their haste; if they had escaped the entrance unscathed, they were either incredibly talented or just damn lucky.

Pressing herself up against the wall more firmly, Blue clenched her jaw tighter as her wing began to fuss a little. At present, the shadows just managed to conceal her light coloured fur and pastel blue mane. She kept her eyes squinted as she studied the newcomer, assessing their strengths as opposed to their weaknesses, sussing out what kind of pony they could be.

She knew very little about the outside world, it being completely irrelevant to her life inside the facility. There was, however, one thing that she knew for certain; the world of Plague Equestria was, in short, an unforgiving place, overrun by mad and even mutated beasts. And to underestimate any creature, from the smallest insect to the fire-breathing dragons, could be potentially suicidal.

To be fair, the newcomer before her certainly appeared to pose no immediate threat. From the dim light, the vague shape of a very short pony could be assumed—a foal, most likely—and, by the way they moaned very quietly as they scampered about, they were in pain themselves. The thought alone made Blue feel somewhat horrified, but she couldn't help but feel slightly relieved at the revelation; a wounded foe was weaker, though not always any less dangerous.

Despite their evident pain, the foal continued to scamper about; their silhouette ran to and fro in the darkness as their moans and occasional cries penetrated the air. But for the most part, they kept themselves quiet; kept their complaints to themselves and did not move so fast as to make lots of noise; Blue could only assume that their injuries were not quite so severe if it was possible for them to remain so in control, for Celestia knew that she could never have done it herself. Which was all the more reason, she then concluded, not to make her presence known.

It seemed crazy, Blue realised as she watched silently, to be afraid of a mere foal. Though far from being a tall pony, she was nevertheless a mare as opposed to a filly or colt, and as such would still tower even the largest of them. Still, this was an outsider foal; that they were still alive was a testimony to their strength.

As her eyes slowly began to adjust to the feeble light of the cave, Blue could feel herself becoming more and more exposed in her hiding spot in the shadows; yet another reason, she assumed, to keep quiet and continue to assess this foal as friend or foe. She had no strength with which to stand, and even more significantly no weapons with which to fight. But then again, the foal seemed particularly under-armoured too; the only item which they could possibly have used to fight or defend themselves with was the underdeveloped horn upon their head.

As they scampered about, the foal seemed just as unseeing in the blackness as Blue had been before. They stumbled about, not really knowing where they were going. One could only assume that they were trying to find some safer part of the cave—the most secluded section, perhaps, where they could possibly rest up without being found so easily. The space was tiny, however, as Blue knew well; the inevitable second the foal's hoof came down upon the bone dry, burnt out campfire wood they gasped. They reeled backwards and smashed against the rocky wall. It took all of Blue's self-control to not run over and comfort the poor thing, but she knew equally well that she couldn't afford to be so foolish.

Her plan of hiding, however, was quickly scuppered as the little foal recovered from their shock. With baited breath, she watched as they crept forwards, more tentative this time as they felt about with their nose through the blackness. They froze as their muzzle finally connected with the twigs and they lowered their horn slowly. The foal grunted, closing their eyes and calling upon their magic. It was a slow process at first and for a few seconds, Blue couldn't help but feel hopeful that they wouldn't manage, wouldn't see her as the tiny horn merely sparked. But soon, the magic grew stronger and morphed into a fairly bold aura which encased the foal's entire horn; a breath later, the twigs burst into flame and the fire roared to life as its maker leapt backwards.

The shadows in the cave dispersed almost immediately, falling away at once to leave Blue, currently positioned behind the newcomer, feeling incredibly exposed—naked, furless. But her resolve to keep quiet soon broke as she finally laid eyes upon the filly in the light, at last able to see her—and, by extension, the extent of her injuries—properly.

A small scream tore from the mare's throat before she even had a chance to prevent it. The filly, who couldn't have been any older than thirteen, barely looked fit to still be standing. The base of her neck was wound tightly by a thick, grubby bandage, concealing a wound that was large enough to have completely soaked through the material; rather than being cream or white, as all of the medical supplies in the facility had been, this wrap was almost pure crimson. Across her back, two thick gashes also scarred her skin, these being partially healed so that the fur had grown back pale against the filly's otherwise onyx coat. But, in the grand scheme of things, those were mere scratches—at least compared to the poor thing's right hind leg, which ended in an abrupt and grisly stump half way between her thigh and the point at which her hock ought to have been, tied with a vine of sorts in some attempt at preventing any more loss of blood.

The filly yelped and spun around, her eyes narrowing as her gaze fell upon the mare who cowered behind her. She lowered her head quickly, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that she only had three legs on which to balance, and snarled as she lit up her horn. Her show of fierceness, however, did not last long; a few seconds later she squeaked loudly as a second, stronger orange aura encased her body. She was lifted her from the ground before she was sent flying across the cave. She collided with the wall with a thud, the action instantaneously knocking her unconscious so that she crumpled to the floor in a heap.

Stunned, Blue's mouth parted slightly as she looked to the filly at the back of the cave, blinking a few times slowly. She then turned her gaze to the cave's entrance. She recoiled very momentarily before she sighed, her ears flattening as she recognised the unicorn stallion stood before her, a somewhat irked scowl upon his face.

"And here I thought that I'd taken on my share of mad'uns today," he grumbled. He favoured his forehoof slightly as he stepped into the cave, pulled off his saddlebags and dumped them on the ground beside the fire. "Can't I just get a five minute break?"

Trust

"Oh, come on!" RipEar hissed as he narrowed his dark eyes and turned away from the quivering mare. He re-submerged the needle in the shallow pan of boiling water which hovered just above the crackling flames. "I know you hate needles, but for buck's sake, this is just ridiculous!"

"It's not my fault!" the mare whined in response, sitting a little straighter before she winced and slouched once more. "I'm an amnesiac, you know that; I probably had some massive needle incident back when I was a filly that scarred me for life!"

"Hmm. Something tells me that probably wasn't the case," he said, though the slightest of smiles crept up onto his face. He then lit his horn ever so faintly and picked up the needle in his magic once more. He began to move it painfully slowly forwards; he dragged it along the floor so that Blue, incredibly, didn't notice the subtle movement. "You were probably perfectly normal, and who knows—maybe one day you'll remember."

Having originally perked up a little now that the needle wasn't being waved in her face, Blue's ears drooped quickly and she pouted a little. "Yeah, maybe. But what's really the chance of that?"

"Well, I'm no expert but you could always start by trying to re-earn your cutie mark," RipEar said after a moment's pause. He moved the needle even closer so that it now lay just beside the mare's forehoof. "That's not remembering so much as re-discovering, but it's a good start, don't you think? It might then lead to a memory or two." He winced very slightly as he raised the needle slowly, holding it at the nape of Blue's withers so that she wouldn't see it in her field of vision. He tried to meet her eyes unwaveringly and only let his horn glow slightly.

"RipEar, how often do you hear of a pony regaining their memories? Once in Luna's Blue Moon, I'll b—ah!" Blue's eyes widened and her mouth parted. The sharp point of the needle had pierced the soft skin of her withers unexpectedly; the moment she made a move to escape, she found herself incapable of so much as twitching, her entire lower-body immobilised as if held down by weights. And yet her mind was still very much active and a scream ripped from her mouth that filled the entire cave with echoing cries.

"Blue!" RipEar's eyes narrowed whilst he pulled the needle—it was only a small one at that—from her wither and leapt forwards. He smashed his hoof against her mouth with blazing eyes. Her screams died out instantaneously; the tiny whimpers, however, continued while the stallion glared at her. "We're not in the facility now, you foal! Didn't anyone tell you how crazy this place is?"

Trembling on the floor, Blue was incapable of making a coherent sentence; she merely shrugged but then nodded slowly, a blush rising on her cheeks. RipEar only groaned and then whisked the needle away. He placed it down in the pan before the mare could see the blood tipped end.

"Right, this is important. So quit your whining and just listen already." Once he had lifted her up into a sitting position with his magic, the unicorn kept quiet whilst he waited for the pegasus before him to donate her attention, a somewhat large request when said mare still twitched and trembled as if demented. But she kept still and mostly quiet, so, in the end, he could do little but settle at that as being a fair trade. "This is Plague Equestria, Blue. It's not the... happy-go-lucky Equestria that you read about in foals' tales. There is no safety, not anywhere; mad'uns are prowling around out there right now, and they will attack as soon as lay eyes upon you."

Having regained at least the tiniest sense of rationality, Blue looked up slowly and frowned. "I thought the whole point was that they're mad?" she said, glancing momentarily over to the crumpled filly at the back of the cave and wondering what kind of pony she was. "How can something that doesn't think be that dangerous?"

The stallion's ears flattened lower and he frowned, his back arching slightly as he snarled a little. "Don't be a foal, Blue. They're little better than animals, but that doesn't mean they can't attack—in the same way a wolf or a lion could." RipEar pulled his saddlebags closer to him and nuzzled about before pulling out a small knife in his teeth. He brandished it in the firelight slowly. "If a mad'un catches you with one of these, you'll be dead. They won't show any restraint; they will just kill." After he had placed the knife back into the saddlebags, RipEar closed the flaps with his magic and then turned his head back to the mare. His eyes glinted and his lips narrowed; his nose scrunched up slightly. "So you'd damn well not go screaming again. I risked my hide to get you out of there; don't you dare go killing us both now."

Though somewhat put-out at the stallion's snideness, Blue bit back a reply when her shoulder began to throb and instead occupied herself with lying back down. She gritted her teeth in anticipation of the pain. She was surprised to find, however, that it didn't wrack her body nearly as much as she had thought it would; on the contrary, the agony seemed much more centralised than it had before, and dulled down too.

Keeping quiet for a few moments, Blue watched silently as RipEar returned his attention to his saddlebags. He rummaged around through the sacs until he found what he had been after. Then pulling out a few small tubs with his magic, he spared a glance towards the unconscious filly before he placed them down gently. He opened each with a hoof and then looked up to the pegasus, a very slight smile on his face.

"Hungry?"

Blue didn't even need to answer as her stomach—not having complained greatly up until this point—growled like some wild beast at the sight and smell of the small meal laid out before her. It was nothing overly special; each little pot contained only crackers, peanut butter and sliced cheese,  all surely scavenged from the facility's well-protected stocks (which the stallion seemed to have had a knack at infiltrating). But, in that moment, nothing else would have done; it was the perfect comfort food right now.

RipEar dipped a cracker in the spread and layered a single slice of cheese on top; he then gave a thin smile and held out the snack. "I'm not gonna dirty up my knife just for a bit of peanut butter, but here. It's perfectly good enough to eat," he said, his ears perking slightly forwards as the pegasus leaned in. She took the cracker in her mouth and nibbled at the edge, moaning immediately before she then gobbled it down in two great bites. She licked her lips for every last crumb and she closed her eyes and let out a breath, the taste oddly unbeatable. She then jerked her gaze back to the stallion, cocked her head very slightly and shuffled forwards, her eyes pleading.

Though initially quiet, RipEar gave a small chuckle, reached back into the pot with his magic and quickly prepared a second cracker. Then hovering it before the mare's muzzle, he narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Make it last," before he placed it down in her hooves. But, when he turned away to re-pack the little pots into his saddlebags, RipEar couldn't stifle his groan as he flipped the flaps shut; he looked back to his companion and shook his head, a scowl on his muzzle. "Seriously? You ate it already?"

Blue pouted and she licked her lips once more, her ears forwards. "It was really good, what else can I say?"

RipEar kept quiet for a second before letting out a breath. He rose up to his hooves and hovered his little knife back out from his saddlebags. He held it up near his muzzle while his eyes flickered to the filly before he then walked around to the opposite side of the crackling fire. As he perched down on the slowly warming rock, he found himself in a position where he could better monitor the little intruder.

"So," Blue began, waving her hoof in the stallion's direction when he made no immediate signs of having heard her. Once she was satisfied that she had his attention, however, she continued fairly chirpily. "Why exactly did you break me out of the facility, anyway? I mean, why did they want to... Why'd they want to kill me? I mean, I was quite happy in there, thank you very much."

RipEar frowned for a moment, his lips drawn tight. "Why'd I break you out?" he repeated, his eyes losing their slight sparkle. Upon seeing Blue's confirmation and encouraging nod, he seemed to become even less enthusiastic. "Well, if you must know, you were scheduled to be 'put down', as the facility creeps like to put it; in other words, you outlived your use." RipEar gave an uncomfortable smile; his shoulders rose and his head fell slightly. "Facilities are businesses, and you'd been there for three years now. But you hadn't shown any progress in getting over the Plague, so they didn't want to waste any more food on you."

Blue frowned and her tail clamped between her legs as she looked away from the stallion. Her nose crinkled. "You're not making any sense," she said with a scowl. "If I was that much of a waste of space, why wouldn't they just kick me out themselves? Why go to the hassle?"

"I'm not gonna answer if you won't look at me when you speak," RipEar hissed, his eyes narrowed. "You know I don't hear so well."

"You ought to listen better then!" Blue snapped, turning her gaze to the unicorn with a heated glare. "I asked why they'd bother, and not just kick me out right away."

"That's simple enough," he said, his eyes narrowed. "They're a business like I said, and they're in a competitive market at that. They don't want you getting out and blabbing to the other facilities about their research—and still don't, so we really ought to get moving. You're a liability alive, so I'd bet my good ear that they'll be searching for us—which sucks, 'cos I wasn't even on the hit list until now."

"Oh." Blue looked away once again; a slight blush coloured her cheeks and her ears flattened. "You didn't need to do that."

Shuffling about momentarily, the stallion directed his eyes towards the filly and tightened his magical hold on the knife. He then angled the blade towards her when she began to moan very faintly. She fidgeted a little more as she slowly began to regain consciousness. RipEar turned to face Blue and he spoke slowly as he asked, with not a hint of amusement or joviality in his voice, "Is this foal a danger?"

The pegasus turned to face the filly and kept quiet whilst she assessed the three-legged thing. Her grey eyes monitored each move she made. But she saw nothing more than mere fidgeting and quickly shook her head; her mane flew around her head whilst she said in as firm a voice as she could muster, "No, I don't think so." She looked back and smiled very slightly before she murmured, "She's a small thing, and she doesn't seem to have any weapons on her; the only thing you'd have to watch is her magic, but I don't think she's great at spells. And she's still out of it anyway."

RipEar's eyes narrowed as he nodded. He kept still for a moment before he then stood and stepped towards the filly. He lowered the blade so that it hovered at her side and paused as he looked to check the mare was watching before he moved it closer to the foal's neck. He pressed it up against the skin gently. He forced it to dig in harder and kept quiet whilst a few droplets of blood beaded against the blade. A second later, the filly's eyes jolted open and she scrambled backwards, terror evident on her face.

"RipEar!" Blue's shriek reverberated around the cave as she flared out her wings. "Stop it! You're petrifying her!"

The stallion turned back to face her a second after her outburst, his eyes filled with dark satisfaction, his lips curled up in a grin. He made no attempt to even acknowledge her distress; he merely stepped away from the filly slowly and then jerked his head in her direction.

"That is exactly why I had to do what I did. She was listening to us, but you'd never even have realised." He turned to the filly and snorted as he hovered the blade a little closer. His eyes flashed by way of a warning and he finished off, "You're just not perceptive enough to survive on your own."

Blue glanced between the filly and the stallion, sighed and then hung her head. She winced when her stomach began to growl faintly again. "I suppose not," she whispered before she looked up cautiously and glanced sympathetically at the foal. "But she's still scared. Let her go; she's not hurting us."

"She attacked you earlier," RipEar pointed out but he withdrew the knife anyway. As he hovered it back to his side he stepped over to Blue and looked down at her with a small smile. He offered her a hoof. "But then, you always were too trusting. Now get up; the painkiller'll have kicked in by now so it won't hurt, I promise."

Blue frowned and eyed the stallion skeptically whilst she folded away her wings. She then let out a breath, began to shift her legs and pushed herself up. The second she did so, she couldn't help but gasp, very nearly letting out another small scream as pain raced up her spine—but it was, at least, less severe than it had been before. Nevertheless, she scowled at the stallion and threw her rear leg out so that it connected with his side, making him yelp.

"You lied," she hissed whilst she hopped about a little. She rested her rear left leg so that the already milder pain was slightly lessened (though her words were not quite as cutting as they could have been). RipEar only shrugged and smiled slightly.

"I just told you that you were too trusting; you should've known better," he teased, but his smile then disappeared when he looked to the filly and snarled quietly. "But I'm more interested in why you were listening in."

The little filly squeaked as she recoiled up against the wall and trembled slightly. "I'm sorry!" she whispered, hiding her head with her hooves; Blue could only be amazed that the filly, who had seemed so confident and dangerous when alone with just the mare, was now such a quiet and quivering wreck. If she hadn't raised her head again, Blue wasn't even sure that she'd have been able to hear her words."I-I'm not a spy, I promise! I was just interested... I've always wanted to go to a facility!"

"Well, now you know what it's like," RipEar bit out as he eyed her with displeasure. "So why are you still here... whatever your name is?"

The filly whimpered a little louder and tucked her tail between her legs as she stood up. She looked down at her hooves with heavy eyes. "My name's Coalburst. I'm just tired," she said, barely able to meet the stallion's eyes. "My Mum... She died a while back. I'm all on my own, and I just want a little time to take a breather. This cave's the most enclosed I've seen anywhere around here; it's the only place that I can sleep without being attacked."

RipEar scrunched up his nose and took a small step back as he glanced down at the filly in her battered state. Then sighing, he looked away and snapped, "Well, just keep out of our way."

The little filly's eyes widened and she snapped her head up; her ears pricked forwards as she beamed. "R-really? You're not going to kill me?"

"No, but we are gonna get going now." When he turned to the mare beside him, RipEar tried to grin as he said, "Right, Blue? You're good to move now?"

The mare paused and looked to the little filly with a somewhat uncertain frown. She then glanced over to the still-blazing fire and grinned as well, standing taller whilst she shuffled her feathers cheerfully. "Yeah, sure. But first—" She glanced over to the little filly, a smirk on her face as she took a slow, tentative step forwards. "—Why don't you come with us?"

The filly's eyes, almost nothing but pupil, shot up to meet Blue's at the suggestion as she squeaked, "What?" RipEar, too, looked incredibly shocked; his back arched and his eyes suddenly burned just as angrily as the crackling flames behind, his teeth bared very slightly in the foal's direction.

"What in Tartarus did you just say?" he hissed. "She can't come with us; she'll only slow us down!"

At the back of the cave, the little filly's excitement quickly dissipated at the stallion's words. Her head plummeted down so that she could tuck it between her forelegs. Seeing the reaction, Blue immediately glowered and spun to face RipEar with her tattered wings flared out. "She's got a talent for making fire," she snapped back, her eyes narrowed. "I don't know much, but that's an invaluable skill, right? Given that yours already died out."

RipEar stiffened for a minute before he looked at the small filly and sighed. He hung his head and kept his gaze away from the foal; he instead focused on the entrance to the cave, his knife close by his side once again. "Oh, fine. But we're not waiting; we're leaving now, so if you're gonna come with us you'd better forget your nap."

The little filly jumped up almost immediately; she didn't waste a second, wagging her tail as she cantered forwards. She brushed up against the mare's uninjured side, smiled and nickered quietly. Blue could only smile and rose her head a little higher as she grinned triumphantly at the stallion who, rather than making any comment, made a great show of ignoring her smirk. He instead readjusted the girth of his saddlebags. He then nodded curtly once he was satisfied and nuzzled about in the left compartment before he pulled out a deadly looking dagger. He held it in his magic and floated the smaller knife over to the pegasus.

"Now, there aren't any caves nearby for quite some way, at least not that I can see. So you'd better be ready for a fair trek."

As she accepted the small knife in her teeth, Blue nodded and she raised her fore hoof, suddenly finding herself frozen in place as she stared at the small hole. In just an instant the outside world became terrifyingly real. She had no time to fret, however, when RipEar extinguished the filly's flames, trotted to the exit and waited with a scowl. Blue swallowed audibly and forced herself to move forwards; each step sent waves of (thankfully more bearable) pain up her spine.

She was going out into the mad, ravaged and deadly world of Plague Equestria—and there was to be no turning back .

Unpleasant Encounter

It was too dark.

Though she had never stepped hoof outside—as far as she could recall—Blue knew for a fact that there should have been more light than this. Admittedly the day was still quite young—RipEar had awoken her at some point during Luna's night, so it was presumably only early morning by now. Nevertheless, it was summer; Celestia's sun should have graced the sky with its presence by now, surely!

It didn't take long, however, for the mare to work out why everything seemed so oddly black when the world should have been painted in reds, oranges and yellows. In fact, it took a mere glance upwards to fathom an answer; the sky, rather than being occupied solely by either the sun or the moon, was instead shared by the two celestial bodies. To the West, the darkness of night reigned supreme; to the East, daytime was the stronger force. And so, when the delicate glow of the moon met with the unforgiving glare of the sun, the world ended up shrouded in the dim light of that unnatural union.

Blue whimpered as she stepped further away from the safety of the enclosed cave and found that she could only blubber when she glanced around herself. Ears flattened, tail clamped, eyes wide; she looked unnervingly like a little lost puppy, a resemblance which drew a small, unenthusiastic chortle from the unicorn stallion who stood by her side.

"Easy there, girl," he said. He nudged her waist with his horn to get her attention. But it was to no avail; she remained staring off into the distance. "It's not exactly like the view from the facility, is it?"

Blue mumbled something incomprehensible for a second before she gained a moment's sanity. "I... I don't get it. Why's the sky so... split? What's going on here?"

RipEar said nothing at first and instead looked out across the landscape. The cave was nestled halfway up a cliff, making it a fairly decent vantage point. He turned back to the mare and filly and jerked his head down towards the valley below a few times, his expression glum. "There's a small pack of wolves down there," he whispered and eyed them warily as the little filly nodded, her whimpers quiet.

"Yeah. They're mad'uns, they went for me—that's why I came up here."

"Woah, woah!" Blue's eyes widened as she glanced down to the clearing; her heart leapt up into her throat. "You mean to tell me that wolves can be mad'uns as well?"

"All animals can be mad'uns, Blue," RipEar said, his face a scowl. "I've told you that before. Makes them even more deadly than the standard sort. There's hardly a species alive that's completely immune to the plague." As he looked back down to the valley where the wolves lazed around, he took a slow step forwards with his dagger close to his side. "Come on, we'll go around the edge of the valley, see if we can avoid them. And, Blue?"

"Yeah?"

"Keep your mouth shut. If they hear us, they'll attack." He took a deep breath in and began to walk at an even faster pace now; his hooves made a fairly quiet tap against the rocky floor. At the back, the filly stumbled after them in essential silence. "If you can do that, I'll tell you whatever you want to know once we're outside of this territory."

Blue nodded slowly and transferred the small knife that RipEar had given her into her mouth. She took a few shaky first steps forwards, her hooves making much more noise each time they fell on the ground than her companions' were. Groaning, she then opened out her bruised wings cautiously before she flapped a few times, the tattered feathers providing just enough lift to raise her up off of the ground and to quieten her movements.

She hovered a few inches up, unable to calm her frantic heart. Instead she looked around, a part of her unwilling to do so lest she find something even worse. In her survey of the area, her eyes soon landed upon RipEar's flank. She felt a small blush creep up onto her face as she stared and a similar warmth appeared around her tail. She tried to shake off the urge to just stop him right there and force herself onto him, instead focusing her own attention on his cutie mark.

A simple open-lock design, it gave rise for plenty of speculation. Was he a lock maker, perhaps, or maybe a code-breaker? Both seemed unlikely, for he'd never shown such abilities during the years in the facility, nor had he ever slipped in his resolve not to tell her his talent. She had never understood why he had been so adamant; maybe now, in this crazy world where trust was vital, he might tell her once and for all?

The wind, as Sod's law would have it, chose that precise moment to act up. It blasted around the trio of ponies and caught under the pegasus' wings, sending her hurtling through the air. With each little breath of breeze she was cartwheeled away further, unable to right herself in the air after the initial throw-off. And then, almost as suddenly as it came, the wind fell away; the mare could do little but thrash while she plummeted, her wing beats no longer in synchrony, too haphazard to keep her airborne.

Blue screamed when she crashed into the ground, her already battered wing crushed beneath the weight of her body. She wasted no time in leaping to her hooves, however, and her wounds screeched as she did so. Despite this, she scarpered backwards with the injured feathers dragging through the dirt, some bent in completely the wrong direction, and then looked about herself wildly. She pressed up against the cold rock that was the cliff face without pause.

Nothing came at first. That, she supposed, was a bonus; there was no way in Tartarus that the wolves would have missed her yells. As she tried to fly back up to the ledge, however—from which she could see RipEar and little Coalburst eagerly leaning  over to see what state she was in—she found herself undeniably grounded, her hurt wing too painful and bent to lift her up from the ground.

To shout up would do no good, she knew that much; it had been a fifty foot drop, give or take, and RipEar's hearing was selective at the best of times. So, with a quick glance up and as dramatic a shrug as she could muster, Blue looked about nervously before she crept forwards across the clearing. Her belly was almost pressed against the ground as she inched forwards. She then stopped where she had landed and looked around slowly, her ears flicking to and fro until her gaze fell on her target; the small knife RipEar had given her before.

As she slunk the few metres to the patch where it had fallen, Blue felt her breath rate spiking and she gasped for air. Her body trembled as she bent down to clasp the handle between her teeth. She then let out a small breath of relief and straightened up slowly. She closed her eyes and attempted to calm herself before she began to hyperventilate.

A breath of air across her back.

Immediately shooting to attention, Blue snapped around and snarled, teeth clamped around the small blade's handle. As she glanced about and saw nothing, however, she then squeaked and leapt around in a circle, blindly scanning the valley for any sign of movement.

A small tap from behind.

With a gasp, Blue's ears flicked all around and her tail disappeared between her legs. She pivoted and spun about a point in milliseconds. Her chest heaved as she bit down against the wood, fighting a scream. Every nerve in her body flared to life; she was sent reeling and her body was overcome with a fresh new pain, inspired by terror.

With her left wing still dragging, the mare snapped out the less-injured right and recoiled. She spun as she backed up against the rock. Then yelping when the chilling cliff face touched her flank, she let out a small, shuddery breath as her eyes darted all about. She pressed herself as far back as possible. Then pushing herself up so that she was stood on her rear legs she took a few slow, deep breaths and whispered to herself over and over, there's no-one about. No-one's gonna eat me.

As she took another deep breath in, Blue looked around before she began to move. RipEar and Coalburst had already gone; she ought to do the same, if only to find them sooner. Still, a part of her couldn't help but insist that maybe, instead of coming back for her, RipEar had already left to make his own way. It didn't seem such a far-fetched theory; she was, at the end of the day, useless.

With her back pressed up against the wall, Blue tried not to whimper as she began to tiptoe around the edge of the cliff. Every time she placed her hoof down she winced, the sound too loud for comfort—though that meant very little when even her breaths were much too noisy.

Blue yelped as something tiny crashed down onto her back and she gave a quick buck before she launched herself into an immediate gallop. Eyes wide with panic, her vision morphed into nothing but crimson and black shapes and she bellowed as her hooves smashed against the ground. The wind howled and roared, chasing her and whistling in her pinned-back ears; the chill of the air bit at her sides as it attacked her existing wounds and sent waves of pain up her spine.

Within seconds, Blue could see nothing but blobs of bloody colour, her vision obscured by terror. And yet, spurred on by panic, she still ran—at least until something warm and somewhat squishy jumped into her path. It blocked her way and sent her falling backwards.

Blue couldn't quite be sure what had happened, at least at first. As she lay on her back with her eyes closed, the tiny rays of sunlight only serving to chill her underbelly rather than warm it, she kept still and allowed her mind to begin to settle. Then she let out a breath, stole a peek at her surroundings and immediately screamed as her eyes opened to see nothing but the bloodied, maniacal grin of an earth pony mare.

"Well, howdy-doo, little miss," the mare sneered, a droplet of blood dripping down from her mouth as her grin widened, showing her yellowed teeth. Blue's breath caught in her throat as it landed with a splash on her exposed underbelly, staining the already-pink fur. She trembled at the sight and immediately snapped her gaze from the pony. She tried desperately to scamper backwards. Oddly, the mare didn't seem too bothered by this fact and merely watched her quietly as she made to get away.

"Where you goin', little miss?" the earth-pony drawled as she stumbled closer and watched her prey retreat. Her eyes then lit up in crazed glee and she hissed, "It's not nice to leave the party so soon."

"This isn't my kind of party," Blue spat back despite the knife in her mouth, but her wide eyes and rapidly heaving chest betrayed her fear.

After she rolled over quickly onto her stomach, Blue jumped up to her hooves and gasped as pain flooded her mind. For just a moment, though, she thought she could get away—and then the earth pony jumped forwards, her ears flicking and body spasming while she blocked the smaller mare's path.

If she could only get a clean swipe, Blue figured she could easily cause the mare enough pain just to get her to back off a little. To pull off such a stunt, however, seemed tricky when she kept jumping about, never staying still long enough for a clean shot to be achieved with the miniature knife.

Damn you for giving me the small one, RipEar, Blue seethed. She trembled as the mare before her pushed her heavily to the ground. She landed and gave an involuntary gasp; she then narrowed her eyes and turned her head away. She held out until she could smell the musty scent of the mare's breath before slashing through the air with the knife. The strike landed true and sliced cleanly through the flesh of the pony's chest—and did not draw so much as a whimper from her.

"Naughty, naughty," she hissed. She then walked closer—and very nearly fell—as her eyes darted in opposite directions and her fore hoof twitched. Then lowering her head down to Blue's, she grinned even wider and pounced, able to pin the pegasus to the floor with her own body weight.

She was a thin thing, but heavy enough to prove a challenge to shift. With a hiss Blue bucked with her hips, able only to pant as she struck out with the knife again, quivering as blood poured from the mare's neck and down onto her fur. Unlike the crimson which stained her lips, this was hot and fresh and metallic—and strong enough to make her entire world spin.

Taking deep breaths as bile rose in her throat, Blue moaned and squirmed as her vision blurred. And then, when a heavy globule dropped down onto her fur, she screamed, thrashing about and kicking out with all four legs. Her fore hooves missed entirely; her rear left, however, struck a blow, managing to knock the mare backwards and to leave her momentarily stunned.

While she pushed herself up with her uninjured wing, Blue moaned. Her world spun, everything going black as she moved too fast. The smell of blood lingered heavily in the air now, seeped into every crevice and settled on the pegasus' fur and wings so that, along with the fair amount which had stained her, she felt incredibly dirty—contaminated, even. A part of her was sickened; the other was merely terrified that somehow, having touched the crazed mare's blood would send her insane as well.

"Oh, little mi-iss!" The mare's calls were loud against the quietness of the valley, echoing all around, but Blue could hardly hear her over her own rapid heartbeat. She lurched forwards and gasped for air as would a fish out of water, her eyes wide but unseeing as she trembled visibly. The blood—it was everywhere! In her mane, her hooves, her coat! It burned away at her flesh, poisoned and caustic. So much so that, with each careening step she took, she felt as if her very body had been doused in acid; each wave of nausea came with a greater spell of dizziness, and with each passing second the blood which painted her body smouldered away, burning her alive.

Bumbling to the side of the cliff, Blue fell to her knees and heaved as she trembled. She mumbled sentence upon sentence of incomprehensible gibberish whilst she snapped her head about. The world was polluted, every last rock and plant caked in thick, metallic blood; the very ground beneath her quaked. And then, in what felt like a fraction of a second, a surge of crimson cascaded over the edge of the cliff and crashed down into the valley, rushing towards her. With a scream of terror, Blue let her head crash to the ground and let her body crumple as she closed her eyes, finally overwhelmed.

But the earth pony mare behind her wasn't going to settle for that. She stalked forwards, snarled and licked her soaked lips as blood dripped from her gums and her chest, splashing on the dirt. Then giving a hiss, she swivelled around the smaller mare's body and lowered her head to sniff a few times. She nipped gently at the light-grey fur on her neck.

"Night night, little miss," she whispered and raised her head before she reared up. After she stumbled at the shifted centre of gravity she then smashed her hooves down. They landed with a muffled thud against Blue's already wounded shoulder. She then drew away and began to chortle when fresh blood beaded on the pegasus' stained skin. With a snort and a cackle she fell back and landed on her rear. After a moment, she then hopped back onto her hooves and tossed her head twice, snaking it around before she tripped forwards. At the mare's side she stopped and her grin then widened as she raised a hoof once more, this time above Blue's neck.

She brought it down sharply, eyes wide in exhilaration. But her hoof, rather than connecting with the soft flesh of a pony, only smashed against the cold, hard dirt floor.

The earth mare looked up and hissed when she noticed her prey lying a few metres off. She jerked her head upwards as the heavy thudding of rapid hoofbeats came into earshot and bucked and barked as she watched two unicorns stampede towards her. She snaked her head again while her entire body spasmed. Then leaping awkwardly over to her prey she narrowed her eyes and reared once more before she, too, charged forwards.

RipEar galloped in front, his eyes narrowed as he glanced to the left. He hovered his dagger in front of him and, with a bellow of anger, he thrust it forwards. It impaled itself in the earth pony mare's foreleg and blood spurted from the wound when it was ripped out without the slightest consideration. Once more, she didn't so much as flinch—but a second later, her galloping ceased when the half-severed hoof could not support her, sending her crashing muzzle-first down to the ground.

With a grunt, RipEar hoisted Blue up onto his back without so much as pausing in his canter. More than a little sickened by the sight of the crazed mare who grinned as she began to push herself along the ground with her powerful hind legs, he struck out with a rear hoof and winced when he heard it connect with her face. Then glancing behind himself, RipEar's ears suddenly flattened as he raised a foreleg quickly, his tail clamped.

The wolves had found them.

He spun to face forwards and reared up before he launched himself into a gallop, Blue held onto his back with magic as he ran. His hooves created great clouds of dust behind him.

"Coalburst!" he yelled, not even looking back to check the filly was with him. "Keep them away from us!"

The little filly, who galloped so hard that she was already gasping for air, whimpered when she glanced backwards. Racing towards them and the insane mare, three massive grey wolves careened, able to leap two metres with ease with each bound.

"My magic's not that strong!" she yelled back. She battled to keep even somewhat close by but fell behind with every few steps she took. But RipEar took no notice of her objections, only getting more annoyed with each second that passed.

"Coalburst! Get on with it!" he yelled as he threw his head backwards and noticed how far she'd fallen behind. For just a moment he considered pausing to help her—but then he spotted the small pack who still raced closer and abandoned that idea. Instead, with gritted teeth, he wrapped his magic around her only hind leg and dragged her forwards. As he heaved her across the rocky ground he then yelled, "If you don't, we'll all die!"

With a small scream, Coalburst lowered her horn to the ground and winced as the friction began to attack it, very nearly beginning to saw it off. She closed her eyes, her horn sparking fruitlessly for a few seconds before her magic finally came into being. At first, nothing happened; a moment later massive flames burst into life and expanded into an expansive wall before her very eyes. She let out a breath when the stallion released her leg and she hopped shakily onto her hooves with a rather evident stumble. As she gasped for breath, she looked around herself quietly.

RipEar stepped closer and Coalburst began to hobble forwards at nothing faster a walk. She froze, however, as he placed a hoof on her shoulder. Then, with a stolen gulp, she glanced up with wide, tear-filled eyes and tried—and failed—to look confident. Seeing his mild smile, however, she grinned a little too and stood a little taller, ears pricked forwards while she gasped for breath.

"Nice work, kid," RipEar grunted with a glance back to the roaring flames behind. He adjusted Blue on his back so that she was draped a little more securely with his magic, gritting his teeth as he did so, and he then broke into a gentle trot. He focused on the edge of the valley which stood tantalisingly close. "So, where was this tunnel out of here?"

Her breaths now beginning to return to normal, Coalburst grinned as she hopped up to his side and nodded to the left. "That way," she said, peering back. "But... I think we'd better go faster. I don't think the wolves are sane enough to feel pain if they jump through my flames."

RipEar nodded and transitioned into a gentle canter. "Sure thing," he said. He then looked away as he headed in the direction Coalburst had pointed. He didn't so much as falter when the snarls of the wolves filled the air, nor did he react to the maniacal laughter of the mare or the nauseating sound of ripping flesh. The filly, however, couldn't help but stiffen and glance backwards momentarily, shivering as her eyes widened and suddenly glistened with tears. She then bounded after the stallion, just able to keep up.

Watching enviously as RipEar cantered easily, Coalburst gritted her teeth and ran even harder. If she wanted friends she couldn't be a liability, and she knew that once she was accepted she’d be surer in herself—but right now, she wasn’t much use and would surely be left behind. It was how Equestria worked. She had to stand on her own three hooves to prove her worth. But maybe, just maybe, RipEar might come to carry her one day as well, just as he did for Blue now.

It was the most inspiring thought she'd had in a long time.

Firelight

"RipEar?"

Coalburst's gasped cry was almost impossible to hear over the near-silence of the world and drew absolutely no reaction from the unicorn stallion who pottered along in front, oblivious. The filly could only hiss at the lack of response and pushed herself to go faster. She hopped forwards with gritted teeth and scrunched up eyes. Her leg burned with every step she took, each gentle touch against the ground threatening to break it.

Limping up behind him as he trotted slowly, the mare still draped across his back, Coalburst nudged his flank with her horn gently. That was enough, however, to shock him; he leapt around and jerked his head about before he noticed the filly and scowled.

"You shouldn't sneak up on ponies," he hissed as he turned away once again. "Scare them enough and you could get attacked. I would've thought you'd know that."

Coalburst bounded in front of him before he could move off and hung her head. She looked up with wide eyes from her lowered position. "Yeah," she murmured amidst deep breaths. "But you didn't hear me."

"Huh?"

"I called you a sec ago but you didn't say anything," Coalburst continued.  "Actually, I called a couple of times. Are you ignoring me?"

RipEar stiffened momentarily. His eyes darted about and he slunk around the filly. "No, no. It's just my ear, y'know? That's all. It... It just doesn't work so good," he said. Then raising a hoof to point at the torn skin, he tried to smile a little—but only managed a weak chuckle. "It kinda makes things harder."

Coalburst looked up to him slowly, her turquoise eyes wide. "Well, anyway. I was gonna ask... Can we please stop now? Just... just for a minute? Or two, maybe?" As she hopped forwards slowly with a small moan, her breath caught in her throat. "I've not walked for this long in... Well, ages. And my leg's killing me."

RipEar scowled suddenly as he turned his attention away and walked off faster. "I'm not stopping you," he said with his ears flattened. "Why do you need my permission?"

RipEar turned back to glare at her. Coalburst's feeble smile fell as her body hunched up a little and her eyes dimmed. "Well... Blue said we could travel together," she said with a whimper, stopping and standing slouched.

"That doesn't mean you have to, though," RipEar snapped back. "She's an amnesiac, and she's been outside for all of... What, a few hours? I wouldn't know exactly. But my point is, she knows nothing about being out here. And so her word can't count for much; she simply doesn't know what a liability you are."

The filly winced as she took a step backwards and her face fell even more. And then, when the stallion turned to face her, she yelped and shot her gaze away with her lip quivering.

"But until she learns that, she'll kill me if I let you go off alone," RipEar continued, sounding as if he was arguing the matter with himself. After a moment's hesitation, he then sighed, changed directions and headed for a sheer cliff face. He dragged Blue from his back with his magic before he proceeded to sit down heavily. "So for now, I suppose I'm stuck with you."

Coalburst blinked a few times quietly before she took an uncertain step forwards, stumbling as her leg buckled beneath her. She yelped, then closed her eyes in readiness—but no collision came. Instead, a pale yellow aura wrapped tightly around her and lifted her an inch from the ground. It carried her closer to the stallion. RipEar made no effort to avoid the sharp rocks which littered the ground and bit at the filly's skin, nor did he seem too apologetic when he dumped her heavily—but it was a start, at least.

As she frowned slightly at the stallion, Coalburst shuffled about. Angling her horn downwards, she then whispered, "Watch out," before she closed her eyes and scrunched up her muzzle until a small flame burst forth. It grew larger quickly and crackled boldly despite the chill; both RipEar and the filly crept closer, grateful for its warmth which counteracted the bitter bite of the breeze.

They remained sat in silence for what was easily five minutes. RipEar sharpened his dagger with a stone uninterrupted as Coalburst simply lay down. Her severed limb throbbed dully, an ache which she had grown accustomed to; the overworked rear leg's grumbles, however, were unpleasant when in conjunction. At one point, she even considered asking the stallion to give her some of the painkiller that he had given Blue; she quickly abandoned that idea and instead settled on a simple question as RipEar glanced up, desperate for a conversation that might distract her.

"So, uh, how did you meet Blue, anyway? You seem to... Well, not mind her. But you really hate me, I can tell."

RipEar frowned as he placed the rock and dagger down next to him and folded his hooves over each other, at rest. "I'm just not much of a social guy," he began with a shrug. "Well, not in the way you'd think. I don't hate you more than anypony else—but that's not to say I'd hang 'round with you willingly. But for Blue, I've always known her, since I was a colt." A small smile crept onto RipEar's face before he stiffened as the mare beside him shuffled about. He poked her gently with his hoof and got no reaction, then sighed. "I can't say much, 'cos she's a part amnesiac and all that. You know what I'm getting at, right?"

Coalburst nodded quietly and winced as her stomach began to grumble. "Well, sure. She'll die if you tell her anything that she's forgotten, right? Isn't that how it works?"

RipEar nodded. His lips thinned and his brow furrowed. "Yeah. If anypony told her anything specific, or even mentioned it for that matter... Well, it could trigger a major memory recollection and overwhelm her brain. It's not a nice way to go, I'll bet."

Coalburst shuddered, ears falling. She then became quiet for a few seconds and moaned as the pain in her legs returned. She hastened to speak again.

"So, ah, what's wrong with you?"

"Excuse me?" RipEar's eyes narrowed as he pushed himself up and bared his teeth very slightly.

"No, no, no!" Coalburst blushed a little despite her dark fur and shook her head quickly; her orange mane—as bright as the crackling flames—floated softly on the breeze. "I didn't mean it like that! That came out really bad..." She rubbed just behind her ears with a hoof and tried her best to continue. "I mean, what did the Plague do to you?"

RipEar stiffened momentarily, then grinned thinly. "Oh, I've never gotten it," he said as he glanced down at the flickering flames. "But Blue got it real quickly, so I took her to the facility. We've been there ever since."

Coalburst's eyes lit up as she raised her head higher. "Oh, me too!" she chirped, suddenly looking less sullen and mature and more like the filly that she was. "I've not gotten it yet, I mean, which is kinda nice and kinda scary too, 'cos I could get it at any time. But... I don't get how you still haven't got it?"

"Luck, I guess," RipEar said with another shrug. He couldn't meet her eyes for long. "I must have really thick skin and a damn good immune system to fight it off."

"Yeah," Coalburst agreed. She then quietened and winced as the pain returned. She gave a groan when her discomfort was backed up by the growling of her stomach. She looked about quietly and her eyes landed on the stallion as he levitated his saddlebags—which she knew for a fact contained both food and painkiller—onto his back. Hardly able to resist the temptation to just grab the packs and run, she instead lay her head down on her fore hooves and closed her eyes. Her ears flicked about constantly whilst she did so; it became a habit, after a while.

"So, where're we going?" she mumbled as she raised her head and snapped her gaze around when a low buzzing met her ears. Soon finding the culprit—a large, pinecone-sized fly—hovering by her head, she narrowed her eyes and snapped at it. It recoiled quickly but soon came closer again; its proboscis mouthpart reached slowly towards her neck. Coalburst watched it quietly for a few seconds before she struck once more and caught it between her teeth. She threw her head up and tossed it backwards into her mouth; she cringed when she crunched down and chewed a few times before swallowing slowly. She shuddered as it went down and forced back the bile.

RipEar watched her quietly, his muzzle somewhat contorted in disgust. "Holy Tartarus... How can you stomach that?"

"It's tricky." As she winced, the filly quickly raised a hoof to her mouth before she let out a sigh. Frankly, she felt rather repulsed herself. "Give me grass any day. But anyway, you haven't answered my question yet."

RipEar shuffled backwards a little before his eyes narrowed. "I never got into the whole eating meat business myself," he continued, a scowl gracing his face. "I can't stand the taste of it, or the chewiness. Ugh!" As he scrunched up his eyes, he fought not to gag at the thought. He quickly recovered, though, and gave the filly a rare grin. "But hey—if you can hold it down, good for you, I guess."

"RipEar!" the filly moaned as she listened to him and her face morphed into a pout. "Why won't you just tell me where you're going already?"

"Oh!" The stallion frowned before he opened the left flap of his trusty saddlebag and pulled out a yellowed map with his magic. Then floating it over to the filly, careful to avoid the flames, he spread it out in front of her and picked up his dagger. He levitated the blade to her side slowly as well—Coalburst cowered very slightly when it approached—he placed the tip down gently on a seemingly barren space. "You see this place?"

"The... San Palomino desert, you mean?" Coalburst's words were slow as she squinted down at the map, struggling to read the words.

"That's the one." RipEar levitated the dagger up and held it in midair for a few seconds, then moving it up the map slightly and he touched it down again. "We're here, or somewhere around here; the Undiscovered West. It's a long trek, but—"

"Hold up," Coalburst said as she waved her hooves to get the stallion's attention. "If this place is undiscovered, that means we're the discoverers, right?"

RipEar groaned and he pressed his hoof to his forehead. He shook his head. "No, you stupid foal," he snarled with a roll of his eyes. "This is a century old, pre-war map. Can't you see how yellowed it is? Ponies just hadn't travelled this far back when it was made, but when the Plague set in they were forced out of their homes by all the mad'uns."

"Oh." The gleam in Coalburst's eyes quickly dulled and her ears drooped. "That's a shame; it would've been nice."

RipEar frowned and his eyes narrowed once again. "Not really. Ponies wouldn't care who found a new land, so you wouldn't get any credit." As he stood up, he shook himself free from dirt and flicked his short midnight-blue tail so that it made a quiet whip-crack sound. "Well, anyway, I'm gonna take Blue down to the desert. Rumour has it, there's a small town there that knows how to control the Plague—and I'd rather get there before I, ah, get infected myself."

Coalburst gritted her teeth and smiled tersely as she nodded and kicked herself for inspiring him to move. She then raised her rump into the air with her rear leg, pushed off with the fore two and stumbled into a standing position; she only wobbled about for a few seconds. When she glanced back and checked that the vine still bound the stump, she then let her magic aura die out so as to extinguish her flames. She waited quietly while RipEar hauled Blue up onto his back.

Turning to her, the stallion met her gaze with a small head jerk and then spun away. He paid her little attention as he adjusted to the new weight upon his back. Her stomach grumbled once again when she lamely hopped up to his side; Coalburst could only blush as the stallion looked down at her, though he made no remark. Instead, he fished out with his magic a small, rusted compass from his saddlebags and passed it to her.

"Make sure we keep going East," he murmured before he jerked his gaze away. "And if we're not, shove me in the right direction. It was a long time ago, but if I remember right there's a swamp about an hour's gallop away—so a few hours at this pace—which is surrounded by the sweetest damn grass you'll find this side of Equestria."

Coalburst beamed as she skipped up to his side to catch up. "Really? You mean it?"

She received no response from the stallion, but her heart soared nevertheless at the prospect of food at last; having wandered these rocky wastelands for days, she'd barely eaten a morsel. And so, with one last look around to check for danger, she focused her gaze down on the compass. Her eyes hardly flickered from it at all as she watched the spindly arrow intently.

Carnivorous

It was impossible for Coalburst to contain her squeals when the swamp came into view across yet another rolling hill. As she hopped along she grinned unfalteringly; her turquoise eyes glimmered in the dim light. Though she licked her chapped lips every few seconds, she managed to keep up with—and, on frequent occasions, overtake—the two unhindered ponies who accompanied her.

"Oh, for Celestia's sake, Coalburst!" RipEar snapped as the little filly skipped around him for what must have been the umpteenth time. "You're getting under my hooves again—stop it already!"

The filly skidded to a halt momentarily and looked back at the stallion. She giggled before she then pranced off. She only trotted a little way ahead before she turned back and circled the pair, looking so very alive and happy; it was hard to imagine her as the kind of filly who could survive Plague-Equestria alone.

"Hey, hey!" Blue, who had finally come around about an hour ago, spread out her wing quickly and blocked the filly's path when she tried to zip past.  She then yelped at the pain which shot up her own spine and she hunched her body up; a moment later, a weak smile appeared on her muzzle as she watched the little black foal who now sat—stunned—on the dirt floor. She laughed and rolled her eyes before she lowered a hoof to help Coalburst up. "You'll sprain your back leg if you keep going like that, and I don't think Rip's gonna carry you. Right?" Blue turned to the stallion and waited for a few seconds before she gave a small sigh. She then bucked out gently with her left rear hoof and received an infuriated scowl in response. When the mare repeated herself, his displeasure only heightened as he stuck his nose up in the air. He snorted and looked away before he walked a little faster.

The way his body moved when he stormed off: the sway of his hips; the softly flowing tan fur of his coat; the thick blue tail which he carried high, as if he were an Arabian stallion...  Blue could hardly contain the small moan which tore from her throat at the sight of him, her mind suddenly intoxicated.  So enamoured with the sight of him, her hooves intwined with each other when she attempted to walk onwards. She stumbled a little and then began to fall down to the ground; she caught herself but landed heavily on her right fore hoof. Pain sparked in her shoulder and she gasped; her posture stiffened as she shot her head high up into the air, the distress unexpected and enough to shock her from her summery musings.

"But I'm so hungry!" the little filly whined; clearly she had not noticed the mare's momentary display, her eyes large as she looked up at her. "I just wanna get some food already, and RipEar said it was the best grass this side of Equestria!"

As she shook herself from the self-induced stupor, Blue rolled her eyes and laughed. "He's not being serious, Coal. It won't be the best ever, just pretty nice."

"I wouldn't know though!" Coalburst frowned and she galloped forwards a few paces before she then waited for Blue to catch up once again. "Mum never showed me this swamp... Before she died, I mean. Uh, obviously."

Blue winced at the impersonal sound of the little filly's voice whilst she made that statement. She trotted forwards a little, determined not to reveal her pain, and draped her wing across Coalburst's back. "You... You don't sound all that sad."

The filly shrugged as a sudden gust of wind roared up and blew her two-toned mane and tail all around her, ruffling her fur. She lowered her head and pushed onwards as she fought against the onslaught. "Well, sure, I guess it's not nice when somepony dies," she bit out through gritted teeth. She squinted through the tears which shone in her eyes, the harsh wind smashing against them, "but it's not like I'm not used to it."

Blue cringed and her tail clamped; to say her previous desires had dissipated was an understatement. "Is the world really that bad?"

Coalburst shrugged once again and she let out a breath once the rush of wind had passed. "I dunno, you tell me," she said as she looked over to RipEar and let her ears droop. "It's all I've ever known."

"Me too, I suppose." Blue's eyes dulled and she glanced down at her hooves. Her wings unfolded slightly so that they just began to drape across the floor. The feathers themselves burned whilst she did so, as if her body wasn't in enough discomfort as it was; no doubt the painkiller was already wearing off. "Not that I can remember anything, but still—you'd imagine I would've lived out here, in this crazy place. I doubt I'd be lucky enough to live anywhere safe."

"Yeah, maybe. But you got into a facility, and that's pretty good, 'cos they never normally take anyone except for those who've literally only just been infected. When they're in the coma stage and all that, so you're lucky you had RipEar to help you out." Coalburst gave a small squeal as the swamp drew ever nearer, now little more than fifty metres away. She flicked her tail eagerly and then looked back at Blue before a blush rose on her cheeks. She hid her head very slightly. "Oh, ah, RipEar was telling me about this village he's heard of. D'you know anything about it?"

Blue hid a small smile as she shook her head, ears pricking forwards. "I didn't even know I was coming out here before last night. He must've planned all this a while back. But he's not told me anything."

"Oh."

Coalburst trailed off for a minute before she returned her attention to the swamp—with every second it drew teasingly closer—and began to dance about on the spot. Then, after a few moments, her resolve snapped; as her stomach rumbled with thunderous growls she leapt forwards. She bounded towards the increasingly pungent lake and threw her head about eagerly with a little buck every other step. She then let loose a full-blown whinny that even an opera singer might have been proud of and raced the last ten metres up to the edge of the swampy area.

Skidding to a stop, Coalburst looked about sharply before she trod forwards, her gaze focused on the thinly spread green leaves which grew around the water's edge. They swayed and writhed about wildly, as if blown by the wind but, after the previous bombardment of air, there was little more than a breeze now. The filly, however, hardly batted an eyelid; she sniffed a few times and shuddered with her tongue lolling out. Saliva dripped from the corners of her mouth.

Coalburst stepped even closer to the swaying plants and inspected each and every one, eyes narrowed scrutinously. She then hesitated and lowered her head ever so slowly, inch by inch, until her mouth rested right near the base of the leaves.

In a blink of an eye, she struck. As she clamped her jaws around one particularly swollen plant's base she jerked backwards and effectively snapped it from its roots. It writhed even more dangerously when it fell to the ground with a fairly heavy thud; the little filly dragged it backwards, as would a leopard hauling its prey, and it did not once cease to convulse. Its shoot swayed the wildest as it struck out in all directions. At one point, it even managed to get a grip on her rear leg and sent her crashing to the ground muzzle first.

Blue watched on in horror as the plant fought with the little filly, but Coalburst was in no panic; before the pegasus even had a chance to run forwards to help, she'd gotten the situation under control, scrambling back up and snapping off the shoot with her teeth. Once more the leaf writhed, striking her again around her midsection and coiling tightly, now resembling a constricting snake. And, once again, the filly seemed to not be too disturbed by the situation—though she did admittedly seem slightly more erratic in her actions. Nevertheless, with a few well placed bites and blows, the plant fell to the ground in pieces.

Blue glanced over to RipEar warily, her face a frown as she walked hunched-up, her back arched and her neck holding her head high. Her eyes darted between the stallion and the foal, both of whom seemed at ease—or as calm as one could be in this place. She then relaxed slowly when she took a few deep breaths and looked around. There was almost nothing of significance in her immediate surroundings; the world composed solely of rocks, dirt and a few decomposing trees here and there. Certainly, despite the peculiarity of the plant life, the world didn't seem that dangerous—and so she smiled a little more confidently when her own stomach growled gently. Her eyes shone and she crept forwards slightly quicker, wincing slightly less as excitement rose in her chest.

Though the plants looked as far from grass as was equinely possible, the delectable aroma which reached her nose was irresistible. Admittedly, the urge for some more crackers and cheese was stronger, but RipEar had not yet offered her any. Besides, if this plant was still palatable, surely it made more sense to eat it now and save the good stuff?

Coalburst smiled when she saw the mare approaching faster and waved a little before she took another bite. As she drew back she munched happily and pale green liquid dripped from the edges of her muzzle; quickly licking it away before it fell on the dirt and was wasted, she then dove in for a second helping. Blue couldn't help but giggle at the sight before turning her attention to the variants of the filly's plants which stood before her. Much shorter and less juicy, they were not nearly as delectable—but at the end of the day, they were much less active too.

The mare could not resist the urge to throw herself into the pile. Ignoring RipEar's quiet cry of, "Blue!", she gave a gleeful whoop, leaping into the air and landing atop the small cluster of only-slightly-writhing plants. Squealing as they tickled at her sides, she soon began to squirm, even succeeding in snapping at the few which moved too close. Collecting the sweet tasting, jelly-like matter in her cheeks like a little hamster, she hadn't felt so free in a long time. Ever, perhaps.

The taste, though not nearly as good as the facility's provisions, was still incredible, somewhat resembling grass but on a whole new level. Still, it did not last long; something sharp brushed against her hoof and she yelped, inadvertently choking down a few mouthfuls as she shot into the air and sped backwards, screaming.

Landing on the ground a few metres back and skidding to a stop, her hooves cried out as the rocky terrain bit at them. Wings flaring, her mane and tail flying all about her frame, she could have appeared a force to be reckoned with—if only she wasn't such a quivering mess.

In truth, she had every right to be nervous. The moment she landed, the towers of grass parted slowly to reveal the beast which they had otherwise concealed. It was not overly tall; it stood no higher than Blue herself. Nevertheless, it was an imposing presence with a body of monumental girth and of impressive, undeniable strength, all topped off by the razor sharp bayonets which protruded from its feculent maw. Rather than skin and flesh, its limbs were roughly sculpted of some crag-like matter. At the joins to each individual rock, a thick russet-brown liquid oozed out, dripping on the ground as the creature hauled itself from the stale water; it was hard to tell if it was clay or blood which coloured the substance.

"Oh, Cobdamnit, Blue!" RipEar hissed, ears flattening as he dove backwards. Baring his teeth, he then jerked his dagger from his saddlebags. He hovered it close to his side and watched the creature unblinkingly. "Of all creatures, you had to call up a cragodile!"

Blue winced and her breath caught in her throat. "A what?

RipEar didn't answer her, instead stepping forwards ever so slowly as the repulsive beast gave a low growl. It then began to stalk forwards without the slightest fear, its eyes the boldest shade of red, flooded with blood. RipEar was quick to react, however; he immediately slammed the handle of the small knife into her mouth. The force alone was enough to make her yelp.

With her teeth gritted around the wooden handle Blue recoiled quickly, her heart pounding in her chest as she fought not to look away from the beast. Though her legs trembled she tried not to look as terrified as she felt and stood unsteadily with her wings still flared out. Her tail clamped tighter with each inch that the cragodile stalked closer but, with much concentration, she kept her nerve and brandished the knife in her mouth. Then she jumped forwards with a whimper and swiped at the creature's cheek with the blade; when her strike missed she was flung back by the cragodile's powerful blow, the claws raking her skin, and she could no longer keep up the act. She leapt behind the stallion at that moment, then trembling.

RipEar hissed at the mare's reaction, bucking her gently and startling her to her hooves. Then slamming the handle of the small knife into her mouth, he strained to keep her standing as her legs began to buckle again.

"Fight it, Blue!" he yelled, slashing the dagger through the air. It was, in truth, a small and inconsequential weapon really; it would surely do little more than tickle the impenetrable hide of the cragodile. Still, any protection was better than none.

"I can't!" Blue moaned back, but she gritted her teeth anyway and focused on the creature. Then taking a slow breath, she threw her head backwards and hurled the knife towards the beast. It bumped into its skin with a small thud and then fell to the floor, doing no damage at all.

Blue yelped at the sight, her legs buckling the second her attack made no difference. "Holy cow! It... It didn't even flinch!" Feeling her shoulder beginning to burn up she moaned, almost immediately noting the slow trickle of tears on the fur of her cheek. Then glancing back at the creature, she took a sharp intake of breath blood oozed from the corners of its eyes. Then looking down at herself, she yelped and began to shudder violently. "Oh, sweet Celestia! There's just blood everywhere! It's on my fur, my hooves, my muzzle! It's all over me!"

"No it's not!" the stallion yelled down at her before snapping his gaze away. Now aware that its skin was impenetrable, he jumping forwards and thrust the dagger into one of the beast's many crevices. Twisting it with his magic, his eyes thinned as a small yell sounded in the nape of his throat, the action impossibly laborious; the cragodile, too, gave a bellow of a roar, struggling to escape the blade which now impaled it. "They're just little cuts, Blue!"

"No!" The mare's cry was tormented as she writhed on the ground, her eyes seeing nothing but red. "No, they're massive! I can feel it, RipEar! The blood—it's all over me! I'm bleeding; I'm dying!"

"Oh, shut it!" RipEar  took a few steps backwards, his nostrils flaring as rose a hoof quickly, then smashing it back against the ground. The quivering mare, whose muzzle was now just a few inches away, flinched visibly and recoiled. "Relatively speaking, you're not that hurt!"

The mare only whimpered on the floor, shuddering and rolling into a tighter ball. The second her hoof came to rest against her chest, however, she screamed, her pupils dilating as she stared down at her hooves. She could make no sense of the world; she was too frantic to even tell the difference between the soft fur on her body and the sticky blood which she could swear now coated her.

RipEar, only snarling at the mare's reaction, jumped forwards as he dug the blade into the creature's side deeper. Then heaving it out in one clean sweep, he winced at the cragodile’s almighty roar. Backing up a few steps as it began to charge, its side spewing thick torrents of blood, he quickly felt his previous bravado shattering. Lunging forwards desperately with his dagger once more, he hissed as the beast's skin repelled the blow and yelled out loudly, "Oi! Coalburst! A hoof'd be nice, y'know!"

"What?" The weak reply hardly seemed to belong the same foal who had very nearly attacked Blue earlier on. "The thing's made of rocks! Fire doesn't melt rock, and that's pretty much all I can do!"

RipEar groaned, shooting the foal an embittered glare as he lurched away from the beast's teeth. The fangs grazed his shoulder and he winced before he then yelled, "Rock's don't bleed! It's an animal, for Celestia's sake!"

Coalburst, who had been hiding quietly to the side, straightened up. Within a few seconds, confidence suddenly roared into life in her eyes, her entire posture slackening. "Oh, right!" she chirped, then bounding forwards with her head lowered. Scrunching up her eyes, she began to mutter to herself as she charged, her horn sparking very faintly after a few seconds. Then, as the cragodile snapped its gaze away from the stallion and towards the filly, her magic burst into being. With it glowing fairly brightly, Coalburst grinned as she prepared to raise her head—but suddenly, with a sickening squelch and an ear-shattering scream from the cragodile, she found herself stuck, her horn impaled deep in the space between the rocks of skin.

The creature spun, bellowing, stomping its feet as it struck out. Its teeth grazed Coalburst's flank while she was dragged along, screaming at the pain which shot through her neck. Then, with a massive cry, her eyes shot open wide, her horn flaring into life once more inside the beast's body before blasting her backwards.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, as the cragodile's massive mouth opened in a bellow, flames burst from all of its orifices. It fell to the ground with an earth-shuddering crash, writhing for only a second before falling still in amidst the shower of flames.

The smell of cooked meat quickly filled the air, making RipEar cringe and gag. Sparing a quick glance at the monstrosity before him and gasping for breath, he then wrapped his magic around the still mumbling mare and inched forwards, dragging her along. His eyes were wide as he circled away from the downed cragodile, his movements stiff and uncoordinated. As he came to rest at the filly's side, he couldn't help but admire her strength not to have passed out yet.

"C-come on," he whispered, careening away briskly and then pausing. Turning back to Coalburst, seeing her rising tiredly with a strained expression, he then sighed and backtracked. Shakily reaching under her belly and hauling her up onto his back, he gave her a quick—though weak—grin, for once genuine. Sparing one last glance at the cragodile, he shivered and began forwards, hauling the mare along just slightly off of the ground. Trembling a little, it was all he could manage.

Frankly, the filly deserved to sit on his back more than Blue did.

Interlude

Holding a small peanut butter cracker to her mouth with a feather, Blue kept quiet while she trod on after the foal and stallion. They'd walked in silence all day; neither so much as spared a glance back at her. Even when he'd passed her the cracker, RipEar had refused to look at her; he'd merely hovered it behind himself and  almost smashed it against her muzzle.

Blue couldn't blame them, to be honest. She knew she was weak, and was frankly surprised that RipEar was still with her. It had, of course, only been a day since they had left the facility—slightly less than that, even. Nevertheless, she'd already confirmed the extent of her weakness twice; she was a burden, a useless waste-of-space who could only manage to mess things up. As such, the only possible reason that she hadn't been booted yet was that RipEar felt some form of loyalty towards her—as a friend, or something more? It was the only logical explanation; what with her amnesia, it wasn't even so impossible.

As she nibbled on the edge of the cracker once again, Blue looked up to the split, unnatural sky and frowned. Still walking forwards, it was then only a few seconds before she felt herself collide with something warm.

She fell to the ground on her flank and shook her head a few times before she rose back up to her hooves. She looked ahead to see that the stallion now faced her, his expression tightly drawn. He took a step backwards quickly before he grunted, in as monotone a voice as possible, "You're tired."

Blue's ears flattened immediately at the statement and a blush rose to her cheeks. "We can keep going. I'll... I'll survive."

RipEar scowled and turned his back to her before he flicked her with his tail. She yelped at the contact and hopped backwards. Her eyes followed him warily.

"You can't even eat without getting us attacked," RipEar hissed and turned back to face her. In all three years that she'd known him—as far as she could remember—she had never seen his eyes quite so cold. He then jerked his head to the left, in the direction of a towering oak tree which had missed miraculously missed Blue's notice in her musings. "It's partly hollow inside. We'll sleep in there."

Blue stood still for a minute before she turned away slowly and began to plod the fifty metres. She gasped as something cold then wrapped around her flank—in a not so unpleasant way which instantly made her tail flag—and she felt herself be shoved forwards. After she skidded to a halt at the base of the tree, she then glanced about a few times before she gave a sigh.

She dragged her hooves as she walked into the hollowed out area and jumped a little when her eyes fell on Coalburst. The foal was already laying down and making a fire. Blue couldn't even meet the little filly's eyes for fear of retribution—though she did manage to question whether lighting a fire in a tree was such a good idea.

The filly, to her credit, didn't seem quite so tense now that RipEar was gone. She merely nodded and muttered, "I'm making it small, but it'll be a cold night," before she looked away.

As a tiny flame morphed from Coalburst's magic, Blue smiled weakly and rested her head down on her hooves. She then shuffled around to face the entrance and looked outside. She continued to gaze up at the sky.

"It's weird, huh?"

Blue, momentarily stunned, jerked her head around to look at the filly. "What?"

"I just said, it's weird. The sky should be just day or just night, I think. Not, y'now, both, like it is now—but I've never seen it like it's meant to be. ." Coalburst gave a weak smile and followed the mare's gaze to look up at the twinkling stars above. "I'll bet it was really pretty, though."

"The view from the facility was... Well, right. I suppose that was some illusion, or something. But, sure, it was nice to look at. 'Specially if you saw the sunrise, all orange and red and... magical."

Coalburst sighed and her eyes gazed out longingly. "I'd give my good back leg to see what the world was meant to be like," she continued. "That's just a dream, though. The sky'll never be fixed, not until the plague's gone, and the plague's never gonna go."

"Why? The sky, I mean?" Blue leaned forwards, ears twitching. It had crossed her mind more than once as to why the sky was so wrong; though she was far from a scientist, she also knew for sure that a disease, even an epidemic, could not have such an effect on celestial bodies.

"The princesses don't control them anymore," Coalburst said as she hopped to her feet and stepped outside of the little hollow cautiously. She beckoned for Blue to follow and pointed her hoof up to a massive mountain far in the distance, off of which a massive pink bubble could be seen. "That's Canterlot—only plague-free place around, because of that big health bubble... thing. It's huge, and if it falls Canterlot'll get infected too. So the princesses have to use all of their magic to keep the shield up. That's what Mum told me, anyway."

"Oh." Blue lowered her head once again and shuffled back into the feeble warmth of the hollow. "So, until there's a cure, the whole world's stuck like this?"

"Yep. It's been this way ever since Celestia cast her spell on Sombra and Chrysalis. S'posedly she didn't know how it worked, but with changelings busting into her base and all that, she couldn't keep up the fight otherwise." Coalburst gave a feeble laugh and poked her nose outside to look at Canterlot again, nestled so very far away. "I kinda find it funny, really. She used this spell—which could've killed her, for all she knew—to save us all. Didn't exactly go right, did it?"

Blue gave an equally weak smile, her ears pinned as she shook her head. "Not really. I kinda feel sorry for her though; imagine that guilt." She shuddered and curled up into a little ball next to the fire. She lay her head down with a sigh—but not before she spared a glance towards RipEar. "Is he... Is he gonna come in?"

"Sure. He's just working out where we are. Said he wanted to make a detour, get you a weapon 'cos you're so weak and pathetic."

Blue gritted her teeth, hearing those words spoken aloud especially hurtful. "Wow, Coal. Talk about making me feel better."

Coalburst only giggled a little as she wrapped her orange tail around herself for warmth. It was no wonder her mother had chosen the name she did; she genuinely looked like a miniature fire herself. "If you want to take it out on anyone, go for RipEar. But he kinda hates you at the minute for not even trying, so it's better just to bury your anger."

Blue sighed and closed her eyes as she unfolded her wings. She wrapped them around her body before she followed Coalburst's example with her tail.

"Yeah, I guess."

As she lay there, ears constantly flicking at the peculiar sounds of the mostly silent world, she couldn't help but grind her teeth together. She was a wuss, she knew that—but out here, there was no room for cowards. It was survival of the fittest—and, Lunadammit, she was going to survive.

Preparations

Blue cringed at the stallion's blunt statement. She kept quiet for a second before she then took a deep breath in as her fore hoof immediately began to tremble. Her voice shook when she then said, "Fine."

Her voice, though shaky, was as strong as she could possibly muster. She squeezed her eyes shut and then looked away with a whispered, "Just get it done with."

"At last," RipEar scoffed, though his voice was less scathing than it had been before. He then paused, his eyes softening when he raised a hoof uncertainly. "Are-Are you sure?"

Blue snapped her eyes open and glared at the stallion with a piercing grey stare, her teeth bared slightly as she batted around with her hoof for a piece of wood. When she found none, she grabbed  "I'm gonna lose my nerve in a minute," she hissed before she then looked away once again, her wings constantly rustling. "Please, just get on with it."

RipEar gave a small smile and his scowl faded while he nuzzled around in his saddlebags. He pulled out a few strands of sinew with his magic—harvested from a well-scavenged deer carcass the day before, poor thing—and levitated them up to his muzzle. Then he picked up the large needle which rested by his hoof, hovered it up and paused with his tongue poking out of his mouth as he narrowed his eyes.

RipEar brought the two together slowly, the sinew unwilling to be poked through the needle's eye, and shuffled closer to Blue quietly. He stopped at her side and lowered his head down to her still-stained flank, the fur now a grubby shade of pink, and levitated the needle closer. He let out a small breath as he did so and cringed at her involuntary shudder before she stiffened.

It was now or never. With gritted teeth he pinched the two flaps that made up her wound together and hovered the needle closer. With his stomach squirming, he then placed the point against her skin and pushed.

Blue's cry was immediate as her body involuntarily constricted and hunched up. Sweat beaded on her fur and she fought not to scream as the needle pierced her skin once more, the sinew pulled through to join the flesh back up. Again and again, the stallion repeated the actions and each stitch sparked unimaginable, intolerable pain in her flank; with every second that passed, her skin was crudely snagged together, the agony only growing worse.

But she could not cry. She would not let herself; she had to prove her worth. And, judging by RipEar's slow smile when he pulled the needle away, it was a positive step.

"Nice one," he said with a quick wipe of the needle by a small cloth. He placed both back in his saddlebags. Then glancing up to the sky, he was still for a few seconds before he stood and shook himself free from dirt and dust. He sent a glance towards Blue and Coalburst as he then slipped the packs onto his back. "Okay. We've got an hour's walk before we reach the village, and it's already half nine thanks to someone." He snapped his gaze towards Blue and frowned at her; she only huffed whilst she narrowed her own eyes.

"It's not my fault that you two didn't wake me," she bit back before she gasped; her flank suddenly protested as she moved. With a groan she flicked her tail a few times and her ears fell backwards slightly, but she bit her lip and chided herself not to complain.

RipEar remained frowning, though he couldn't help the momentary sparkle in his eyes which betrayed his amusement at her words. He quickly fought to cover it up. "If Coalburst and I were to die, we wouldn't be here to wake you up, so learn fast. But, as I was saying, we'd better get moving; it'd be nice to get to the village before lunch."

"When was the last time we had a proper meal out here at lunchtime?" Blue, who trembled a little as she took a deep breath in, hesitated for a moment before she rolled her eyes. Then making a move to get up, her teeth gritted and her eyes tightly shut, she faltered; she jerked her head up to the sky, her flank quietening a little when it didn't have to move, and couldn't help but be skeptical. "On that note, how can you even tell what the—argh!—time is? The sky hasn't changed once since we've been out here."

"It has, actually," Coalburst chirped. "The sun and moon are always fighting; that's a rumour I heard. And it feels true, too, 'cos the sky's a little bit darker and a whole lot colder at night. Couldn't you tell?"

Gritting her teeth once again as she moved a little more and pushed herself up to her hooves, Blue shook her head slowly. "I didn't really think about why I was cold," she bit out before she gave a gasp as she straightened up. Once she'd balanced herself, she then lifted her rear leg from the ground to rest her hoof. The relief, though slight, was immediate. She then turned her gaze on the filly and pouted. "I was much too busy trying to warm up. Course, I wouldn't have to if you'd just make a decent fire."

Coalburst smirked whilst she nodded to RipEar and wagged her tail. "His rules, not mine. But now that he's forgotten your question, I'll tell you." She leaned forwards before saying, "The internal clock spell; every foal my age learns it. Or, every unicorn at least—which just proves that I'm way better than you. "

Blue narrowed her eyes and snapped back in a somewhat strained voice, "Get off your high horse. You can't even make a fire when you want to."

Ignoring the foal's indignant huff and mumbled, "Not like you could!", she snapped her gaze over to RipEar and frowned; he was much too busy nuzzling around between the rocks to notice her. Pausing a second later, though, he nudged a few out of the way and waited with a grin plastered upon his muzzle. Jerking his head up, he then beckoned for the two females quickly, his expression akin to that of a pirate who had struck gold. And, in truth, his find was more valuable than any precious material; it was a life-giving substance.

Pure, sweet water.

The odd patches of grass—normal, un-mutated, non-deadly stuff, for the most part—which had made up most of the ponies' diets over the past few days had contained water. Nevertheless, none had had a decent drink in well over twenty-four hours; the prospect was heavenly. And, as Blue staggered over with a contorted face and lowered her head to just touch her lips to the stream, she felt her pain all wash away momentarily. It was just so exquisite, so perfect—so unlike the rest of this mad world.

Then again, it perhaps wasn't so bad. The huge mutant flies which buzzed around were admittedly aggravating and the perplexing nature of the plant-life was something of a hindrance. Nevertheless, the past few days, after the shaky start, had been quite quiet. RipEar had been quick to warn her that the calmness was only due to the remote location; an anomaly or not, Blue couldn't help but feel slightly more confident that maybe, just maybe, she had a chance.

Waiting quietly until Coalburst had taken a sip as well, RipEar stood taller as he hovered the rocks back over the small flow of water. Then he stepped forwards and glanced back to the girls before gave a genuine, oddly unforced smile.

"So, are we ready?" he said, not waiting for an answer before he reared up a little and pawed at the air. He completely ignored Blue's mumbled plea to wait a few minutes before leaving. Instead, he fell back to the ground and dug his hoof into the dirt, snaking his head before he glanced back eagerly. Then, as his body stiffened, he gave a feeble chuckle and looked away before he started forwards immediately. A blush rose up on his cheeks. Blue, in turn, groaned as she watched him go and let her seemingly heavy wings fall open so that they dragged on the floor.

Coalburst, stood at her side, gave a sympathetic smile before she turned her head to look at her own flank. Then wiggling her stump a little, she whispered, "You'll be okay, sweet-pea," before she shot off. She threw her head back as she galloped and her eyes were alight as she screeched with laughter. Blue only stiffened and halted for a moment before she gritted her teeth and hopped forwards in a similar mannerism; her flank screamed with each little step despite never touching the ground.

"Hey! You insufferable foal," she called out while she hopped forwards a little faster until she could at least match RipEar's pace. Nevertheless, a small smile was evident upon her muzzle, despite the pain which laced her expression. She couldn't help it; being around the two unicorns was, in the end, enough to keep her happy, despite everything else.

Cavemare Town

During her stay in the facility, Blue had overheard—for she had never been included—countless conversations. Of them, the idea that 'the last steps in a race are the hardest' had come up more than once. She, being the naive mare who knew nothing outside of her cozy facility life, had always laughed at the thought. Surely, she would reason, the last few steps—when the metaphorical finish line was so close by—would be among the easiest?

As the trio trekked the last twenty metres to the village, however, she couldn't have appreciated that statement more. She was hungry, RipEar having denied her one of the precious crackers; her stomach's growls and grumbles were surely apparent to anypony within a fifty mile radius. As if that was not discomfort enough, she could still place little pressure on her rear leg, the crude stitches in her flank irritating and painful. Every lame hop was hell for her remaining hooves, tired and bruised from scrambling over sharp stones for the past hour. Even flying now and then—a taxing task when her wing was still bruised—was not enough to relieve the pain.

RipEar's detour, it had turned out, was not such an easy journey. The landscape had been hellish, devoid of any life other than a few shriveled, malnourished insects and a single, lonely raccoon, scampering about among the rocks. It had been unforgiving; even the slivers of dirt  provided no relief from the wicked floor.

But then, the village up ahead—so tantalisingly close now—looked to be a fairly comfortable place. The cozy houses, built at the side of an impossibly steep hill, were nothing overly special. The circular walls and roofs were all made solely from aged wood, supported by rocks at the base—of which there was an abundance. There were no windows in any of the residences, the only entrance to each being a pony-sized hole between the planks concealed by heavy, equally timeworn leather. The overall feel was rustic, somewhat like a cavemares' settlement rather than a modern one. But, in its own way—especially when nestled away in amongst the sea of rocks and lifelessness—it had buckets of charm.

"Hello?" RipEar looked almost as uncomfortable as Blue with each step he took. He lit his horn as he looked about and hovered his dagger over to the mare. As he then picked up a fair-sized boulder to his left, he nodded to Coalburst without a sound and snapped his attention back to the village. He trod forwards slightly more boldly now. "Hello?"

After a few moments, the leather door at the furthest house slipped open. An earth pony stallion, presumably only a few years older than Coalburst, stepped out into the bleakness. He paused for a second before he took a slow step forwards, his eyes thinned as he watched the newcomers.

And then, from a hidden peak on the slope, the onslaught came. Pebbles and rocks dove down towards the trio, gaining speed with every second they fell. But Coalburst was faster as she yelped and dropped to the ground. Her magic sparked. Just before the attack could reach them, her yellow aura then encased all but a few dozen projectiles and heaved them backwards as a gasped yell wrenched itself from her throat.

The ponies leapt out of the way and winced as pebbles grazed their skin. The intercepted missiles crashed to the ground with an impact so powerful that it could have been mistaken for a tiny explosion. Only the knowledge that it could have been so much worse made the pain bearable.

The next moment, RipEar was ready. He watched quietly as the second assault came and gritted his teeth as he heaved his boulder backwards. He then threw his head forwards and released the massive ball of rock from his grasp with a yell. It collided with the projectiles, almost smashing the smaller fragments to dust. Immediately it began to plummet. He hissed and then leapt forwards as he fumbled to grab it with his magic; the momentum of the boulder made him gasp and strain as he endeavoured to slow its descent, even Coalburst's help still not enough to stop it completely.

Blue whimpered as she watched the scene, cowering quietly behind the two unicorns with the dagger held uselessly in her mouth. She didn't have magic—what good could she do?

But then, that wasn't quite the truth. She was a pony of Equestria and she did have magic—pegasus magic! And, right now, it could be the last push which her companions needed.

As she slowly limped forwards, Blue unfurled her wings. Her flank burned with each hop; her partly healed shoulder grumbled; her bruised wing muscles and bent feathers sent an ache up her spine. But that was nothing compared to the guilt she would feel if she didn't help—and so she galloped forwards and flapped her wings as she threw the blade to the floor.

Jumping up into the air, Blue gasped as her wing screamed, already overworked. Tears flooded her eyes and streamed down her cheeks; they blurred her vision, but she resisted her heart's demands to retreat. She had to be strong, had to save these ponies—even if they had made the first hostile move.

Behind her, she could hear her name being shouted, could hear the terror in both RipEar's and Coalburst's voices. But that wasn't important right now—she would make them proud, prove that they didn't have to worry so much about her.

Her hooves smashed against the rock and she howled, pain lacing every one of her limbs at the impact. As tears fell thick and fast, she gritted her teeth, grinding them together. Shuddering as they squeaked, she fought to focus her attention instead on flying, flapping her wings with every ounce of strength that she had. But still she fell, despite the best efforts of everyone.

Blue screamed as she peeked down, the ground less than ten metres away now. She scrunched her eyes up and bit down harder than ever, bracing for impact as she continued to struggle. The rashness of her decision only then occurred to her but she didn't once stop fighting, using her entire ounce of strength to push up. For just a moment, she even considered that maybe, with her efforts as well, RipEar and Coalburst had managed to slow its fall—but then she heard a collective gasp and realised that she was just desperate.

Dying, however, wasn't as bad as she'd imagined. Perhaps it was because her body was so agonised already, too numb to feel anymore pain, but it didn't feel that much worse than before.

But if that was the case, why could she still feel her wings, torturous as moving them was? In fact, why could she feel the burning of her limbs and hear the pounding of her heart at all?

Though her eyes were closed, Blue's ears quickly picked up not on the screams and cries which had sounded before, but instead on the gentle rush of feathers as they brushed through the air. And, as she peeked her eyes open, she found herself unable to breathe for a moment at the sight which met her.

Three pegasi—two stallions and an ageing mare—were positioned around her. Their own hooves heaved up against the boulder as they flew upwards. Down on the ground, a few unicorns even strained alongside Coalburst and RipEar to levitate the boulder up; sweat beaded on their foreheads as their horns shone with magic. And, in a matter of seconds, the rock's rapid descent finally stopped, the unicorns at last coming to regain control over it. As one unit they pulled it away and relieved the pegasi, dropping it behind them with a resounding thud.

Blue giggled quietly as her body, wrought with pain, gave in; her wings stilled, her body slackening as she suddenly began to drop. But she was only in free fall for a split second; the pegasus stallions quickly reached under her forelegs and lowered her down steadily.

Oh, goddesses. They were irresistible.

Blue's fantasy soon broke, however, as the stallions gave her a curt nod each. Watching as they retreated, her tail flagged higher momentarily and her eyes grew wide as she focused on those adorably solid rumps. It wasn't long before they brushed up against other mares, though, and chatted quietly as a few fillies clustered around. Blue huffed and turned away as she clamped her tail and forced herself not to think on them too much. She didn't need them; she would fight the urges with the pain.

"Blue!"

Turning her head slowly before she hopped around, the mare gave a small yelp as a blur of black and orange leapt towards her. She screamed as she felt herself be smashed to the ground and even more pain coursed through her body. She gritted her teeth and hissed; her stomach's growls sounded right on cue.

"Coalburst!" Blue cried. She bucked her hips and threw the little filly off. She gave a moan as she then rolled over onto her stomach and let out a breath, laying her head down on the floor. With her wings splayed out, she looked around before a small smile graced her lips. Her eyes shone very slightly. Though still a part of Plague-Equestria, this little village was far from what she'd imagined would be possible. The ponies here were reasonably happy; they laughed and chatted and—significantly—did not kill each other on sight.

It was oddly like what Blue could imagine pre-war Equestria would look like—except a lot duller in the feeble light.

Caught up in her admiration for the place, Blue didn't notice as a tan stallion drew closer to her and she yelped as his voice sounded on the air.

"That was stupid, you know," RipEar said as he grabbed the mare's muzzle with his magic and turned her head sharply so that she faced him. She winced, but he didn't seem to mind her discomfort too much. In fact, despite the sweat which greased down his fur and the dim light in his eyes, he looked kind of cheerful. On that note, he'd been reasonably chirpy—by his standards—for the past few days. "How you ever thought you could stop it alone is madness."

"What can I say? I've got a lot of mistakes to make up for." Blue gave a small shrug before she recoiled, sparks tingling in her shoulder. Laying still, however, at least eased the pain somewhat. "And I figured helping you with the boulder was... Well, it'd make up for me ruining our meal at the swamp. And for me getting you and Coal nearly killed by wolves and that weirdo, psychopath mare. And—no offence, Coal—it was my fault that Coal's now coming with us in the first place, which I know ticks you off."

RipEar stiffened as he watched the little mare; his ears drooped as she spoke. "I don't care. She's more help than you are," he admitted and chuckled at the filly's expression of utter shock. "But you don't have to... Prove yourself, of whatever. You're my- oh! Oh, forget I said anything. Just forget it."

Blue frowned. She watched the stallion intently as he turned away and used his magic to pull her to her hooves. He did not once look back. "I'm your what?" she began as she took a step forwards. "Rip?"

She received no answer.

Blue huffed and turned back to look at Coalburst, smiling as she wobbled to her hooves, a wince on her face. Her flank burned the worst, of course, but her fore shoulder was more than happy to join in with the grumbling. But she wouldn't bow to pain; she would stand tall—or as tall as she possibly could, anyway.

"Sorry for, y'know, squishing you," Coalburst said, her little eyes alight with glee. She hopped around Blue in a bouncy, foalish manner; she did not so much as stumble with each step she took. It was incredible, really, how much the body could learn to deal with—but, of course, it was not so much fueled by a desire to be independent as a need to survive out here. "Don't mind RipEar, he just loves you."

"Tolerates me, sure. Loves—not so much." Blue rolled her eyes and watched as the stallion walked away towards a pale-pink earth pony mare. Frustration and jealousy reared their ugly heads immediately, though she quickly looked back to Coalburst and forced a grin. The filly only giggled and skipped forwards some more.

"Nope. He puts up with me, but only 'cos you want him to," Coalburst said. She circled around Blue once again as she waited for the hobbling mare to catch up. "If you weren't here, he'd get shot of me right away. But that's fine; I'm a nightmare, I know. My mum always said I was."

"You're not-"

"I am." Coalburst gave a massive grin as she slowed. She kept at Blue's side for just the briefest of moments. "I talk too much when I'm happy. But that's fine; if ponies can't deal with me, I'd rather be alone."

Blue laughed quietly at the filly's words. "Well, I like you. None of the ponies at the facility liked me much; only Rip ever talked to me. So even if you're a pain, you're a happy pain. And it's a nice change from Rip's grumbling."

"Aww, he's just looking out for you!" Coalburst galloped forwards and gave a few bucks before she returned to Blue's side; the latter still walked lamely. They were, by now, inside the confines of the little village—but only just. "See, I don't know many ponies who'd risk their rump to save someone's life if they weren't friends."

"There probably are ponies like that out there, Coal."

"Nah. Well, okay, maybe a few. But most probably wouldn't. Look after your own and all that. See, if RipEar saved someone but died trying, you'd die too 'cos you don't know a thing about life out here." Coalburst giggled even more as she stopped next to the mare once again and poked her chest with the tip of her hoof. "So, you're kinda like my student. And lesson one—he's looking out for you. Just deal with it. He just doesn't want to hurt you by giving you too much info."

Blue moaned. Her head fell so that her muzzle nearly brushed through the dirt. "Well, I don't like that idea," she said and gasped as her fore hoof came down upon a particularly sharp rock. It was small, only slightly too large to be classed a pebble, but the pain was very real nevertheless.

Elevating her hoof momentarily, Blue winced before she noticed Coalburst who now danced on the spot, her face a scowl. The mare grinned sheepishly and quickly carried on forwards. "I... You don't know any farriers, by any chance?"

Coalburst shrugged. "Nah, I don't really know anyone. I just relied on Mum 'till she died, so I've not got any... What's the word? Oh—contacts."

Coalburst looked straight ahead and beamed as Blue opened her mouth to speak. She then galloped the last few metres up to RipEar's side before the mare could say a word and brushed up against him with a squeal. He, in turn, gave a loud yell before he calmed and narrowed his eyes at her, watching cautiously as she careened around. A moment later, she gave a high-pitched whinny and shot off yet again; she headed into the village as fast as her tiny hooves could carry her and bowled over a group of young foals. Then snorting with laughter, she clambered off of them as they recovered; once each had come to their senses, they soon joined her in fits. They weaved in between houses and leapt over rocks as they chased her and could only be described as crazy—though that, of course, could easily be taken the wrong way out here.

"Oh my stars!"

Blue took a sharp breath in as heavy hoof steps suddenly sounded, louder with each second. As she snapped her head around, she then yelped and leapt aside immediately; she barely missed the mare who shot towards her. Wincing as she landed awkwardly, Blue then hobbled over to RipEar and leant up against him before she let out a breath.

The pink earth mare—the same one who had been talking to RipEar the moment before—turned around and smiled; she blushed as she trotted forwards in a bouncy manner. Her eyes, a beautiful shade of bronze, shone. She stopped just before Blue and then stared right at her; a second later she drew back, gasping.

"You okay?" Blue frowned and took a very unsteady hop backwards. She snapped her gaze about as a squealing blur of foals then galloped past; a second later, she refocused her eyes on the equally joyous mare who was now nodding wildly. In fact, her cheeks were rapidly becoming stained—was she crying?

"Oh, I'm just so happy to know you're alive!" she squealed before she threw her fore hooves around the pegasus. Blue, in turn, reared up unsteadily on only one leg. She flapped her wings to keep her elevated as she quickly pushed the earth pony off. Hugs were great and all, but not from a complete stranger. "It's been so long, and last time I saw you I thought you were gonna die!"

"What?"

The earth mare stilled for a moment before she let out a small sigh as her ears drooped. In fact, she looked quite normal now that she was more depressed. "Oh, right. You don't remember me, do you, Rh-nghh!"

RipEar's glare was one of daggers as he clamped the mare's mouth shut with his hooves. "Anyway," he began as he snapped his gaze to the earth pony and narrowed his eyes, "as Cu here was saying, you probably don't remember her. But yes, we've been here before—right before you fell into the coma. Everypony was betting you were gonna be a mad'un."

Blue glanced around the town slowly, but nothing seemed familiar at all. "Wow. Really?" She then paused as she realised what the stallion had said. "Hey, wait! Why would they think that"

RipEar laughed and shook his head as if to say, I won't tell. He held his own tongue and used his magic to clamp the mare—Cu's— mouth shut, he then reverted back to the initial topic. "Yeah, we came here. But don't ask anything; I'm not gonna say. So don't go asking about yourself, got it? I don't want you dying on my watch." RipEar turned away and looked up to the unnatural sky. He sighed as transferred his gaze towards the steep hill behind the town. "But that's not why we're here. I didn't want you coming this far in as it was, but I couldn't nab much back in the facility before we left. These ponies have a job for us—and if we can do it, they'll give us some real weapons. Better than what we've got now, 'cos once we get away from here we'll never survive with just a dagger."

Blue, though somewhat slouched and put-out at the orders, shivered and trembled at the thought of needing more powerful weaponry. "What? Like a gun?"

RipEar snorted and laughed coldly. "You wish—well, you probably don't, but Coal and I do." The stallion rolled his eyes as he finally released Cu from his grasp and used his magic to pull the dagger, discarded by Blue, back to him. "Guns and ammo are few and far between—and working ones? Even rarer. Nah, these ponies've got a spare sword and axe. Brutal, if you ask me. But you'll need something better than a knife, even if it's a horrid thought."

Blue whimpered, recoiling at the stallion's words. She didn't open her mouth to retaliate, though—namely because she was more preoccupied by the thought that she would be expected to use such weapons. She wanted to be strong, she really did—but that seemed extreme.

"You... You mentioned a job?" Blue began, looking in the same direction as he did. Not getting an immediate—or even a slightly delayed—reply, she then bucked him gently and snapped her words again, more harshly this time.

"Yeah. Shouldn't be too hard, if you know what you're doing. But none of the ponies here wanna risk it, anyway."

"It's that bad?"

"Nah. Like I said, it just depends whether you know what you're doing—and I happen to be a master, so we'll be fine." RipEar grinned as he pointed with his horn at his flank, but then he stiffened. He glanced upwards and winced at Blue's curious, cocked-head expression. After a moment, he sighed. When he spoke again, his voice quivered. "S-stealing stuff, it's what I do. I've always been good at it... But, hey, it's a great talent out here... Right?"

Blue paused momentarily, her breath catching in her throat as she stumbled backwards. No wonder he had never told her what his mark meant before; it was an instant repellent for trust. "So... You're a... A thief?"

The stallion's ears fell, his body slouching as his head fell slightly. Blue wasn't sure she'd ever seen him look so dejected—and his voice was weaker than she'd ever heard before, as well. "You could say it with slightly less contempt," he whispered as he looked away. He then turned around, his tail clamped, and began to slouch off. Cu followed at his side for a few seconds, looking down at him with tear-filled eyes, and Blue had to hobble to keep up, her mind in turmoil. So lost in her thoughts, in fact, she almost missed his next sentences. "Knew it was better when you didn't know. I just thought you'd trust me after all this—but no matter, no matter. I am what I am." He shrugged slightly. "There's a lake out back; Cu's gonna take you to get washed. And I... I'll be here. I guess."

RipEar sighed as he walked up to the edge of one of the circular houses, his legs crumpling beneath him as he collapsed to the floor. Then burying his head, he folded his hooves underneath himself as far as was possible before he closed his eyes. His body trembled very slightly. He looked so small, so fragile; Blue's heart, though somewhat hurt at his admission, leapt out to him instantly. But, before she could hop on over, Cu's pink hoof wrapped around her wither and began to lead her away.

"C'mon," Cu said, sparing but a momentary glance towards the stallion. "Leave him be; he'll come to his senses soon. It's a tetchy subject for him."

Blue hesitated for a moment before she sighed, hanging her head as she hunched up her body. She then slunk forwards with her hooves dragging through the rocks as she followed the pink mare quietly. Her heart now ached along with the rest of her body. Not only did she apparently know very little about RipEar, the one true friend she'd ever known, but she'd now left him wounded as well.

Acceptance

The water was cold, though that was to be expected from a lake. Despite the chill, though, it was not wholly unpleasant.

Blue hadn't realised that she'd gotten so filthy, her fur matted with grime. The blood which stained her was stubborn; when she climbed out from the water she was still slightly off-coloured around her wounds. Nevertheless, it was nice to at least feel somewhat cleaner.

She shook herself off as she clambered out of the water. Then fluffing up her feathers for warmth as the sudden chill struck her, Blue was more than happy to get moving. But one thing that the lake had not managed to do was to heal her; she trotted lamely after the earth mare, her teeth gritted. Despite her efforts, she gave a few quiet yelps whenever she placed too much pressure on her rear hoof. But she managed to keep up, at least.

That was, until she laid eyes upon some sort of trap door and stopped, a frown on her face as she looked down at it. Cu quickly turned to see what was up, then smiling thinly as she saw what the mare was looking at.

"Oh, you don't know about how this town works, do you R—ah—Blue?" Cu's smile became even more forced as she bent down and pressed her ear up against the wood. "That's used to be some old cellar, I think, but when the village was first founded it got changed into a holding area. For all the foals, when they get infected."

"What? You just... leave them down there?" Blue cringed at the thought.

"We don't have any choice." Cu gave a drawn out sigh and flattened her ears, eyes dull. "We can't tell how a foal will react to the plague when they go into the coma; we can only guess. So we keep them down here until they wake up, and then assess them. We can't have mad'uns running around—they'd k-kill us. Family or not, they can't be allowed to live in our village."

Blue recoiled slightly; bile rose in her throat. "So you... You kill your own foals?"

Cu gave a choked gasp and nodded slightly. "What else would you have us do? Half of our foals die right out when they get infected; of the survivors, half end up insane. And more will become insane from mutations. So few of our number survive as it is; we can't afford any challenge to our safety."

Blue shivered as she moaned and hastened to trot away from the trap door. It was a horrid thought; there were foals down there, simply in limbo as their families waited for 'judgement day'. But, she supposed, it was really the only viable solution. There was no cure for the plague, no vaccine; it was for the greater good.

"You... You start getting used to it, after a while," Cu followed up with, glancing down at the trap door before tearing her gaze away. "Each mare who lives here has to have foals, and we all know that. But the chance of a foal surviving is so low, you kind of get used to them dying after a while. That's not to say it doesn't hurt, but... Well, it's easier to get over it."

Blue cringed, the thought alone horrible. The village didn't seem to have so much charm anymore.

"I've had six foals, myself," Cu continued, her voice growing weaker and weaker. "I'm a mutant. Most mares only have one foal—or, at most, twins. But I had five my first time. Tiny things, they were, but they all grew up strong—and then the plague took them all from me. Four died right out; the other went mad. Now, I've only got one, from my second pregnancy. He's only two, the poor thing, and he... He's down there. He was unlucky, got infected so early on."

Blue stiffened. "You... You have a son down there?"

Cu nodded as her eyes slipped shut. "Yeah. But I'm not holding out hope for him; why should I?" Then plastering a smile back on her face, she tried her best to look chipper as she heaved her ears forwards and struggled to unclamp her tail. "Hey, this moping won't... It won't get us anywhere." She laughed dryly and turned away, trotting stiffly. "Come on—it's lunchtime, and you're gonna need feeding up before you go out on your mission tonight."

Blue nodded as she followed after the mare slowly. But, for once, she didn't feel all that hungry. Rather, she felt sickened—and, more than ever before, determined that there had to be a way to solve this epidemic. She knew nothing about medicine or disease, other than the fact that it was utterly unforgiving, but she felt confident that someday, whether their methods were evil or not, the facilities would pull through.

They would find a cure one day. They had to—before the entire world's population died.

Blue looked around quietly as she stood all alone in the middle of the village. Cu had left her there, promising to come back in a few minutes—but she had never honoured that vow. RipEar and Coalburst were nowhere to be seen, either. In fact, the whole village appeared deserted, almost as if it had been evacuated.

She didn't have to wait long, though, until she was finally rescued from her solitude. It was an ageing green pegasus who found her; the one who had lent a hoof earlier on with the boulder. She approached somewhat cautiously, but soon seemed to perk up when Blue made no movements to attack.

"My, my, it's been a while," the mare said. She looked Blue over with perceptive eyes. "You have changed rather a lot, haven't you?"

"Huh? D'you mean my coat?" The green pegasus nodded and Blue gave a small blush. "Well, I suppose so. I wouldn't really know, though, but if you say so then I'll take your word for it."

"Oh, you had a pretty coat, dear. But, to be honest, I think you look nicer as you are now. That blue mane of yours goes better with grey. You're lucky you've still got it, actually—but I see that you haven't got your mark back yet." The older mare narrowed her eyes slightly. "You really ought to try. It's important to know your strengths and weaknesses out here, child."

Blue shrunk a little at the mare's displeased tone. "I... I've only been out of my facility for a few days," she began, but never had the chance to finish and the mare cut her off.

"Pish posh. There's no reason you couldn't have found your talent while you were in there, now, is there?" She rolled her eyes and then turned around, but she did smile at Blue all the same. She was sweet—in a snappish, somewhat judgemental way. "Come on, you're missing lunch. That stupid sister of mine is even worse at forgetting things than you."

Blue opened her mouth to speak, about to retort that she had a fairly decent memory and didn't tend to forget things too easily. She caught herself, though, when she realised that the old mare was referring to her amnesia, not in day-to-day terms. "Oh. Thank you, uh-"

"Tourmaline. We're all named after rocks," the mare interjected, laughing a little. "Makes sense, given the surroundings. On which note, what do you go by now?"

"What do you mean, now?"

The mare rolled her eyes once again. "You know, now. Today. Ever since you forgot who you were, and your name with it."

Blue was stunned momentarily. "I... I had a different name?" she began, looking away for a second as she tried to puzzle it out. It seemed crazy; she couldn't imagine her name being anything but Bleu Celeste. Still, she soon snapped to attention at the mare's impatient cough. "Oh, it's Blue."

"Blue..." The mare trailed off for a minute before she laughed and snorted a little. "Ha. How uninventive. But, eh, that isn't a problem." She turned and began to walk off, still chortling a little. Blue could only hasten to keep up as she hobbled forwards with gritted teeth. She soon abandoned that endeavour—the aging mare was surprisingly quick—and then took to the air unsteadily. She wobbled forwards; her damp and bent feathers did not allow for finesse. But she could at least move faster this way.

As Tourmaline stopped at the largest house, moving the leather aside for the younger mare, her eyes softened a little when she noticed Blue's hesitance. She then flew up so that she was positioned behind Blue and gently pushed her forwards. "C'mon, it's okay. We only tried to kill you earlier because we didn't recognise you, child." She gave a short laugh and then nudged Blue a little harder, urging her past the leather.

It was smoky and hot inside the hut, but the atmosphere was okay. The ponies all seated inside, cramped together, seemed quite content to just chat among each other, not a single pair bickering. It was easily a friendlier place than the facility, despite the dangers and hardships of living out here.

The moment the ponies noticed her, however, they quietened. A few seconds passed before they then erupted in gentle applause and beamed at the little grey pegasus. As she cowered a little, Blue fluttered quietly down next to where RipEar was sat, munching on some hay with Cu at his side. Trying to cover up her displeasure, much more determined to simply get away, Blue made no fuss about the mare.

The stallion, however, gave her a huge grin as he threw a small hay net her way. He winked quickly and whispered, "Look who's the centre of attention now!" He laughed for a second, his eyes alight; a moment later he recoiled, looking away as his eyes dulled and his back hunched up. He refocused his attention on his hay—it was coarse, dusty and, to be frank, rather unpleasant stuff—and then took a great deal of care in chewing. His gaze never once left the floor.

"RipEar-"

"Coalburst's happy, too," he butted in as he snapped his head up and looked around wildly. Still his eyes never quite landed on Blue's—though they hovered just above her shoulder. "She says its nice to have other ponies to play with. That's nice for her, isn't it?"

"Hey, one-"

"And then Cu here's been giving me some advice on how to take on the job, which is great!" His grin was more than a little unnatural. "She says that by attacking at night, we'll have more chance of succeeding—though I guess that was kinda obvious anyway."

"I don't even know-"

"And you'll never believe it, but some other ponies were just telling me about—"

"Rip!" Blue smashed her hoof into the stallion's muzzle, eyes narrowed as she pinned his mouth shut. Over the hubbub of the room, though, nopony around noticed. With her teeth gritted and ears flattened, she then hissed, "For Luna's sake! I'm not angry at you! Just shut up already!"

Breathing deeply, Blue backed up as she inched her hooves away from the stallion's face. He merely sat there for a moment before he lowered his gaze and opened his mouth slowly as if about to contradict her. She only snarled once more and snapped, "Don't you say a word. Don't. You. Dare. You're not letting me get a word in edgeways. I don't care if your talent's... Well, being a thief. I don't care! You're my friend and honestly, that means more to me than some picture plastered on your flank."

RipEar glanced upwards slowly, but his ears remained pressed to his neck.

"Anyway, it's not like your cutie mark... defines you. Sure, you might be a thief—and that's not a good thing, I won't lie. It's dishonest. But let's be realistic; the whole world seems dishonest these days. It just depends on how you choose to act—and you've always been there for me. I trust you, Rip. The least you can do is trust me as well."

A small spark of hope shone in the stallion's grey eyes; a ghost of confidence flickered across his face. But his lips remained thin, brow creased. "You trust ponies too easily, you foal. We've been through this." He lowered his head slowly and took another mouthful of hay, chewing with concentration.

"Well, yeah. Maybe. But that's beside the point. I can trust you, I'm certain of it." RipEar narrowed his eyes at the mare's words. "Fine. I'm ninety-nine percent certain of it!"

"How can you be sure I'm not trying to kill you? Sell you off to some slave-dealer?"

Blue winced at the harshness of the stallion's words and she momentarily pictured him dragging her into the vicious claws of some monstrous beast. But that, she knew, was ridiculous; it had to be.

"You've been through too much for me," she said finally and ruffled her feathers. She winced at the ache.

"Might've been my plan all along," RipEar said as his eyes settled firmly on Blue's. A moment later, he looked down once again. "As you say, I'm a thief; I'm dishonest."

"No. I said that being a thief is dishonest-"

"That's what I said,"

"-but you're not dishonest. Because you act better than that."

RipEar scowled as he swallowed the last of his hay and shuffled backwards. He then sighed before he spoke, his back to Blue. "But I'm still a thief," he whispered as he hung his head, "so I'm dishonest by definition—in your opinion."

"Argh! You're insufferable!" Blue hissed. She rose to her hooves and winced. Her stomach growled as she then reached down, shoulder burning, and grabbed RipEar's short, cropped mane. She then jerked backwards and hissed as pain overwhelmed her senses, her flank especially indignant at the additional strain.

RipEar squirmed as the mare began to heave him, hissing and gasping. He kicked out with his rear hooves as Blue pulled him across the ground, then felt himself drop to the floor as the ponies all around turned to watch the commotion. Yelping as he landed, he leapt to his hooves and then looked around; he snarled as his eyes landed on the mare. "Hey!"

Blue shrank under all of the attention. She stepped towards RipEar slowly and hissed through gritted teeth, "Get outside now." She then turned away and let her hoof smash against his own. Plastering a smile—of sorts—upon her face, she began to stumble forwards. RipEar, cringing as he elevated his injured hoof, hobbled after her quietly, head lowered and tail clamped.

Once they had come to a stop just outside the hut, Blue spun to face the stallion with a glare. "Now, you listen to me. I might not know much, and I might just be the biggest wuss out here as well. But one thing I'm confident of is that you are a good guy. And you can swear as much as you want that you're trying to... trade me off to some psycho-wannabe for a... a mini cannon. I'm not buying it; I know you're not that kind of stallion.

"Now you, RipEar... You're the type to risk everything for somepony else. You saved me there in the facility, saved me with the cragodile and the mad'un, even though I only slow you down. You could've died for me—and that's proof enough to me that you're a good guy. I'm not valuable enough to make all of your efforts worthwhile."

"You'd be surprised," RipEar mumbled. "You'd really be surprised just how important you are."

Blue gave a small laugh and hopped forwards. She draped her wing over the stallion's back as she whispered, "Could you get any cheesier?" She giggled, suddenly feeling calmer, and then pulled him closer to her side; she rubbed up against him, feeling a new heat rush through her body. And, with a sudden surge of confidence, she leaned forwards and placed a peck on his cheek.

Some stallions would have been ecstatic, others somewhat unnerved—but Blue never expected the bellow which tore from the unicorn's throat. He then leapt away, eyes wide as he watched her warily.

"Cobdamnit, Blue!" he yelled as he hastened to wipe his cheek with a hoof. Throwing his head a few times and pawing at the ground, he then groaned and took a few hasty steps backwards. "Just... Damn!"

Blue, suddenly feeling her elation plummet, pouted a little and whined before she lowered herself down to the ground. If only the dirt would just swallow her whole, spare her the ache of RipEar's dismissal—but a moment later, the situation was interrupted anyway. Standing in the doorway to the food hall—that was what it seemed to serve as, at least—little Coalburst skipped outside, a small hay net held between her teeth. She thrust it at Blue and then bounced over to the stallion with a beam, smiling at some unknown joy-inducing stimulus.

She was a peculiar foal.

"Right," RipEar began; his gaze still avoided Blue. She had never imagined that he could be so shaken up, though in truth he had never been much of a social stallion. "We... We've got a big night ahead of us. So, I was thinking... Well, we ought to get a rest in now."

Stomach still growling, Blue felt unsure if sleep would come easily to her. But, not wanting to sadden RipEar anymore, she nodded as eagerly as she could and hopped to her hooves. He winced as she came nearer and looked away quickly. Covering this up with a curt nod in the direction of the hill, he then began to trot off.

Coalburst glanced up slowly and frowned at Blue. She then shrugged at the mare's disheartened expression and bounced off quickly, small sparks flying from her horn each time she landed. The pegasus could only sigh, following the two as she dragged her hooves, her hay net now held over her back.

She'd had enough of summer.

RipEar gave the earth stallion before him a thin smile and rose from his seat slowly. He was quick to thank him for his words of advice before he scuttled out, taking the elder's gift with him.

After he buried the item in his saddlebags, RipEar glanced up at the split sky and sighed. The bleakness of the world was completely unlike the warm glow of the fires inside the village's huts. But RipEar was well aware of the fact that he—and Blue and Coalburst, for that matter—could not stay inside. They were outsiders, after all; it would be foolish for the villagers to trust them too much. Especially now, what with danger right on their doorstep.

But it wasn't all dark. Over by the hill, in the same spot he had left his two mares, a small flickering light penetrated the bleak grey. It originated from some of Coalburst's flames, of course; nothing but her magical fire would burn for long in the rocky terrain without some fuel.

Wandering over, RipEar spared a hasty glance upwards at the mouth to the tunnel which passed through the hill. He then turned away and neared the gently crackling flames, their warmth incredibly strong—more so than usual.

But there were no ponies in sight.

RipEar's head shot up and he danced about on the spot. His breath spiked in his throat as he then shot forwards; his eyes shot about the landscape, his ears flicking around.

The fire's radiance, though, lulled him back into serenity. And, as he turned around, he could almost have cried out as his eyes fell on his two girls. They were concealed behind the boulder in front of which the flames had burned; their frames were silhouetted in the warm orange glow. And, as he neared, he gave a small laugh and sat down behind the two, watching them with a smirk. Lying on a rock, Blue slept soundly with a small smile on her face; draped across her back, her eyes closed lightly, Coalburst slumbered quietly.

RipEar chuckled a little more as a small bubble blew from the filly's mouth. He then crept closer, lying down quietly at the pair's side. He shuffled a little before he managed to get comfortable, he then lay his head near to Blue's wither and, with a last survey of the surroundings, let his weary eyes slide shut.

Infiltration

The transition from day to night was so gradual that it was no wonder that Blue had not noticed it before. But Coalburst had been right when she claimed that the evening was slightly darker and fairly significantly colder; where before, it had been easy to tell shapes apart, now only the larger ones could be discerned. It was a subtle change, and would easily have been missed if Blue had not woken up to it being so different.

To walk was, as such, a bit of an issue. She trod after the stallion before her with her teeth clamped around the handle of her tiny knife, pain interrupting her motion every other second. The rocks, concealed by the tattered black veil of night, were evil little things; it was almost as if they were purposely attacking her.

In truth, Coalburst and RipEar walked a little lamely too, their own hooves not spared the pain. But, along with Blue, they stumbled on in silence, none complaining.

As she noticed that she'd trodden out of RipEar's path a little, Blue scurried back behind him just before he turned around. Watching slowly, he then waited as Coalburst hobbled after the mare, her horn alight. She was hardly awake and tripped to and fro on her three legs. Still, she struggled onwards, a young soldier.

"So, here's the deal," RipEar whispered as he nodded up to the tunnel in the hillside. They now stood at the base of a slope which led up to it; there was no doubt where they were headed. "The tunnel's overrun by... a group of bandits, I'll call them. Our job's simple; we've just gotta wipe them all out."

Blue frowned as she followed the stallion's gaze. She knew that tone too well; it was the same one he'd used to wish her a good night the day he broke her out of the facility. "What aren't you telling us?" she hissed after she spat out the blade and eyed him warily as he clutched his dagger tightly with his magic. But he made no move to respond—not at first.

Beginning to walk up the slope, his body pressed against the wall, he finally spoke once more. "Keep an eye out when we go inside. The reward for the mission's weapons, but the villagers said that they're more than happy to let us take any pickings in there."

Blue nodded quietly, though RipEar could not see that anyway. She then let out a breath, heart pounding in her chest, and flared out her wings as she walked with more determination. This was a fantastic opportunity, both to train and to prove herself. Though the village admired her actions earlier on, they were hardly enough to inspire faith in her. She needed this mission, needed to come out of it with an arsenal of 'pickings', if only to show that she could be an asset.

Fluffing up her feathers as she scaled the slope, the air harsh and biting, Blue tried not to let herself get carried away. She gave RipEar her most confident smile—which was quite evidently wobbly—when she met him at the peak of the slope and then followed his lead as he crouched. Her legs burned immediately, but she couldn't focus on that now.

Pressing herself up against the rocky wall, Blue continued without complaint. She had to fight not to tremble as the shade of the tunnel encased her, cold and, when mixed with the bite of the wind, almost painful. But her blood pounded thick and fast in her veins and her body quivered at even the slightest little sound; whatever foe she was up against, she was ready.

As she crept after RipEar, Blue couldn't help but notice the way his ears only flicked about occasionally while her own shot all around. She had no time to ponder it, however, as a sudden whistle sounded from the right. She snapped her gaze around and leapt backwards, brandishing her knife, and had just enough time to see the small green flames which zipped through the air. They smashed into RipEar, sending him hurtling to the floor with a yell.

With a hiss the stallion rolled over and leapt to his hooves, skidding a few metres as he thrust the knife forwards. He spun as it connected with his attacker's flesh and then bolted, his head snaking as he jerked the dagger out.

Blue watched on in horror as the small creature's full-blue eyes widened; its fanged lips parted before it crashed to the floor. Blood pooled on the rock from its mouth and neck, its body convulsing. But there was no time to worry as a second bombardment came.

"Go! Go!"

Coalburst barreled past as more black creatures shot forwards. She threw her head backwards as her shoulder crashed against the rough wall; she gasped and flames burst forth from her horn as a creature zipped closer. It howled as it was struck and it smashed to the ground, its fangs grazing at Blue's legs as she caught up. With a yell, she bucked immediately in mid-stride; she could only scream as her hoof connected with something warm. Jerking her head backwards, her grey eyes widened as the onslaught raced closer.

Encased in flames of green, the tiny black creatures, no bigger than small cats, hissed as they attacked. One struck Coalburst's flank and slashed its fangs over her skin. She gasped immediately and swung her head around, blasting it with her own flames. Thrown from her back, the blazing creature smashed into its approaching comrades with a heavy thwap. The creatures' agonised roars were deafening, their flesh smouldering as they were flung from the air and left to writhe on the freezing floor.

But one still struggled on, buzzing behind frantically before it then shot in front, its maw opened with fangs that glinted in the firelight. Blue screamed as she careened into it; she bucked and shook her head as the fangs impaled into her chest. She only squealed even louder before she then struck downwards with her tiny knife and slashed at any skin she could. But it was no good; the creature still clung on, digging its underdeveloped but razor-like fangs in ever deeper.

"The wall, Blue!" Coalburst screamed and angled her horn downwards as she galloped. But the mare did not hear her cries; still she slashed blindly with her feeble weapon. And so, with a yell, Coalburst pounced on the mare, the jump powerful enough to smash Blue against the wall. The creature bellowed momentarily as it was crushed in between before it fell to the floor in a heap. Orange flames then burst up around it and charred the flesh instantly.

Blue whimpered and panted as she looked down at the creature which thrashed and screamed. It was hideous, but her burning chest was even worse. Blood flowed in torrents and splattered against the floor as the two shot away from the carnage and screams. But she did not look, could not; she had to keep conscious for this.

RipEar was nowhere to be seen now, chased off down the corridors. So far behind already, Coalburst and Blue could do nothing to help him—but that wasn't to say they couldn't help themselves. And so, as they slowed to a brisk and skittish walk, they kept their eyes peeled for any turnings off the beaten track. There was supposed to be loot here, after all.

The first few turnings, as well as being deserted, were completely devoid of anything valuable. The third, however, held much more promise; at the end of a long corridor a wooden door stood tall, but it was not enough to hide the buzzing coming from within. And so, with an evident gulp, the two took a few steps backwards and let the door slide open.

The swarm was immediate. Black creatures shot forwards, their fangs exposed as they dove as one unit. It was barely a second before Coalburst leapt into action, though, and her flames roared into life all around. They lurched at the swarm, scalding flesh and burning the fragile wings to dust. They fell immediately and smashed to the ground with heavy thuds. But they were not done as the clambered onto their smouldering hooves and tripped forwards.

Blue—blood still oozed from her chest—lobbed the small knife with all of her might. It dug deep into one creature's massive blue eye and sent it reeling backwards, its actions enough to disorientate its comrades briefly. But it was not enough; still they swarmed out of the room, those acrid green flames wrapped around their frames.

Blue's world spun as she turned on the spot. She raised a forehoof, whimpering all the while, and and flared out her wings in an attempt to bolt. But Coalburst was quick to react and yelled, "Blue! Wait there!" She then paused for a moment before she finished, "Just wait there and trust me!"

Gritting her teeth, she raised a rear hoof unsteadily and, whilst her gaze zipped all about, did reluctantly as she was told—Coalburst was better at this survival lark than she was. She struggled to keep still as she heard the creatures' grumbles and groans approaching closer and very nearly lost her resolve when she could feel the tender nips of hot breath on her fur. But she had to prove herself, had to survive, and so she struck, bucking with as much force as she could muster. She shuddered as her hooves collided with flesh and crashed to the ground on her knees as her forelegs gave way. It was too much; she screamed when yet more pain raced through her body and she shot up into the air unsteadily. But Coalburst, once again, knew what to do. She grabbed Blue's hoof in her magic and, with a grunt of pressure, commanded her to dive.

Blue folded her wings to her side slowly and whimpered as she clenched her eyes shut. It was only a moment before she smashed into the swarm of grounded creatures and crushed them with her weight.

"Pull up, Blue!" Coalburst yelped as she watched with widened eyes. She was only able to yank one grub from Blue's side before she yelled, "Watch out!"

As she squinted her eyes open, Blue hissed and snapped out her wings. But she got nowhere this time, her flank attacked by a horde of the creatures as she made to fly up. They dug their fangs into her flesh, dragging her back down to the ground as her blood coated their muzzles.

The pain... It was everywhere! Her chest, her flank, her hoof, her shoulder... But pain was good. Pain meant she was still alive.

The creatures leapt upon her like vultures on carrion as she trembled and whimpered under their immense weight. Her bones strained and screamed as she fought not to collapse, the sheer weight of the creatures nearly overwhelming, the agony threatening to shut down her mind. But, when she called out desperately to the filly for help, the only reply she got was "Just stay still for a second!"

Fangs slashed at her skin; many tiny hooves bludgeoned her body and teeth yanked on her mane. But still she waited.  And then, when her entire body was engulfed by the black creatures, she bronced*.

As she launched herself into the stale air with every meagre ounce of wing power that she had, Blue screamed. The creatures' cries were louder, though, as she smashed herself into the ceiling and they fell from her back to the ground in explosions of dust. And so, as particularly large fangs imbedded themselves into her wither, Blue cried out again and rammed herself into the side wall . Blood spurted freely from yet another wound and she bellowed, her world now spinning out of control—but she wouldn't pass out.

She could do this. She had to do this.

Blue wailed as she snapped her wings shut and began to plummet immediately. She hastened to spin in midair, and clutched the remaining creatures close to her chest; a second later they collided with the ground, the hit so great that pebbles shook from the ceilings.

Blue moaned and lay still for a few seconds, her body so agonised that she was surely encased in Coalburst's flames. As she struggled to stand, she then looked down and promptly gagged, seeing the blood-stained skin of her fallen enemies. Stumbling off from on top of them, many alive but broken, she spun away, her head falling as she groaned. Her world slipped in and out of focus.

Her blood was everywhere.

"Blue? Blue?" Coalburst's cries were barely louder than a whisper in the mare's ears; she could not hear anything over the frantic pounding of her heart. She could feel herself falling back into the abyss of panic again. Nothing but her own terror was real.

Coalburst winced at the sight of Blue's wounds and hurried to catch her in magic when the mare's legs buckled. Then straining to keep her standing, she began to pick her way through the bloodied mattress of bodies. The surviving creatures, not quite crushed to death, still attacked feebly, despite their mangled and broken corpses. But they were no challenge now; a swift blow to the head with the handle of Blue's knife was enough to knock the tiny things unconscious, if not outright dead.

As she approached the wooden door with a groan and a hiss, Coalburst dumped Blue down outside before she slowly stepped forwards. It was pitch black now; she lit her horn quickly before she took a deep breath and leapt around the corner into the room.

Coalburst skidded the last few metres and yelped as her eyes landed upon one last, final creature. It sat cowering at the back of the room, even smaller than the rest of its comrades—half the size of the foal herself, even. But it was a foe all the same and Coalburst wasted no time in hurling the bloodied knife towards it.

The creature hissed as the blade shaved across its ear; it nicked the flesh and drew a trickle of blood. Then it stumbled to its hooves and lowered its head; with a tiny roar, which could almost be referred to as a whimper, it galloped forwards with weak, underdeveloped hind legs.

And then it halted in mid-jump; its fluttering wings froze as small flames leaked from its mouth. It smashed down to the ground and yelped as its wing was crushed, snapping. Then screaming, its voice still high pitched and childlike, it sauntered forwards again.

Coalburst was ready. As she lit her horn, she gritted her teeth before the next ball of flames was released. It crashed into the creature's side and scalded its disintegrating skin. She then leapt forwards as the fire snuffed itself out; her eyes glinted in her horn's light. She stopped at the creature's side, reared up and smashed her hooves against the thing's hole-ridden wither. She threw it to the ground, it having no fight left now, then spun and struck again with her rear hooves. Her aim was true; the creature's life was extinguished with a single, heavy blow to the neck.

Broken.

Coalburst let out a breath and winced at the sight. Shaking herself off quickly, now aware of the sweat on her fur, she hurled the body outside for good measure. Then she wrapped her magic around Blue and heaved her across the uneven floor. She closed the door behind her.

As she strained to produce more light from her horn, Coalburst finally let herself stop for a minute. She collapsed to the floor next to Blue's bloodied body and then hissed quietly at the sight which met her eyes. The mare's coat, previously light grey and only off-pink in places, was now more crimson than pale. Her chest still oozed, though was at least slowing in its flow; her flank was less forgiving, blood cascading from at least ten puncture wounds. Even the small patches of unstained fur were coloured now; purple, of course.

Wincing at Blue's state, Coalburst stood up and hastened to look around the room. It was a large space—had to be, to have housed so many of the creatures. It was reasonably well decked out, too; an old, falling-apart wooden bench was positioned at the back of the room, fixed in position by two heavy metal chests. On the rocky wall above the chair, two yellowed posters were plastered.

The first, a century old painting of Celestia, standing tall amidst the chaos of battle. She looked directly at the viewer with her lips curved up in a slight smile, and the words printed around the edge read, "Won't you be my hero?"

The second, a pure white unicorn stallion with hair and hooves of blue, donning silver armour and rearing up. His horn alight, his eyes were blazing as he, too, bored deep into the viewer's soul. The poster's caption explained his thoughts; "Warrior mares... I, for one, find them charmingly rustic."

Coalburst squinted as she read the words slowly; her brain almost ached at the difficulties it caused her. It wasn't that she was unintelligent—far from it, in fact— but rather that she had never properly learnt. There hadn't been much reason to, really.

An old arrivals and departures board hung from the ceiling. Completely black, it undoubtedly did not work any more; whether it had ever done its job, Coalburst didn't really know. This place was surely some old train station, but there weren't any tracks in sight.

A moment later, though, her interest was redirected towards the wall to her right. Cloaked in darkness, an old machine, rusted around the edges, stood. It towered above her, would even have looked down on Blue or RipEar. But, rather than being an intimidating presence, it was just as uplifting as the metal chests.

Her limbs felt heavy, especially her rear leg. But Blue, though surely not quite at risk of bleeding out, was in a bad state; at the very least, if she lost much more blood, she'd be too weak to continue the job—a great issue. Now that they had already entered this place, there was to be no going back.

Changelings weren't known for their forgiving nature.

As she hopped lamely to the first steel chest, Coalburst fought not to let her leg buckle. With both the magical and the physical strain, she really needed a rest—but, for now, that had to wait. Instead she called upon her magic once again and wrapped a small ball of flames around the steel padlock. She closed her eyes and fought to heighten the intensity of the fire; she grunted but managed to keep it burning strong for at least ten seconds. Then she gasped, her reserves exhausted, and her legs crumpled as she fell to the floor with a dull thud.

Blue's blood still drained from her wounds, steadily and without sign of stopping. The flow was too thick and fast, and should have at least started to slow by now; Coalburst immediately shuddered and her mind wandered to potential explanations. Toxins in the changelings' fangs, for example, could easily have caused such a reaction—or, perhaps more fittingly, lack of response.

Coalburst looked back up to the lock and beamed when she saw its half-melted state. Then she placed her hooves on the lid, she pushed upwards with every ounce of strength her body possessed.

At first, the filly's endeavours bore no fruits—but then, after a few seconds of straining, the chest began to creak open. It moved sluggishly, too heavy really for a foal to open. Nevertheless, Coalburst did not give in and she urged her small body to get to the chest's contents; with a final heave the part-melted lock and rusted edges surrendered at last.

For a few minutes, the filly could do nothing but wait. The room was black again now without the soft light of her horn; there was no way she could see a thing. As her magic slowly recovered, though—at least enough to make a small glow—she scrambled into action.

The chest, it transpired, was an absolute treasure trove. Never before opened, it was filled to the brim with all kinds of medical goodies; bandages, scalpels, eye dressings... The list was extensive. It was clearly no standard-issue medical box; this was a chest designed to treat war wounds. It came as no surprise, of course; the posters were quite evident propaganda.

Nuzzling around in the chest, Coalburst's mind soon began to wander. Perhaps, she reasoned, this had been intended to be a train line to transport troops back in the war. It certainly made sense; it explained the furniture and the untouched state of the chests, at least.

Coalburst's eyes sparkled as her gaze landed upon a cylindrical tub and her tail wagged slowly as she drew it out. It had laid at the very bottom of the chest and the filly had had no choice but to remove it with her hooves; her magic was not strong enough to accomplish anything else.

Holding it up to her face where the small light was brightest, Coalburst narrowed her eyes and skim-read the vague label; antiseptic cream was the only details it gave. She grinned and then turned it over to open the lid before she paused; her hoof came to rest just beside some small words engraved into the plastic.

Expiry date: 1021 ANM

Coalburst frowned, her heart suddenly leaping into her throat. "ANM" she recognised immediately, as most foals could—the year of Nightmare Moon. The number, though... That was something of a struggle.

Though her mother had told her more than once what year it was, Coalburst had never paid much attention. As such, she could only stare down at the number quietly, trying to puzzle it out. Nightmare Moon had been imprisoned for one thousand years, and the war began after she had returned. The outbreak had been about a century ago. That put the year now up to at least 1100.

Which, by extension, immediately out-ruled the cream.

With a hiss, Coalburst leapt up and gave a small cry as she bucked the pot away. It smashed against the wall with a loud bang, the noise echoing around the room and making the filly wince. She then clamped her tail and froze; her eyes shot to the door.

Coalburst sighed when no further onslaught of changeling hatchlings came and soon turned her attention back to the open chest. Then she scarpered over and dug around hastily for something—anything—which she could now use as a back up plan. There was not time to wait for her magic and strength to be restored; she had to act right away. And such an item soon presented itself, though it made the filly feel queasy; a small but deadly sharp knife.

Holding the blade carefully in her teeth, Coalburst hopped over to the rotting bench. Then she snapping a small fragment of wood from the seat easily and hopped lamely over to Blue's side. She jabbed the mare's side with her hoof and sighed when she made no reaction, still unconscious. Trembling, Coalburst then steadied her gaze upon the knife and called upon her magic.

Power rose up into her horn slowly, not really strong enough for the task at hand, but Coalburst knew that she had to work quickly. She struggled to make a few small embers on top of the rotten wood and then waited quietly as the flame slowly began to grow. Smoke was given off almost immediately; she could worry about that later.

Coalburst held the knife's blade in the feeble flame until it just started to glow a very pale red. With a gulp, she then held it in her hooves and inched closer to Blue. With a second jab to be sure that she was still unconscious, the filly then fought to ignore the nausea as she placed the knife down on the first bleeding puncture in Blue's chest. She removed it after a few seconds, then took a deep breath before going in once again.

Shuddering even more as the chest wound stopped bleeding—the room now smelled faintly of burnt flesh—she returned her attention to the flame. As she reheated the blade, tears began to glisten in her eyes; it was a feat to focus and keep calm as she tapped the wounds again with hooves which shuddered violently. Her tears splashed down thick and fast onto the mare's blood-soaked fur. But she could not stop; she had to help.

Returning the knife to the flames for the last time, Coalburst's breath hitched in her throat as Blue twitched slightly. Tears then cascaded from her eyes as she placed the knife down on the remaining deep puncture wound; at first, the mare did not respond. But, as the filly pressed the searing blade down one final time to close it up, Blue stirred at last; she screamed, wings flaring out as she shot away.

Coalburst let the knife slip from her hooves as the mare leapt about; terror raged in her eyes as she bucked and snaked her head. All the while the little filly moaned and quivered, her vision now completely blurred from the tears.

It was a few minutes before Blue even began to calm down. With tears glistening in her own eyes and an even more evident limp, she walked towards Coalburst with gritted teeth. She ground them together before she then lay down with stiff legs and moaned; her head flopped to the floor as she looked at the agonised little filly. She knew what Coalburst had done; she knew why she had done it, too.

And so, though she couldn't help but eye her warily, Blue shuffled closer slowly. She bit back a yell, not helped when she noticed the blood-soaked state of her coat, as she draped her wing across the filly's back. She pulled her a little closer and tried to smile in as gentle a manner as possible—but when she noticed the way her slightly reddened feathers left a trail on Coalburst's fur she drew back. The filly only moaned and scooted a little closer to the mare, burying her head under the warm wing; she cuddled up, completely unfazed by the blood.

And so Blue let out a breath and wrapped her neck around the little foal. She was weak, the blood on her fur thick and sticky and far from ignorable. But she had to be strong, and she would fight the nausea. Because, at the end of the day, she had to protect this brave filly who now lay quivering at her side.

Loot

Blue couldn't be sure how much time had passed since she had awoken. It must have been less than twenty minutes, she supposed—closer to ten or fifteen. But she didn't think on it for long; it was inconsequential to do so really. There were better ways to occupy her time.

Coalburst had fallen asleep a fair while ago; she now snored gently as she curled up under Blue's crimson-tipped feathers. Her deep black coat was tinted and stained with blood which gave her something of a bay effect. Still, despite the mare's own discomfort at the sight and thought, the filly was hardly bothered by it at all.

That was no surprise, really. She'd grown up in this unforgiving world, after all; blood was a daily part of life and survival.

Blue's breath quickly started to hitch at the thought of her own sticky coat. Gulping, she then fought to find some distraction as she slowly raised her wing from the filly's back. She inched it away as Coalburst squirmed very slightly and folded it to her side as she heaved herself up.

The pain was immediate, though that felt like nothing new now. Trying to distract her mind from the discomfort, her teeth ground together once more as she instead trod forwards slowly; each hoof step sent shudders up her spine. Her very soul felt like it screamed as she moved; instinct immediately kicked in and commanded her to stop.

But she was her own mare and, as of a few days ago, a pony of Plague-Equestria. There wasn't room for weakness or cowardice; for submission to desires. She had to be strong, had to be a survivor—and so that was what she did.

She ignored the sight of the already open chest for now—Coalburst had obviously gone through it quite extensively—and instead looked about herself with a frown. She squinted through the darkness and her grey eyes then widened as her gaze settled on something large nestled away in the corner. What exactly it was, she could not tell, but it had great potential; her suspicions were only confirmed as she lamely hopped closer, her eyes just able to pick up on the small details of the item.

Blue could hardly believe what she was seeing. Blinking a few times, it still being there, she then felt her heart soar; giggling a little, she leapt forwards—and promptly gave a yell of pain.

Coalburst jumped to her hooves immediately; her eyes shot open at the sound. She lit her horn without hesitation before then she relaxed, seeing nothing worth reacting to.

"Ugh. Blu-ue!" she moaned, bending her fore legs before she tucked her rear leg underneath her stomach. Then lowering her head back to the ground, she let her cheek mush against the rock. "I was sleepin'..."

Blue gave a small giggle despite her discomfort, her eyes alight as she watched the little filly's fidgeting. She was a funny thing; so serious when it was necessary, but chipper otherwise.

"Well, don't be going back to sleep," Blue said with a frown as Coalburst's magic light began to dim.  "I want to check out this... box thing."

Coalburst looked up slowly and then sighed as she hopped back up to her hooves. She limped over to the mare's side sluggishly and then leant up against her heavily; Blue gave a yelp immediately and jumped away, leaving the foal to stumble.

"Hey!" Coalburst glared a little before a small smile graced her face. "Ah, I'm sorry. Forgot you're hurt and all." The filly glanced back at Blue's flank and grinned. "But you're looking better! Not your coat, course; that's soaked. You're really gonna need a wash. But the wounds look... Well, okay-ish! And I don't think I burned too much of your actual skin!"

Blue's eyes narrowed. "You say that like it's a great thing," she hissed. "My body kills. You may as well have stuck me on a spit and roasted me! So get that horn of yours working, or I might just lose control of my hoof and whack you."

Coalburst giggled and skipped in front of Blue to nuzzle under her chin quickly. "Nah. You love me!" She snickered a little more; a small hiccup escaped her lips. A small blush crept up on her cheeks, jut visible through her bold black fur. She was quick to turn away—the blush only heightened—as she gritted her teeth and called upon a little more of her magic. The sleep had definitely helped but she was still far from up to full power.

Coalburst turned her head to the machine which stood before her and quickly rubbed her left eye with a hoof as she wobbled on only two legs. Then she steadied herself, cocked her head slightly and frowned. "So," she began, her ears flicking, "how're we gonna get into there?"

Blue's expression morphed to imitate the filly's before she grinned. She turned around and opened her wings, gritted her teeth and raised a rear leg. A moment later, she pushed up from the ground so that she rested only on her fore hooves.

Blue could feel nothing but pain as she moved; a scream tore from her mouth. She gasped and panted, her chest and flank tearing her mind to shreds. Rational thoughts were past her as she whimpered and whined. The agony only increased as her hooves struck the glass of the machine and shudders coursed up her spine.

Nothing happened.

Blue crumpled to the floor, her mind in turmoil. Her breaths came in ragged, stolen gasps; her eyes grew wide but she saw nothing. Her limbs ripped at her nerves, her body set to self-destruct.

But now was not the time to die.

As she let out a small breath, Coalburst stepped closer and buried her muzzle under Blue's shoulder. Giving her a nudge upwards, she then jumped back as the mare stumbled a little. Having to stand on her own, however, effectively shocked her from her panic; with gasps and shudders, she glanced at the intact vending machine and whimpered again.

Coalburst huffed and shook her head slightly. "Blue? Blue, listen to me already!" When she saw the mare's hazy, blurry eyes turning to face her, she let out another breath. "Look, I know it's painful! But you've really gotta fight it. You're not gonna survive out here if you don't!"

Blue moaned and whined, quivering. "That's easy for you to say!" she snapped and hissed again as a new wave of pain coursed through her body. "I'm almost burned alive here!"

Coalburst narrowed her eyes and her ears fell back. "I don't know? I don't know?" She spun around to let Blue see her injured leg in full view. Then wincing a little herself, she slowly unwound the thick vine which tied her stump. Even in her state, Blue could easily see how awful the wound was—so much so, in fact, that she spun away immediately and heaved.

The exposed segment of shattered bone was bigger than Blue's knife.

Coalburst hissed as the cold air hit the newly exposed nerves. Quickly she bound it with the vine again and then looked at the mare without a sound. Once Blue returned her attention to her, she then gave a feeble smile and looked away.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't nice of me. But really, I know pain."  She looked back up and then returned her attention to the vending machine. "Oh, I'm gonna shut up. We've gotta go find RipEar before we go back and there's gonna be plenty of time for more pain. So I don't wanna talk about it now."

Blue shuddered at the thought but her distress numbed slightly when she kept still. "So, now what? This is some kind of... anti-buck glass."

Coalburst grinned again and rolled her eyes. "Wow. You could be some pre-war product maker, you're so good at naming stuff!" She snickered a little though her eyes shone less than they had done before. "Lucky for us, glue's got a low melting point—well, compared to my fire. It won't take much to make a weak flame to melt the stuff holding the glass... But I can't melt the other lock on the chest yet. I'm too weak still, and that takes a lot of heat."

Blue nodded quickly as she glanced up to the machine. It was incredibly well stocked; it didn't look like it had ever been used before. "Well, sure," she said as her eyes then landed on a plastic bottle at the top. Licking her lips, she flared out her wings before yelping quietly. "Argh..."

Coalburst gave Blue a small smile and then spun around so as to nudge her away. Ignoring the mare's complaints and cries at the forced movement—she apologised over and over—the filly then closed her eyes. She let a small flame materialise in front of her and guided it carefully over to the vending machine. There, she  held it still for a second and took a deep breath; then she hopped backwards and began to let it skirt along the edges.

The stench of hot glue filled the small space immediately, powerful and strong. Blue found it rather pleasant, actually, though Coalburst's scrunched up nose suggested otherwise for her opinion. Still, there was hardly time to dwell on it.

The glass pane began to creak slightly; it stayed where it was for a fraction of a second before it plummeted from its case. It fell with a heavy crash—but even that impact only chipped fragments from the edges.

Blue's mouth fell open, her gaze glued to the unbroken frame. Coalburst only giggled and trotted forwards, stopping in front of the vending machine. She was quick to look over its contents before she then wrapped her magic around two items; the drink, and a small cylindrical tub of salted peanuts for herself.

Accepting the bottle which Coalburst levitated over to her side, Blue hurried to begin work on the cap. It was tightly screwed on, more so than any other which she had tried to open. As she finally jerked it off and pressed the rim to her lips, however, the cap fell to the floor and she stilled.

Blue frowned as she pushed the bottle away. Then she turned to the filly, placed the drink down on the rocky floor and nudged her with a wing; a wince flashed across her face. "Hey, Coal?" she asked, then noticing the foal's goofy grin as she chewed with cheeks that bulged. Blue could only recoil slightly as she scrunched up her nose. "Coal, these are pre-war things! They're a century old! Are you... Are you sure it's still good?"

Coalburst paused for only the briefest of seconds before she passionately nodded her head. "Well, yeah!" she said, a peanut falling from her mouth. She frowned at that, chewing slowly before swallowing. "It's got the uni-vac stamp, see?"

"The what?"

As Coalburst rolled her eyes, she shuffled a little closer and pointed her hoof to the mare's bottle. Blue, in turn, focused her eyes down on the yellowed, partly-peeled label. The majority of the words were small and indiscernible; only the larger ones could still be read. And, as the filly had promised, the word "uni-vac" was printed in a faded rainbow of colours.

Blue's eyes narrowed at the stamp. "Great. I'm sure that would do wonders to reassure me—if only I knew what this... uni-vac thing was."

Coalburst looked up to the mare slowly and her eyes widened as her mouth fell open. "Seriously? Wow. I know you're an amnesiac and all, but uni-vac's a big deal!" She reached over to pick up her pot of peanuts and then placed it down next to Blue. "It's... Well, I reckon it's the best pre-war invention ever! I don't really know how it works, though, but it keeps food fresh forever! Well, pretty much forever. My mum said it uses a vacuum to stop stuff going bad..." Coalburst giggled a little before looking away. "But then, I don't really know what a vacuum is. But it works!"

Blue's ears pricked upwards and she grinned. "I read a physics book once, in the facility," she said as she raised a hoof to her chin. "It said a vacuum was empty space, no air or anything. But it's meant to be... well, impossible to make a true one."

"Oh. Well, maybe that's the 'uni' bit—unicorn magic." Coalburst kept quiet for a minute before she shrugged and reached into the tin, taking a few more nuts. She munched them with a small sigh before she then jumped to her hooves and turned away. "Well, enjoy your drink. Whatever it is," she said and bouncing over to the open chest. "I'm gonna try and get the other one open. See if there's a needle or anything I can use to pick the lock."

Blue nodded, then she glanced down at her drink. In truth, she hadn't even looked at what it was; the label was too faded to be able to tell anyway. She'd only chosen it for its rich red colour. But she raised it to her muzzle nevertheless and took a tentative sniff; her eyes widened in surprise at the pleasant smell. And then, before she had so much as a chance to hesitate and question the safety of doing so, she took a large swig of the century old beverage.

Blue was pleased to realise that the substance did, in fact, have a rather pleasant flavour. It was not so unlike lemonade, but with a subtle hint of carrot and with a somewhat thicker consistency; it was almost similar to honey or syrup, the latter of which she had only tasted once.

She sighed at the exquisite taste, so incredible compared to the few sips of water she'd had over the last few days, and then let her gaze drift. When her eyes landed upon Coalburst's near-empty tub of peanuts, she then raised a hoof sharply as her heart suddenly began to pound harder. For whatever reason, her chest burned almost immediately. Gritting her teeth, she turned to face the filly behind her and tried to smile naturally—something which did not come easily.

"Hey, Coal? There aren't any... metal tubs, are there?" Blue nodded to the chest quickly, a small blush on her cheeks. "Or glass?"

Coalburst's eyes narrowed slightly and her expression morphed into one of puzzlement. "Well, there's a bottle..." she said and levitated the item from the chest. "It's filled with pills and stuff, though."

Blue's eyes lit up and she sat up straighter, then she hunched up immediately and yelped. "That... That'd be great!" she managed to get out, pushing her hoof forwards to accept the bottle as Coalburst levitated it closer. She grinned even more sheepishly—her ears fell slightly—and she murmured, "You don't think you could make a little flame really quick as well, do you?"

"A flame? What are you doing?" Coalburst leaned forwards, her eyes brightened a little before she shrugged. She then closed her eyes and took a breath in as she lit her horn. A moment later, a tiny flame grew from thin air next to the mare's side. "There. Hurry up, though, 'cos I've gotta keep this thing going. And my head hurts."

Blue gave Coalburst a sympathetic smile before she turned back around. Quickly, she emptied the pills onto the floor—unidentified, they were of little use—she poured a dash of the drink into the bottle. Then dipping her hoof into the filly's snack tub, she held the glass over the flickering flame and dropped  a single peanut in.

Nothing much happened, although the peanut did dissolve slowly as Blue swirled the mixture above the heat. But she persisted—something in her heart urged her to do so; a few seconds later the liquid suddenly began to thin and morphed into a sickly green colour.

Blue had to fight not to drop the bottle, but something in her heart forced her to instead raise it to her lips. Taking a deep breath, she ignored Coalburst's protests as the flame died away and instead took a small sip.

It didn't taste any different.

Blue sighed and dropped the bottle to the floor. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but mixing the two had felt like such a good idea. She wasn't sure why exactly; it had just made her heart soar at the prospect of making something. A foalish desire, she supposed.

With a sigh, Blue hung her head before she snapped it back around as a shrill shriek met her ears. Coalburst was now stood a few metres away from the chest, her back arched and her eyes wide. It was no trouble to find out why; the chest's lock was now burning with purple and green flames and their immense light suddenly blinded both occupants of the room. And then, a heartbeat later, a low and mechanical voice sounded. But it did not fill the room; rather, it merely echoed loud in the ponies' ears.

Unicorn magic detected, ID: #16784 ... Welcome, General Sunburst. Stand clear.

A deafening and wholly unnatural shriek sounded in the room as Coalburst shuffled up to Blue's side. Then, on the furthest wall, it became apparent what was going on; the crudely carved rock had begun to shift outwards as it opened to reveal a carved out space.

"What the-" Coalburst began, her ears flattened as she took a tentative step forwards. "Did it call me General Sunburst? Who even is that?"

Blue shrugged as she peered into the dark room. Following after Coalburst slowly, her wings flared out, her eyes darted about quickly. "No idea. Some pre-war guy, I guess. Or mare. They'll be long dead though."

Coalburst nodded stiffly and let her yellow aura surround her horn. "I... guess. Maybe. But it might be a trap." As she stepped closer, she then perked up. "But hey! If he's a dead general, and this is his place, then that means we can take all his general-y stuff, right?"

"I don't think-"

"Oh, sure it does! Finders keepers!" Coalburst giggled as she trotted forwards, filled with a new joviality. Then she paused at the edge of the room, glanced around the corner and then took a breath before she stepped inside. Gasping, she squealed and yipped at Blue to follow.

The room was dark, though Coalburst's dim light was enough to brighten it up slightly. And what a sight it was; stood before her, held up by invisible bonds, a flawless set of silver armour was levitated. On it, an old—but still easily readable—note was stuck:

My dear friend Sunburst,

I can only pray that this war will be over before you are called to battle. But, if that is not the case, then I hope that this armour will come in useful. Princess Twilight helped me to enchant it; pure silver, but it's now harder than steel and completely inert. It will also adjust itself to give a snug fit once tried on, just in case you gain some muscle during these few years.

If I do not see you again, lest either of us gets hurt—or worse—I wish you the best. And, should anything happen to me, don't fret; I joined Princess Twilight on this mission willingly, and I am more than ready for the potential consequences.

You're a great wizard. Remember that.

—Starlight

Blue frowned as she read the note aloud, but it held no significance to her. She quickly tossed it aside, her attention momentarily wavering, and she then yelped as something heavy and cold fell down upon her head. Gritting her teeth as her forelock and mane were roughly pulled through, she then gasped as plates were then lowered down onto her chest, back and flank.

"Woah, woah! What are you doing?" Blue yelled, spinning as Coalburst yanked her tail through the complementary hole. The filly froze in mid-movement, blinking a few times as her mouth dropped open.

"What? This is some great armour!" she argued. "It's magic!"

Blue threw her leg about a bit and frowned as Coalburst continued to adjust the silver plates. "It's not mine. It doesn't feel right taking it. And it feels weird, anyway. Why can't you take it?"

Coalburst shrugged, stepping backwards as her magic fell away. "I'm better at surviving than you. And it wouldn't fit me, anyway, adjustable or not. So, tough—you're keeping it." She giggled a little and looked around slowly. Trotting over lamely to a locker at the side, she then turned and bucked the small padlock once; it broke immediately. The door fell loose too, hinges crippled, and she peeked inside. A massive grin soon etched itself onto her muzzle. She needed only rummage for a second before she proceeded to levitate a deadly sharp blade out; a rapier, the hilt of which was emblazoned with some odd engraving of a sparkling circle which burst with light.

Coalburst grinned and turned to Blue with a sudden rush of confidence. Then she gripped the rapier's handle in her mouth, threw her head a little and trotted out.

"C'mon, Blue! Let's go. We've gotta go find RipEar anyway," she chirped, much too happy. Skidding to a stop, however, she then looked back cautiously. "You... You're not too hurt still, are you?"

Blue paused in mid stride as the door behind groaned shut and rose a hoof. Caught up in the excitement, she hadn't even noticed that her burning wounds had eased. Now that she thought of it, there was still something of a strong ache—but ever since she'd mixed up her "concoction", the pain had actually been milder. Tolerable.

Nodding blindly, her heart suddenly ablaze with amazement, Blue stumbled over to the vending machine again. Then she took a few more swigs of her drink, threw it aside and walked to Coalburst's shoulder, accepting the small knife which had been abandoned on the floor before.

"Let's go."

Acrid Flames

The armour was light, but that wasn't to say that it was not off-putting. It was a snug fit and didn't so much as rub in the slightest; still, for a mare who had never so much as worn a tight dress, it was a bizarre and distracting sensation.

Blue did her best to ignore that particular discomfort. Instead she focused on the more pressing uneasiness which inundated her heart. Each step was agony, though her pain was still numbed; the sheer terror was excruciating in itself. The immense dread of what might come around the corner was borderline disabling.

Coalburst trod alongside the mare. Her body was tense, her head lowered and ears pinned. She was careful to keep close to Blue's side, her new rapier held tightly in her magic. She swished it a few times, it making not even a rush of sound as it severed the still air; she then brought it closer to her chest and pointed it forwards like a lance.

Devastation cluttered the tunnel. Corpses littered the floor, thrown aside. Some were smashed in, bruised and bloodied; others were sliced in half, blood pooling on the floor around them. A few of the poor beasts lay moaning, moving only slightly with ragged gasps; Coalburst was quick to snuff them out, to save the damned souls from the hours of pain until they otherwise died naturally.

Blue winced as she watched the filly's unperturbed strikes, drifting away from her side slowly. As she tightened her grip on the handle of her knife, she glanced backwards as her ears pricked up, flicking.

Her screams filled the corridor immediately.

A lone ball of flames shot down from the ceiling of the tunnel, tiny but powerful as it ripped mercilessly from a cocoon. It smashed into the ground right behind Blue's hoof, its impact so great that shockwaves burst forth.

The two ponies were flung from their hooves immediately. Hurtling through the air, Blue felt all breath be stolen from her lungs as she flared out her wings and tried to ignore the ache as the air caught in her feathers. Thrown upwards, she was then smashed against the ceiling with a resounding boom. Despite its numbness, her body screamed. As she then crashed back down to the ground, she fought not to genuinely cry out as a gasp hacked itself from her throat.

Coalburst lay not far off. She shuddered as she jerked up to her hooves, trembling from the impact. Somewhat winded, her magic could only spark as she tried to pick up her fallen weapon. Her eyes widened immediately as her lips parted in a sharp inhale. She then scrambled back and pressed up against the rocky wall as she fought to regain control; loud whimpers escaped her dry lips.

"B-Blue! Get up!" she whispered as she stumbled about. Her fore leg then buckling, she fell heavily and shrieked. Small tears welled up in her eyes as she once again struggled to stand. Then she lurched forwards as blood cascaded from her muzzle and grabbed the rapier's handle in her mouth.

As she snapped her gaze upwards, Coalburst yelled through her teeth as the green flames began to die out. Spinning on the spot, her blade nicked Blue's ear as she bolted, pupils dilated. Her chest heaved with each inhale and her eyes widened beyond measure with every step; she was so powerless without her magic.

Blue leapt to her own hooves at the unexpected pain and flung herself backwards. There wasn't even time to catch her breath before tiny fangs pierced the tender flesh of her rear leg. She howled and then launched herself forwards at a full gallop, throwing her head as she bucked and bronced.

Her leg oozed slowly, but the blood was far from healthy. It bubbled a sickly shade of green, burning her fur and the muscle around the wound.

Blue hissed as she galloped, able to catch up to Coalburst quickly. The filly still struggled, her ears flattened back as her pupils whizzed about, the size of pinpricks. She could hardly think rationally, let alone get her horn to do anything but spark.

And so, though she was far from being a fighter, Blue jumped into the air and spun around. She propelled herself backwards with heavy wingbeats and hurled her knife towards the grub which now rose to its hooves. The blade struck far from its target of the creature's chest; rather, it impaled almost perfectly in between its eyes.

The young changeling bellowed before it burst into flames and shot upwards, crashing into another hanging cocoon. A moment later it fell down to the ground. Acidic saliva dripped from its mouth as it lay there, twitching in a pool of its own blood.

The corridor erupted into chaos as the cocoons began to glow green, encased in flames which jumped between each.

Blue yelped and smashed into Coalburst's flank as she dove back down to the ground. With a few seconds to catch up, she then clamped her teeth down on Coalburst's blade and yanked it from her mouth. It wasn't much good to her in her state, after all.

The massive and bloodied blade felt wrong in her mouth, but Blue forced herself to be strong. With steely willpower she skidded to a stop and spun around, letting Coalburst carry on in her stampede. As she snapped out her wings again, she jumped into the air. Shifting the rapier's blade in her mouth, she then looked down at the chaos beneath her.

Acrid green flames filled her vision. Some died out to reveal young changelings; others shot down from the ceiling to join their companions.

Blue gritted her teeth and winced as they squeaked together. She then narrowed her eyes and let her gaze focus on the largest changeling, found near the front of the herd. It was the most developed, with the strongest stature and most prominent fangs which dripped with acid. It was easily the biggest threat of the lot.

Angling her body down, Blue beat her wings once before she folder them to her side. She clamped her teeth and closed her eyes. She then gasped as she felt the blade strike flesh and flared out her wings once more; her hooves only touched down for a second as she forced herself back up into the air. The squelch of the rapier being ripped from flesh made her groan. But still she pushed off with her rear legs, the left now searing at the puncture wound. She shot back up high before even glancing down to see her handiwork.

Once more her aim was not true. Instead of the neck shot she'd been going for, the changeling was now impaled right through its midsection. Blood spurted from the wound, thick and dark and full of life—but it was already dead.

Blue couldn't help the gasp which she made upon seeing the changeling. It was a ghastly sight; her world spun immediately as her wings froze in mid-beat and her breathing hitched. Yelping as she then began to plummet, she fought to keep calm. She kicked her fore hoof with the rear by means of punishment then bit her tongue and narrowed her eyes.

As she beat her wings rapidly, she regained control of her flight and shot backwards. Instead of letting herself panic, she then focused on the grubs which had now begun crawling towards Coalburst. Not quite ready to have emerged, their rear legs dragged along the floor as they inched closer, hissing with fangs exposed, acid glands salivating. But the filly wasn't even moving and her horn sparked fruitlessly; her eyes only widened further with each stumbled step backwards.

Spinning in mid air, Blue angled herself to face the floor. She sucked in a breath and then dove straight downwards.

The floor rushed closer with each second, ready to accept her in a deadly embrace. But she did not falter; rather she gritted her teeth as she snapped her wings open again, now only a metre from the floor. As she made the pull up, the rock brushed her hooves and bit at her unarmored underbelly. But she kept airborne, did not crash. And, with the momentum from the vertical dive, she shot towards Coalburst with her hooves stretched out, her body aflame from the discomfort.

The changeling grubs went down without so much as a complaint, unconscious the moment the mare struck them. Some were thrown into the nearby walls; others merely crumpled to the ground. None, however, were dead—but that was a job for another time. More specifically, for when Coalburst regained her magic.

Though she had pulled off the manoeuvre, pulling out of it was not so easy. Blue flapped her wings with as powerful beats as she could muster but still screamed as the wall drew closer. It met her with a horribly loud thud; her bones shuddered at the impact. As she crumpled to the floor and then clambered to her hooves, however, she was pleasantly surprised to find that it only left an ache. Her new armour, too, was not so much as dented.

The silver's health, though, was not enough to ensure her own. The grubs began to crash down again; the hanging cocoons burst as the flames spread between them. The dust and noise was deafening, but the horror as the changelings began to crawl closer was even more horrid.

"Go, go, go!" Blue threw her head before she nudged Coalburst's flank and shoved her forwards. The filly needed little more encouragement; her magic was only strong enough still to manage a small pile of embers. She screamed and galloped away without a half second's hesitance.

Blue was quick to follow, but she only got a few metres before her aching rear leg gave way. She crashed down to the ground in mid stride and landed on her uncovered elbow with a gasp. Glancing back, she then yelped as she saw the state of her new wound; the puncture no longer bled, but the flesh surrounding was nearly completely destroyed. Red raw and blistered, the skin oozed steadily. But there wasn't time to falter as Coalburst raced away and the changelings dragged themselves closer. Thus, with a gulp, she snapped out her sore wings and heaved herself up into the air.

Her body felt tender, but the searing pain which should have come from the grub's acidic bite was nonexistent. That alone was enough to make her heart burn; pain was horrible, but as with anything it still served a purpose.

Each wingbeat was uncomfortable, but Blue sped on. As she kept up to pace with Coalburst, she could hardly breathe for all the aching. Nevertheless, she didn't have to continue for long; after half a minute's exertion, something cool encased her body and jerked her to the side.

Unable to fight, Blue opened her mouth to scream. Only the tiniest squeak escaped her lips, however, as her mouth was roughly clamped shut by the cool substance; unicorn magic.

Though she had squeezed her eyes shut, Blue forced them open as she was roughly marehandled. The sight which met her eyes, however, was not the enemy-filled one which she'd been expecting.

RipEar stood tall by her side, his expression severe as he glanced down at her. Through the darkness, she could tell that his body was something of a bloodied mess, strewn with cuts and scrapes and puncture wounds. His tan fur was slightly too red, but he looked relatively clean otherwise, if dusty and in need of a wash. Given all that he had been through—by the looks of the scattered changeling corpses, he'd had a good fight—he didn't honestly look that bad.

After levitating Coalburst into the room, he used his magic to drag a few rocks over to the entrance. Blue couldn't help but notice that the auras surrounding them were not just RipEar's yellow; a light silver also held them in the air. A moment later, as the rocks were laid down, the magic momentarily dissipated and the space fell into immediate blackness. It was only a fraction of a second before the light returned, however, as two unicorn horns lit up. The first belonged to RipEar, of course; the second to a malnourished unicorn stallion whom Blue had never laid eyes upon. At his side, a rather rounded earth mare stood quietly; despite her girth, her ribs were quite evident, her gauntness undeniable. Nevertheless, her face lit up slightly when she saw the fellow mare.

"Rhône!" she cried, dancing about on the spot slightly. "Oh, I thought you'd died! Why'd you run out on us like that?"

RipEar chuckled and rolled his eyes as Blue cocked her head. "You're starved, Marchande," he said, his gaze focused directly on her. "Rhône did die years ago. She... She fell from the old watch post. Remember?"

The mare raised her hoof and frowned. "I... No, I don't." She turned to face the stallion at her side and looked up to him. "D'you remember that?"

The malnourished stallion kept quiet for a moment before he nodded stiffly. "Well, yeah. Sure," he muttered, and glanced to Blue with a frown. "On which note, wha... Uh, who are you?"

"Me?" Blue took a step back as RipEar released his hold on her mouth and scowled at the stallion's words. She couldn't be sure, but it had sounded awfully like he was going to ask what she was. "Oh, I'm Blue."

The stallion gave a harsh snort. "Sounds about right," he said, then turning away as he bent down and took a knife in his magic. He handed it to the weak mare besides him, then reached behind himself and levitated something small forwards; a somewhat rusted silver pistol. He hovered it closer to Blue, took a step towards the mare and draped a hoof over her back. "RipEar? Explain the deal."

RipEar nodded as he watched the stallion closely before he turned to face Blue. "Right, so by now you know why we've been sent down here. To kill those bloody changelings. I know I wouldn't've managed without Roamer here—and his gun." He nodded to the stallion beside him. "Guns are a rare find out here; we're all cobdamn lucky he's got one. On which note, nice armour. But anyway, the point is that we've got a job to complete. The changelings have taken these tunnels as a hive—which means there's a queen."

Blue's eyes widened as she raised an involuntary hoof. "We've gotta fight a... A powered up one?"

RipEar narrowed his eyes. "You're kidding me? Powered up? This isn't some sorta game—but I guess so, if you like. She'll be stronger, but we're not facing her alone. We just have to lure her out; then, the village'll help us bring her down."

Blue whimpered quietly as she hung her head; her knees trembled as she nodded slowly. If only RipEar had told her the plan before so that she could have refused—though that, she assumed, was why he had kept quiet. "O-okay," she whispered, shuffling her wings nervously as she picked up the fallen rapier. "I... I guess we'd better get on with it, then?"

RipEar nodded, glancing to his companions to check that they were in agreeance. "As soon as Coal's back to normal, sure. We'll go—and if you muck up, I'll be buckin' annoyed. So don't."

Blue gave a somewhat nervous smile as she nodded slowly and lay down. Her trembling legs couldn't support her any longer. She let out a shaky breath, her lip quivering and sweat beading on her skin, she lay her head down and tried to put the unending fear and pain out of her mind.

Acidic

Coalburst took a deep breath in as she stood. Stumbling on her three hooves as RipEar released his magic from her body, she closed her eyes and splayed her legs slightly. She then steadied herself, gritted her teeth and, with slow and careful consideration, let her own aura encase her horn.

As she squinted her eyes open, Coalburst's mouth formed a grin as her power flowed steadily once more. She looked up to Blue with a beam and wagged her tail slightly as she wrapped her magic around a small rock. Levitating it around the room, she then stood taller and grinned.

"Yep! I'm ready!" she said before she turned her attention to RipEar. At the sight of his large scowl, however, she winced and slumped a little as her cheeky grin fell. "So... Uh, what's the plan?"

RipEar trotted past her so that he was stood at the front of the group. His horn still lit up for light, he then began to pull rocks away from the entrance, one at a time. "The queen'll be fragile and tired right now. It's summer; she'll be incubating her eggs still hopefully, getting ready to lay them. She won't have guards either, 'cos this is a new hive and all of her drones are young. Or, y'know, the things were young.

"Simply put, it won't take much to lure her out. Attack her and she'll come for us. If we can move fast enough"—He glanced to the filly and let his ears fall back—"we'll be able to get out of these tunnels fine with her on our tail. The village'll be waiting for us."

"Well, I don't know about you," Marchande supplied as she stepped out of the shadows, "but I'd rather wait it all out here. Celestia knows I'll never go fast enough; that bug'll eat me alive."

"Fine," RipEar said with a grunt as he pulled the last of the rocks away, "but everyone else's coming with me. We've got a job to do." Beginning to step outside, the stallion faltered as no one initially followed. They reacted somewhat unenthusiastically a moment later; only Coalburst showed the slightest hint of readiness. She pranced about on the spot and her horn flickered with literal sparks, though her lips were drawn tightly. Exhilaration was a powerful thing.

RipEar cracked his tail at her and grinned as the little filly jumped visibly. He then pushed her backwards and chuckled as he stepped in front, taking Roamer's gun in his magic as he did so. He checked it over quickly, his face a masked frown, and then poked his head out into the corridor.

The changelings which lurked a little way off noticed him immediately. Bright eyes snapped to attention as he moved and they jostled about immediately, scuttling forwards. Droplets of acid dripped from their maws and splashed the rock below; they burned small holes where they landed. It was enough to make RipEar shudder—but he stood taller at the same time, inspired to defeat these foes for the ponies behind him. Or, more accurately, for the only one who really meant anything to him.

To get a clear shot with half of his body hidden was tough. Not impossible, but too hard—especially when he had a good ten or twenty seconds before any changelings got uncomfortably close. So, with calculated speed so as not to further agitate the grubs, he threw himself out of the safe cave, raised the gun and took aim.

The pistol's roar filled the caves as the bullet whizzed through the air. RipEar, though certain of his abilities in easily accessed melée weapons, was far from confident now. Nevertheless, he was in no position to let Roamer be injured any further. Nor did he revel in the idea of leaving Blue's fate to another. She was, though he'd never tell her, much too important.

The first bullet didn't hit its mark, but it was nigh on impossible to miss in the sea of grubs. It instead dug a deep hole through a smaller changeling's side. As the creature screamed, the bullet popped out of its soft flesh and tore through the ear of a second victim. Both fell, writhing; disabled for now.

Coalburst jumped into action when she saw RipEar's struggles to work the gun. She lit her horn and cringed as flames burst up right before the front line of grubs. They were quick to recoil, of course, as the fire reached out to bite. But none could escape the scalding of Coalburst's flames, even once she withdrew her magic; they had enough fuel now—flesh—to keep them burning.

RipEar shuddered as the unpleasant but not entirely repulsive smell of barbecued meat—was he so hungry?—reached his muzzle. Gagging, he threw his head and let the pistol be taken back by Roamer as he pulled his dagger forth. He then fled with the other stallion at his side; he kept a good distance from Coalburst.

"C'mon," he yelled back as he bucked a lone changeling which slunk forwards from a crevice. It was thrown from its hooves, flung to the flames' vicious mercy. RipEar shuddered at its wail but pushed on. "The queen'll be close!"

Coalburst, still stood by her flames, grabbed Blue's ear with her magic and tugged. Sparing a glance to the wailing beasts quickly, she then launched herself forwards with a cry.

Blue yelped as she was pulled but reclaimed control quickly as she jerked her head away. Rearing, she then pushed off as strongly as she could with powerful hindquarters so that she soared above Coalburst. With the grubs on the floor all around, the air was a nicer place to be—even if it made her wings ache more.

The gallop—or fly, in Blue's case—was short, barely long enough to have drowned out the changelings' bellows. The queen, however, was still nowhere in sight—or so it had seemed initially. As the ponies drew closer and closer to a sheer drop off, however, she finally made herself known. Or, rather, a winged RipEar made himself known as he fluttered up from the pit. The ponies momentarily stood stunned as they glanced between the two. The resemblance, aside from the wings, was uncanny. But as the newcomer landed and licked his—no, her—lips, a smirk graced her strong masculine muzzle and sharp fangs were revealed in the dim green light of her own horn.

Her chunky legs elongated at first, the skin and fur falling away to reveal hairless, hole-ridden limbs. Then her body slimmed and, again, she molted; within a matter of seconds, her torso was that of an insect, her muzzle much finer and her horn suddenly double the size and viciously sharp. Her sickly emerald eyes were that of pinpricks, darting about as her mouth curved up into an insane smirk.

"Dinner!" she shrieked as she lunged forwards and howled with laughter as the ponies jerked back. A few small acid droplets splashed from her mouth. As they began to turn to run, however, she darted around them and screeched more as she blocked their path. She held her head high, a smirk on her muzzle. "I am Avispa, daughter of her holiness, sweet Chrysalis! That mare who shepherded our magnificent race to greatness, now gracing the earth with her splendour in death! I have her sacred blood flowing in my body cavity; this hive of mine I shall deliver to brilliance!"

The queen whooped as she reared up and threw her head. It was all the encouragement the bemused ponies needed; RipEar jerked his head immediately and shot beneath her foreleg, the others in close pursuit. Roamer took up the rear and skidded to a stop after a few seconds. He paused for a breath's time to see the changeling frozen in puzzlement before he let his pistol roar out. The bullet burst from the gun's muzzle with a scream as it whistled through the air. But the stallion wasted no time in waiting to see it meet its mark. The queen's furious bellow was proof enough of its success, though the sound notably lacked the nuances of a creature in pain.

Hearing Avispa's cry, Blue took to the air and winced. Whatever potion... concoction... thing she had made earlier had begun to wear off, she supposed; in fact, her whole body was starting to twinge. Her recently injured rear leg burned the worst.

She didn't dare check it out.

Instead, she focused her attention on the queen as she spun so that she flew backwards. Avispa hadn't been held up for long, it appeared; she now buzzed in the air, hissing as she followed unsteadily. With every few metres she flew, she crashed into the walls on either side. It was no wonder she was shaky; not only was she mad, but the blood which surged from her foreleg was surely weakening her—whether she recognised it or not. The wound, however, healed up incredulously quickly.

So that was how a changeling queen kept herself strong.

Blue crashed down to the ground again, gasping as she galloped next to RipEar. "She... She... She regenerates, Rip! Her leg... It healed up! Just like that!"

RipEar gulped but tried to grin at Blue nevertheless. He wrapped his magic around her as she began to fall back, her gallop too weak, then dragged her forwards. "Shut it, Blue!" he yelled, stealing a glance back. His ears snapped against his neck, but he continued to smirk. His eyes only slightly betrayed him. "She's just an insect; she'll go down."

RipEar looked behind himself again and his grin became more genuine as his eyes laid on the queen's bloodied but healed up leg. She flitted about more wildly now; she crashed increasingly often but zipped forwards faster too. She screeched as she met the stallion's gaze; for just a second, she dropped from the air and smashed against the cave floor.

"Get back here!" Avispa screamed before she stumbled to her hooves. As she did so, with a shout to the others to keep going, RipEar leapt from the track. He rebounded against the cave wall and landed behind the group to face the queen down. He began to gallop backwards immediately, slowly, as he thrust the knife forwards. It impaled the changeling's throat first, only a spurt of blood emerging. As she screamed and jerked it out, however, it healed almost instantaneously.

RipEar snarled as the queen shot towards him and smashed into his side. He went down without a chance to fight when his hooves slipped from underneath him.

The rock floor met RipEar with a sickening, spine-shuddering thud. He screamed and his eyes grew wide as his vision gave in. All he could see was white. His world was nothing but pain.

The madness ended quickly. As his eyes changed back to something resembling focus, he could just see Blue's struggles as she fought to escape from Roamer's grip. Her mouth was wide in an agonised cry. As her eyes locked on his, RipEar could see the desperation in the tears which stained her cheeks.

But he didn't see the changeling queen zipping towards him. Not until it was too late, not until she was on top of him. She pinned him to the ground and licked her fangs as she lowered her muzzle. Her pupils dilated further as acid splashed from her canines; RipEar snarled as his fur was burned. He thrashed about as he jerked his hips upwards. But the changeling was strong; she kept him down effortlessly and lowered her neck. She only paused when her muzzle, open in continuous low cackles, brushed up against his neck.

She bit down on a little loose skin. Drunken with sadistic pleasure, her eyes glimmered—especially at RipEar's scream. The acid coating her fangs was relentless; it seared a deep hole, revealing the red raw flesh.

The cool air was an unforgiving enemy, honing in on the exposed nerves. RipEar screamed again as pain erupted in his brain, his body spasming. He floundered back; his limbs flailed as he moved, but the unpredictable pain-induced jerks enough to free himself from the changeling. Then throwing his head, he jumped back and collapsed again, his legs unable to support himself through the pain.

The queen turned on him sharply and stalked forwards. Her wings flitted about as she stumbled in her pleasure-drunken stupor. She still licked her lips and giggled as she lit her horn. It sparked before it flowed with magic, the aura somewhat feeble.

More so than RipEar's, at least—which gave the stallion the strength to fight that he needed.

As he moved, his neck tore rational thoughts to barely interpretable strands. Even to pick up his knife was a feat of great effort and made him grunt and whimper. But he fought to keep his eyes open and pushed himself up to his hooves, focused on his prey which now attacked him, and struck with the blade wildly.

His slashes were uncoordinated and random as he stumbled from the queen. She was slower now, her wounds healing quickly but still hindering her very slightly, though she didn't look pained in the slightest. In fact, she looked merely put out—especially when she began to tug on the knife with her own magic.

RipEar hissed; his teeth squeaked as he yanked the dagger away from her. Stopping, he then slung the knife forwards and watched as it cleaved the skin around a hole in her leg. The blood flowed profusely, so much so that it soaked the floor below and sent her slipping. She crashed into the rocky wall and hissed as she paused for a second before she turned around. Stepping forwards, she then faltered only slightly before she crumpled to the floor.

RipEar frowned, his eyes still focused on her leg. The wound had healed again by now, but the blood... It was everywhere, on the floor and all over the changeling's skin. No normal incision would have bled that much, especially when every other attack had healed within the second. Which could mean only one thing; the regenerative queen had an Achilles' heel.

Avispa began to shudder slightly as RipEar carefully nudged her side. He hopped backwards—gasping as he did so—and then spun on the spot. His ears flicked all around and he shot away, barrelling through the tunnels.

Each step was agony, but there wasn't time to waste; the queen would surely kill him even more painfully if she caught up. And so he continued on, each hoof slamming against the cold ground with a small crash. His chest heaved with each inhale. As soon as his eyes laid upon the rest of his companions, he then yelled as loudly as he could. He didn't even regard Blue's squeals at the sight of him; he only threw her forwards—literally—with his magic as she flew back to catch him up.

"Get on with it!" he yelled and hissed as his neck burned even more powerfully. He glanced down at himself and winced; bile rose up in his throat at the sight. "She's down, but she'll be back with a vengeance!"

Stumbling as she hit the ground, Blue didn't attempt to fly back to RipEar's side. Her bruised hooves couldn't take the extra strain if her threw her again, she was sure.  Instead, she merely yelled back with a shaking voice, "How'd you get her down?"

"Those holes!" RipEar shouted back and whined a little as he galloped faster. Small tears glistened in his eyes but he refused to let them fall. "They bleed loads and heal a bit slower. It's the only way to really weaken her."

Blue whimpered as she nodded, tripping slightly. As she regained her hoofing, she gritted her teeth. She flared out her wings and used the burning muscles to keep herself upright as she made the tight turn around a corner. Then taking a breath, she fought the urge to vomit at the sight of the blackened bodies of the changeling grubs. She swallowed the bile and jumped into the air as she snapped out her wings—only to find herself crashing back down to the ground, her muscles too fatigued to keep her up.

With a gulp, Blue galloped a few more metres before leaping over the first pile of bodies. Coalburst and Roamer followed her lead close behind, RipEar heaving as he merely stumbled over the corpses. But there wasn't time to pause to clear the way for him; the queen would catch up soon. And so Blue continued to lead as she danced between charcoaled hooves and muzzles and flanks and hurdles the larger masses.

As she finally climbed over the last of the bodies, Blue let out a breath. Her heart pounded while she waited for a few seconds with pinprick eyes and pricked-up ears, more to regain her own breath than anything else. Once the others had all caught up, she shot off again. Her tail was clamped against her flanks as the queen's cries sounded behind.

"Get back here, roaches!" she screeched as she zipped around the corner. The ponies bolted faster immediately, RipEar shouting encouragement from behind as he fumbled forwards. He grunted and hissed as the the fast-moving air pummelled his exposed nerves and shattered his senses. But he could just manage a slow canter, each lurch close to—but just avoiding—being unbearable.

The changeling queen's screams at the sight of her slaughtered children were loud against the crashing of hooves on rocky ground. She then gave a roar and reared up as she shouted incomprehensible nonsense. She then zipped forwards, hardly even slowed as her body was bloodied against the wall; her face suddenly burned with rage, her fangs leaked streams of acid on the rock floor.

Blue snapped her eyes back as she galloped; her heart screamed with terror. RipEar, too, adopted a terrified expression, his mouth wide as he gasped for air, willing himself to run faster. But he couldn't ascend into a gallop, his neck so agonising that it was disabling.

"RipEar!" Blue cried as she reached her neck back to him. But, though her heart cried out for her to help him, her brain denied her permission. She couldn't quite manage to find the strength to turn around and help—not with the changeling right behind, at least. "Rip! C'mon!"

The stallion glanced back and balked, then pushed on faster. But despite his best efforts, he still fell back from the others.

Blue's eyes darted between the changeling queen and the prey, her breaths coming in gasps. The light at the end of the tunnel had finally appeared, but RipEar would be in Avispa's hooves long before he got outside; dead within a few seconds, even.

"Focus, Blue! Run!" The stallion's cry was laced with terror, high pitched and wavering. "I'm fine!"

Those were the famous last words which made Blue's heart burn with guilt. And so, with a quick glance back at Coalburst and Roamer who stampeded along behind, she shot to the side.

Avispa screeched at the sight and gave a high pitched wail as she shot forwards faster. Blue burst into tears without a moment's pause, whimpering and gasping as she ran towards RipEar. Her legs moved slowly, unenthusiastic to help even her first friend. But somehow she got behind him, ears deafened to his pleas as she shoved him forwards.

The queen was only a tail's distance away now. She nipped at Blue's flank; her teeth clanged against the silver. Acid trickled down to hiss at the pegasus' exposed legs and burned the fur away in a few small patches. It was agonising, enough to send her mind into turmoil as she bucked. When she felt her hooves connect with something soft, though, she let out a breath as the queen stumbled back and she could run forwards.

But her own movements were slow now, even the small amount of acid enough to weaken her. It was no wonder that RipEar was so hindered, his own neck a sickening state. But there wasn't time to stop, especially as the changeling rose to her hooves again, her face even more furious than it had been before. And so, despite all of her leg's best efforts to stop her, she lunged forwards so that her head crashed into RipEar's flank—an action which, later, she was sure she would be fantasising over.

The stallion was forced forwards with a yell. With the help, he managed a slow canter as they neared the exit. However, as they loped along slowly, Blue could feel her nerve shatter with every inch forwards; she bucked continuously when the queen began to nip again and yelped each time her own hooves touched down. And then, as she felt a muzzle brush against her fetlock, instinct kicked in and she screamed. She struck the queen with a powerful blow to the eyes as she spooked and fled without thought.

Avispa roared as she threw her head up. There was still no pain in the cry but the blood which spurted from her eyes was a sure indication of why she seemed so put out.

RipEar stumbled forwards continually. His eyes shone and his tail clamped as he watched Blue fleeing—and leaving him behind. But he soon gritted his teeth as pain reared its ugly head again and he nodded curtly at her actions. He was glad that she was getting out of the way, he reminded himself. That thought was hard to accept, however, as he lamely dodged the queen's blasts of magic. His heart ached at the abandonment—the very same abandonment which he had encouraged.

As he spied a momentary break in the queen's onslaught, RipEar made forwards and ambled through the gap between the beams of power. The magic burned his flank and ears, made him cry out in pain and gave Avispa a target to aim for. She fired blindly once again after a moment's pause; RipEar dove to the ground immediately so that he smashed his underbelly against the rock floor and lay there. With his breath held, he trembled as magic whizzed over his head again. Hastily he snagged a glance back and, as the queen stumbled away for a second and fired blindly in the wrong direction, he leapt up. He sped away unsteadily as the momentary chance arose.

Blood still leaking from her crushed eyes, Avispa spun to face the sound of heavy hoofsteps. She flashed forwards, a living missile. RipEar had only a second's notice to jump to the side as her breath brushed against his flank. But he didn't stop, still lurching along at the wall of the cave, right beside the queen. She bucked as she ran, able to hear the hoofsteps so nearby but not able to place them.

When the mouth to the cave was only twenty metres away, RipEar encased his body in his magic. Avispa felt the aura immediately and turned to snap at him—but then, in a heartbeat's time, he was gone, hurled from the cave with his own power.

RipEar screamed as pain encased his body again; his mind burned with a sudden migraine. It was only worsened as he crashed down to the ground and skidded across the rocky floor, shredding the skin of his uninjured side. He hissed as he then heaved himself down the slope; he only had a moment before the steep face took advantage and he was sent rolling down.

Finally coming to a stop at the base of the incline, RipEar gave a small groan as he kept his eyes closed. Then yelping as something warm began to nudge him, he snapped them open and scrambled back before he realised who it was.

Blue gave him a small smile before she took a small step forwards and nuzzled under his shoulder again. She gave a few small nickers as she inspected him over then gritted her teeth and heaved him up onto her back. He gave a small scream, able to do nothing but lay there begrudgingly and grumble as she began to haul him away. But, a second later, Avispa barrelled out of the tunnel, encased in flames of acid green.

No. The flames were literally acid, dissolving the rocks that they licked.

RipEar's eyes widened. "Oh, croup!" he yelled and then gasped as his neck burned again. It wasn't helped as Blue shot off, eyes wide and ears nonexistent against her neck. Taking a sharp turn to avoid one of the houses, she then threw him from her back and shot behind the building.

The queen approached quickly as she dove from the slope and down to the village. Flames still encased her body as she then took a single stride forwards, her horn alight. She inhaled deeply and looked down at the villagers with a malicious smirk, though her now-empty sockets could perceive nothing.

"Wow, oh wow," she murmured as she strode around the poised-to-strike ponies. She bounced about on the tips of her hooves, her wings buzzing. "The love here... So rich, rich, rich! Delectable!" She shuddered before she returned her attention to the ponies. Stumbling forwards, she then wrapped her magic around old Tourmaline's hoof and dragged her forwards. The flames died down as she did so.

The old pegasus fought immediately and dug her hooves in as she shouted, "Release me, bug!"

The queen only laughed.

Tourmaline writhed as she beat her wings heavily, but there was to be no escaping the queen's haphazard grip. She barely managed a small step backwards as Avispa's magic faltered, only to be jerked forwards again so that she fell on her neck. Winded, her eyes then widened as she was pulled closer and closer.

It seemed to be the end—but then a stallion's bold purple aura heaved her away and flung her into the air. Unable to breathe, she fumbled to regain control and crashed back down behind her family, all of whom now charged.

Avispa adopted a look of puzzlement at first at the heavy hoof steps. She then hissed and swung her head, knocking out a few with her magic. She hopped to the side and cackled as she galloped around the mob; she crashed into ponies' sides as she blindly made her way around them. Then she reached into the masses without a care and raked her fangs across skin to draw blood. She gave a squeal at that point and then plucked a single earth pony from the ground. Clamping the adolescent mare's neck in her muzzle, she zipped unsteadily into the air.

As Avispa reached an altitude which she deemed great enough—though she could not see to confirm—she only paused for a moment. Then, as pegasi ponies took to the air after her, she clamped her mouth down around her prey's neck even tighter.

The scream echoed around the village. Acid flowed into the mare's body in scalding, corrosive torrents; a few unbearable seconds later, the wail died out as she flopped. Held limp in the changeling's jaws for only a brief moment, she then fell from the sky.

Avispa licked her lips as she lit her horn and inhaled deeply; a liquid-like stream of silver floated from the plummeting corpse and into her waiting maw. As the last strands of magic were then swallowed, the changeling sighed and looked down unseeingly with a grin—and then roared as a knife sliced cleanly through both of her wings. She fell immediately, but a look of great concentration grew on her face just as quickly. The wound healed in barely a few blinks' time, only to be sliced once again by a small green pegasus colt who swooped unnoticed above her, his blue and yellow mane and tail fluttering in the wind.

This time, the changeling fell further, and her wing healed with a fine scar. She then landed with a hiss and threw her head as her ears flicked and nostrils flared. A moment later she charged, horn lowered.

The villagers scarpered as they flung blades in all directions. Two of Roamer's bullets, fired in swift succession, tore through the flesh around a hole in her leg. She keeled and fell on the weak limb for just a moment as blood flowed in torrents. It slowed rapidly, only to be cleaved open once more as a second blade sliced through the same skin again.

An arrow lodged in Avispa's muzzle and made her roar as her already stained chitin was further recoloured. She climbed to her hooves quickly and then charged once more; flames of acid burst from her horn. Surrounding her in a circle, the fire provided a strong barrier—but not strong enough.

Laying on the floor a little way off, Coalburst wailed as her magic wrapped itself around the emerald fire. Her tears were tidal waves of pain that splashed against the fur of her hooves as she strained to part the flames. As she gave one last scream, her body slowly burned; patches of fur fell from her coat, revealing the red raw skin beneath which bubbled and blistered. Then she collapsed and whimpered as she pulled her scalded hooves up to her chest. But her effort had been enough; a few brave villagers leapt through the small parting before it closed up, weapons at the ready. Of them, Roamer was the quickest; he fired bullets at the queen's hole-ridden legs as if they were in plentiful supply.

Of his attacks, a fair few were true. Avispa crumpled as she bled; she gasped and screamed as the wounds closed slowly, one at a time. As she lay on the floor, she swiped the air with her horn and cracked her hole-ridden tail, all the while pulling the flames in closer with her magic. In response, the ponies only struck more desperately. Knives slashed at her chitin in any reachable place.

Avispa's body was a bloodied mess now, too torn up to heal all its injuries. The flames died down at that moment and her gasps came in shuddering breaths as she shot acidic fireballs randomly. Her body spasmed as she writhed, her mouth open in a roar of pure fury—and then her head thudded to the dirt. And at that moment her body stilled, only twitching now and then.

A cold wind blew through the village. The ponies heaved for breath, bodies bloodied and bruised from both Avispa's attacks and from their own wild strikes. And then they collapsed and shook as they looked about themselves at the carnage.

A few mournful screams broke through the pained whimpers. The cold wind's howl was just as pining. But, as time drew on, ponies came to their senses. Numbly deserting the site, it wasn't long until everything was quiet once again.

Huddled up with RipEar still, Blue shuddered as she lay her head down against his flank. She frowned as she felt him stiffen initially; she then sighed as he relaxed a little and rested his own muzzle on her back. Blue then let her wing drape across Coalburst who crept closer and closed her eyes. She took a shuddering breath before she then permitted her mind to wander into a fitful slumber.

Hindsight — Part I

RipEar groaned as his neck began to burn. Shocked from sleep, he hissed and clamped his eyes shut, praying that doing so could block out the pain. When he quickly found that it didn't, he tensed up his muscles, levitated Blue's head from his back and frowned at the small dribble of drool which remained on his fur. He ignored this; he was well aware that he was covered in much worse.

As he lay the mare's head down slowly—he smiled as he watched her mumbles—RipEar stood up. He gasped at the pain which reared its horrid muzzle and then battled against his legs in the fight not to collapse; he won only slightly. With a sigh as the pain in his neck subsided, then he took a tentative step forwards.

The ache, not surprisingly, was quick to return. Its gentler surges than before were, however, greatly appreciated, so much so that a shaky smile even managed to form on his face. He then walked—or, rather, hopped—a little faster, doing so with fairly decent momentum, even if he was far from collected.

As he wandered aimlessly, RipEar had no idea where his legs were carrying him. He zoned out, lost in his own thoughts as he bumbled forwards, the relief much needed. In hindsight, it had been reckless to have taken the job. Whether he was fond of the village or not was no reason to have endangered Blue so, or Coalburst—though the filly was less of a guilt-trip, admittedly. The payment of a few weapons seemed measly after all that they'd been through.

But then, could he really claim that was the case? Blue had found herself a wonderful set of armour, to be sure, and Coalburst had gotten the rapier as well. Though not so much use to her as her fire, it was still a good find. The threat of a changeling invasion had been very real for the poor village and he himself had managed to save Roamer and Marchande—was she back yet?—as well. Sane equine life was in short supply as it was. And, in truth, the experience for Blue had surely been invaluable; to be able to learn the reality of life outside first-hoof, while still close enough to a village to get help afterwards, was something most foals would have dreamed of. She would be hurt when she woke up, for certain, but surely she would have fared worse in another situation if she'd wound up alone and still completely green in terms of combat.

A high-pitched yelp shocked him from his thoughts as something warm and somewhat-squishy met his chest. He leapt backwards and he shook his head, groaning as pain made his eyes water. Brushing the tears away, his gaze darted about until it landed on the culprit who now lay on the floor; it was none other than Cu.

"Oh. Sorry," RipEar grunted as he bent down to lend a hoof. He then took a sharp breath in at the movement and instead opted for lifting her up with magic. He gave her a small smile. She, however, did not reciprocate the expression as her muzzle fell open.

"Dear Celestia, RipEar! You poor thing! Gosh, your neck..." Cu shuddered and tore her gaze away, back hunched. "It's downright awful!"

RipEar rolled his eyes slightly as he stumbled past her. "No, really?" he snapped and threw out a rear leg before he winced a little and recoiled quickly. "No point wasting breath if you've got nothin' useful to say."

Cu's ears dropped back as her head fell and her muzzle brushed the dirt. She gave a few small nickers, licking her lips and chewing rapidly. With her tail tucked between her legs she pawed at the ground a little, her gaze kept firmly away from RipEar. He, in turn, merely scowled; he rolled his eyes at her, gritted his teeth and limped past, his cropped tail swishing at her ears. Her head shot up and her eyes followed him as he hobbled away. She let out a breath before she then turned away a second later, trotting in the opposite direction and into one of the village huts.

Out of the corner of his eye, RipEar could see her retreating. With a short snort, he hung his head and continued on his way, his neck wound just about visible in his range of vision. He balked and walked forwards more determinedly, his mind wandering again. Thoughts of doubt filled his mind as he did so; to kill was an expected skill out here, but it was still an abhorrent act. He could only hope that Blue would forgive him for doing what he had to—not only for himself, but for her as well.

She knew nothing of her past life, that was undeniable. But whatever the case, whether she knew the horrors that they had suffered through together or not, she would have to be able to accept and trust ponies for who they were, actions and all—but not just on a whim, as seemed to be her preference. Because, in the end, a pony who struggled to kill would never survive outside alone.

Hindsight — Part II

Though the land was painted in dull hues, it was warm—or, perhaps more accurately, it was slightly less cold than before—when Blue awoke. The sun and moon still continued their never-ending struggle in the sky, but the former won by a smidgen; its feeble rays were hardly strong enough to penetrate the cloud cover which had developed overhead.

It was incredible, Blue realised, how quickly one could adapt to the peculiar and disorientating ways of the outside world. In less than a week—six days, to be exact—she had come to recognise the subtle differences between day and night, the tiny changes in temperature and light. But that wasn’t to say that the world was any kinder; it was just as hostile as it had always been, although at least it was quiet—both in terms of noise and insane populace.

Blue rose into a sitting position and winced as her body roared in pain. She collapsed back down without hesitation, her new silver armour clinking, and she glanced up to the slope. She cringed as her mind suddenly spun.

There was blood everywhere, even though the poor bodies of the innocent villagers who had been struck down by Avispa had all been removed. The changeling queen’s corpse, however, still lay out in the open, lifeless in the middle of the village. Her own horrid blood seeped from her eyes and ears and nostril and mouth, pooling around her head. She was completely forgotten about, for now at least, but Blue wasn't surprised; the villagers had been through a lot.

But hadn't the hive, too? She gulped as she thought about her actions—RipEar’s and Coalburst's, too. The changelings, vile little things though they were, had only been protecting their queen and their mother. They had attacked, certainly, but that had only been because the trio had ventured into their territory; it was a perfectly reasonable reaction, if she was being truthful.

By the same logic, she wasn’t to fault for attacking back. Her pained body was evidence enough of the danger the changelings posed—and, she supposed, the reason the village had wanted the tunnel cleared. Nevertheless, whether her actions were excusable or not did not hide the fact that she had killed—no, slaughtered—the changeling grubs.

Though she had been aware of her actions, the truth of the matter hadn’t initially occurred to her. Now that she had time to think and reflect, however, the horrific nature of what she had done settled on her mind like an impenetrable coating of tar.

She had killed creatures. Not ponies, admittedly, but the changelings had still been sentient beings. She had torn them from the world; she had mercilessly ripped the life from their still-breathing bodies.

Blue gasped as her pupils dilated, her mouth wide but incapable of taking in enough air. She had crushed the changelings beyond repair and left them to die in slow agony. She had personally impaled them, attacking with deadly intent and then letting them crumple to the floor in a pool of their own blood. Tartarus, she had merely watched as Coalburst’s flames had devoured the grubs alive—and had been pitying herself and her own injuries, minor in comparison!

"Blue?"

A small voice spoke up and a tiny hoof brushed up against Blue's unarmored neck. The pegasus screeched and snapped out her wings immediately before she shot up into the air with a scream. A moment later she clamped them back to her side and fell back down to the ground heavily.

Blue groaned as she unsteadily stood up again, her body ablaze. She then glanced down at the speaker through pain-narrowed eyes and murmured, "Please don't scare me like that." With a sigh, she hung her head and whimpered, back arched as she took a deep breath in. And then, after a slow exhale, she screamed and began to cry. "Oh Luna, Coalburst! I killed them! I killed them! I attacked them and let them die! In agony, Coal! In sheer agony—they bled to death! At my hooves! I'm a murderer! A cold-blooded, heartless killer!"

Coalburst clamped Blue's muzzle shut quickly, eyes narrowed. "No. You listen to me, Blue. You're not heartless. You're the sweetest pony I know! No-one else would've taken a three-legged kid with them." The filly looked up and waved her hoof around the village. "Look 'round you. Everypony out here's killed—or at least got someone to do it for them. None of us'd be here if we hadn't! I mean, the village has to kill their own foals, but would you call that evil? They're saving everypony else. It's not being mean, Blue. It's survival. And if you hadn't killed them, we'd both be dead. And I really don't wanna die yet.

"If you wanna call yourself cold-blooded, then I'm hurt! I kill ponies with fire, Blue! Fire! There aren't many worse ways to die—but would you call me evil?"

Coalburst released the mare's muzzle and Blue took a deep breath. Her lip began to quiver as she murmured, "Well, no..."

"Exactly. Because I'm not doing it 'cos I like it, Blue. I’m not some… crazy foal who runs ‘round chopping heads off for fun—and there are some like that, sickos. But the thing is, I’m doing it 'cos the ponies I attack are dangerous—and you bet they'd do the same to me if they could!"

Blue frowned and she shuffled back, keeping herself away from the filly. "That's not the point, Coal. I..." Blue took a shuddery breath and then shook her head. Her wounded shoulder grumbled. "It's different. I killed them, not you or somepony else who I can excuse. Me. And I've never had to kill anything before and it's tearing me to pieces because I feel like a monster!"

Coalburst recoiled slightly at Blue's outburst before she hung her head. "Okay, look. Everypony out here—well, us sane lot—feels bad about what we've had to do. But we can't pretend nothing’s wrong all the time; we have to kill, and that's life. But it's not being a monster, it's about saving yourself and the ones you love. And I kinda think that's a pretty noble thing to do. Y’know, to have so much guilt for saving other ponies.” Coalburst paused for a second. “In fact, having guilt at all out here’s kinda sweet. ‘Cos, y’know, most ponies don’t hurt like that anymore.”

Blue glanced up slowly and rubbed a hoof over her eyes. "You think?"

Coalburst nodded. "Oh, for sure! Guilt's horrible to deal with, make’s you selfless. Kinda.” As she trailed off, the filly glanced up to the sky and then sighed, her previous bubbly grin falling from her delicate little muzzle. "I should know. My mum's death was my fault, and I felt rubbish for ages. I still do, actually, 'cos it was only a few weeks ago. But that counts as ages out here, ‘cos it’s so easy to die. It's the first thing foals learn out here really. I mean, let's face it; everywhere you go there's gonna be something that's died. But hey, you've gotta learn to pick yourself up and dust yourself off out here—that was what Mum always told me, anyway. And it's true, really; if you spend all your time worrying, you're gonna die." Coalburst paused for a moment and gave a very weak grin. "You might want to learn that, actually. You're kinda whiny sometimes."

Blue sat a little straighter and rustled her feathers as she scowled. After a moment, she then opened a stiff wing and pulled the filly closer. She did her best to ignore the pain which came with doing so and got away with just a small moan. “What happened to your mum?”

Coalburst scrunched her eyes up for just a moment before she fixed them on Blue. After than, she didn’t once let her gaze trail. “Mutants got her. See, we’d just got to the Vanhoover ruins, and we’d walked a long way. A real long way. In the rain as well, and mum wasn’t feeling too good, and I was almost collapsing, so we holed up in an old factory, out in the outskirts. Bottom floor, ‘cos we weren’t gonna make it up the stairs—higher levels normally have some weird things living in ‘em, and we couldn’t fight.

“Anyway, we curled up in the corner. It’s normally safest that way, but it’s good to keep watch still. So we normally took shifts and all that, but mum took longer ones. But she fell asleep and then—bam—the things were on us. A swarm of burrowbugs.” Though she paused as she saw Blue’s frown, Coalburst quickly continued with a roll of the eyes. “Mutant horseflies, about… I dunno, ten times as big as the normal ones. But instead of just biting, they lay eggs in skin. It’s… horrid. If the bites don’t kill you, the babies will. But they’re normally super easy to kill, which is good ‘cos there’s thousands of the things in each ruin!

“But, that’s the thing. Mum didn’t wake up until the things had already landed on her. And I… I couldn’t do anything. I was too tired to use my magic, I suppose, and they kept attacking, and mum couldn’t kill every one. If we’d had a gun, she could’ve. But I couldn’t do anything, so I just ran. I ran and ran and ran, and didn’t look back. Not until later on, and mum hadn’t come out—so I went back and… And she was dead. Nothing but a skeleton and a few b-bits of flesh.”

Coalburst sniffled a little. Blue’s eyes widened, the emotion unexpected, and hastened to hold her closer. She nuzzled behind the filly’s ear gently, wishing there was something she could say to soothe the poor thing—but Coal quickly brushed the tears away and smiled as best as she could.

“I’m sorry I freaked out earlier. I just… It was too much, too soon. Not being able to use my magic…”

Blue nodded and placed her hoof on Coalburst’s lips ever so gently. “I get it, sweetie,” she whispered before she pushed the filly down. She lay next to her and rested her head down, smiling as she focused on Coalburst’s turquoise eyes. “Go on, go to sleep again. I’ll watch out for you, promise, and I’ll see if I can get Rip to get us some supplies too.”

Coalburst smiled as she nodded slowly. Her eyes drifted shut without much encouragement as her breathing slowed. “Thanks, Blue.” The filly curled up and wrapped her tail around herself as her muzzle morphed into a gentle smile. “I love you, you know that?”

Blue stiffened for a moment before she let out a breath. “Go to sleep, minx,” she whispered, then resting her head over Coalburst’s scarred back. As she did so, she couldn’t help wondering just how much the poor filly had been through; she’d lost her mother, sported a severely injured rear leg, had awful claw-scars across her back, and displayed a deep but scabbed-over wound on her neck which she had gotten around the time the trio had met. Added to that were the numerous scrapes and punctures from last night’s excursions.

She was a tough little thing to be sure, and Blue’s heart sank at the thought. She was young—she deserved a proper foalhood.

Complete safety… That was never going to happen outside. But there was one thing that Blue knew was possible to give the filly, even in Plague Equestria, and it was free; friendship.

Tunnels

Sometimes, back when she had stayed in the facility, Blue would lie on her bed in her tiny room and think. As she stared up at the ceiling, she would let her thoughts wander to what she had heard waited outside; the horrors ponies faced on a day to day basis and the struggle to survive in a world driven to insanity.

Before she had come outside, she had never really seen many mad’uns. In the facility, they had still been welcomed—as test subjects, of course. But for everyone’s safety, they had been kept in basement areas, never to see the light of the above ground levels again. That light, of course, had all been artificial; not natural as Blue had been fooled into believing by the deceptive windows. In fact, she had been tricked into accepting everything the facility had told her.

Being outside was, thus, something of a surprise. Though her survival career had started badly, Blue couldn’t claim that it was so horrific as she’d been led to believe. The food so far was bland and the world seemed mostly devoid of life—at least out here in the Undiscovered West—but that was a huge step up from the tales of never-ending strife and pain that she had been told by her bitter peers.

As she was escorted through the village by a rather muscular stallion, Blue could only wonder how things had gone so wrong since the war and the initial outbreak of the Plague. Over the past week, the village had been more than welcoming towards the newcomers despite its numerous losses. The victims of Avispa’s attack—both the immediate mortalities and the gravely wounded who later died—had been of all ages, ranging from foals to elder ponies. And yet, despite the pain which must surely have incapacitated them, everypony left alive was at least surprisingly pleasant—though to call them all approachable was something of an exaggeration. Nevertheless, it was proof that civility could still be achieved in a world gone mad—even if it was a costly form of peace.

But Blue was well aware that the land was still filled with danger; even exaggerations of the truth had to have some form of veritable, factual foundations to them. And so the prospect of leaving the safety of the village—RipEar had been insistent that they should go, and the village had been quick to agree—was still terrifying. Perhaps even more so, now that she had no solid truths to rely on and was going in blind.

In fairness, neither Coalburst nor RipEar seemed particularly enthusiastic, either—not that Blue had expected them to. Still, their disheartened nature hardly improved her own spirits any.

As she clambered out of the pre-war cart which she had been sat in, Blue had to force a grin and a thanks as she walked past her stallion escorts. Though they were somewhat severe now, they had been especially good company over the week—and Blue would miss them. But there was no time to think on her losses as RipEar and Coalburst began to gallop into the hill pass which they had cleared only a few days before. With a stolen glance back to the quaint little town, she took a deep breath and sped after them.

The tunnel itself was no different than it had been before, though the light from Coalburst's and RipEar's horns—the former's being somewhat feeble—was much dimmer than the filly's raging flames had been. The air inside the tunnel, too, felt wrong, as if the dead changelings' souls still floated around the ponies; it was as if they sought revenge for their fallen queen and mother.

The village had claimed a large number of the changeling corpses, the organic matter so precious for growing food in a landscape so barren. Nevertheless, despite the invaluable nature of the compostable flesh, they had only ventured in so far; the appearance of the first corpse was a shock to be sure.

Blue was unfit, she knew that much. While RipEar had trained in the facility, Blue had always rejected his—rather forced—invitations, an action which she now knew to have been foolish; he had surely known for a few weeks, somehow, that she had been scheduled to be 'put down'. But at the time, it had never been appealing; there was no official gymnasium, but the occupants had been allowed free access to basement B-9 if they ever felt the need to run laps of the room or throw all the old junk about as makeshift weights.

"Blue! Keep up, for buck's sake!" RipEar's words, though shouted, were quiet; the heavy smashing of hooves drowned them out. "We need to get a move on; these tunnels take days to get through at best!"

Blue swallowed as she nodded and pushed forwards faster. Her armour clinked slightly as she moved though the silver was, true to Starlight Glimmer's written words, nigh on weightless. But that pleasantness was overruled by her hooves which burned with each pummel against the rock, the solid skin dribbling blood. But she couldn't be left behind; she would never survive alone. Not yet—though she hoped she would never have to.

As she galloped, Blue kept as close to RipEar as she could. Her muzzle brushed through his tail; guided by him, she let her vision fade and her eyelids slip shut very slightly. It was bizarrely comforting to gallop blindly, she realised—she couldn't see the numerous bodies and charred skeletons which lay against the wall, thrown out of the way.

She could still smell the stench of death, though.

Blue gagged, but the reaction was more out of habit than genuine disgust. While the foul smell was undeniably repulsive, the past week had certainly been an... experience. The sheer number of bodies which had been shifted around town, organised into numerous compost heaps, had left a powerful smell around the houses as they began to rot down. It wasn't long before one began to get accustomed to it—but that didn't mean it was not unpleasant.

As RipEar began to speed up, Blue reopened her eyes so as not to crash. The stench had gotten much stronger now; it came as no surprise when the first carpet of corpses that Blue had taken down came into view in the turning off the track. But RipEar did not stop; he merely galloped onwards with a shout of, "Leave that for the village!"

Blue's eyes narrowed as she bumbled after the stallion, now keeping pace only with Coalburst who had fallen back. The filly looked just as peeved as she spared a glance towards the room. Licking her lips, she then whimpered quietly and tried to push herself forwards faster.

The burn of acid was powerful, but RipEar was determined—no,  obsessed. He ran without care; he rebounded against the walls and leapt over even the tiniest of stones as he hurtled through the corridors like an uncontrollable firework. The axe and sword rewards for clearing the tunnel were tied loosely to the side of his saddlebags and swung dangerously as he careened about. In fact, even to watch was dangerous, a fact which Blue became well aware of when she watched as he began to face-plant for the fourth time, only to regain his balance a split second before his muzzle was smashed in.

The trio thundered past the entrance to the small space in which RipEar had met Marchande and Roamer. The stallion made no attempt to slow, however, still able to power forwards on some insanely reliable energy store. If one was to glance in his eyes, the pinprick nature of his pupils would be evidence enough to hint at the source of his capabilities. Coalburst and Blue, however, were not so lucky; they gasped for breath and slowed rapidly, their legs giving in to the torture of the acid which seared their muscles and made their very core scream. Coalburst was especially hindered; with a small yell, she barely managed to leap the first charred changeling corpse of many—the ones she had burned to death herself—before she crashed down to the floor. She lay still and heaved, her muzzle resting on the rotting flesh.

Her cry was not enough to stop RipEar. He hardly even faltered to look back before he wrapped his magic around the filly and jerked her closer. She screamed and writhed fruitlessly to escape; he only gritted his teeth and ran faster as an echoing, childish cackle filled the tunnel.

Every one of Blue's hairs stood on end at the sound. She gasped and took to the air, beating her wings as fast as she could. She was lucky that the armour didn't hinder her movements at all; she was not so fortunate when her body began to burn even more. The village had done their best to patch her up, but they hadn't healed her completely. No pony could, not overnight—or even in a week.

"RipEar!" Blue cried. As she sped closer, her heart burned in her chest; the agony was only made worse when she saw poor Coalburst in floods of tears. There was no way to help her, though, for every time she got close the filly was dragged forwards even faster. "RipEar, let her go!"

The stallion made no move to even respond, still able to keep going forwards. He ran with determination, his lips thinned and his eyes squinted—presumably against the wind which was born from his speed. He threw his head as he galloped and bucked mid-stride; Blue swerved to avoid his hooves with a cry. The wind caught under her feathers immediately at an odd angle and, a second later, she fell to the floor. She screamed as her chest pummelled against the rock.

As she lay on the ground and whimpered, Blue could hear RipEar's still-heavy hoof steps. She gasped and shot back up to her hooves; she jumped back into the air and tumbled about a little as she fought to tame the wind under her wings. Then she struggled forwards faster, RipEar now a fair distance away.

Something was off.

Blue squinted as she flew faster, her wing beats haphazard and uncoordinated but at least powerful enough to keep her airborne. And then, as she neared RipEar, she screamed once more. When Coalburst saw what Blue looked at, she joined in too.

The massive drop off where Avispa had hidden was getting nearer and nearer with each second—and RipEar showed no sign of slowing.

Blue gulped as she dropped slightly from the air; her wings slowed as she watched the distance shorten. Coalburst struggled even more; the stallion only grunted and yelled, "Come on! We've gotta go faster!"

"No, Rip!" Blue cried, landing with a groan before she began to gallop forwards as fast as she could carry herself. "Stop! You're gonna fall!" For a moment, Blue felt sure that she saw the stallion slow; a moment later, he ran with an even greater burst of speed. With a snarl, Blue watched with held breath as he then took the last step past the edge of the path and began to fall instantly.

He realised his mistake as he plummeted down and gave a yell which mixed with Coalburst’s scream. Blue, too, joined in with the outcry as she threw herself forwards. The few steps were easily the fastest she had ever taken; her teeth clamped down upon the ends of the filly’s fiery tail just a moment too slow, however; the hair was ripped from Coalburst's body, who spun in midair as she fell faster. The very air blared and shrieked as it encased her and RipEar’s dropping bodies, their chests palpitating and their faces awash with a mask of sheer terror.

Blue faltered as she watched the pair fall into the never-ending abyss of blackness and terror from which Avispa had birthed her equally abhorrent young. She then took a short step backwards, her rapid breaths sharp, and hunched her body up. As the screams began to quieten, however, her own heart grew surely ready to burst; she took a tentative step forwards, raised a hoof and, her body suddenly drenched in sweat, unfurled her damp wings. She then closed her eyes, held a breath and dove down.

Coalburst's screams rapidly became shriller, but RipEar's cries had ceased. As Blue peeked, the wind wicked as it attacked her eyes, she watched as he surrounded his horn and body with magic. The fall slowed quickly—but not fast enough.

There were mere metres left by now, a fact of which Blue was very aware. As she thrashed about in the air, desperate to find a technique to fly faster, she stretched out her muzzle and grabbed Coalburst's tail again. She gave a groan as she then re-angled herself; pumping her wings to pull her upwards, she winced as she heard RipEar's groan and the thud of his hooves as they crashed against the ground. He ran for a few seconds before he jumped upwards; his powerful hindquarters pushed him into the air. Then, as he gave an audible grunt, the aura surrounding his horn grew even greater and slowly—finally—the trio began to raise upwards.

The journey out of the chasm was easily the longest flight Blue had ever undertaken. As she at last reached the edge of the drop-off, she could hardly keep up the fight; she wrapped her hooves over the side and, with as strong wingbeats as she could muster, hauled herself up. She trembled, her body aching all over, and then tightened her grip and whimpered as she heaved Coalburst and RipEar just far enough to let them clamber up.

Blue gasped as she collapsed down on the ground, wings draped across the rock, and glared at RipEar. And then, with a sigh, she allowed the stallion to lift her up onto his back.

He didn't dare run.

Admission

Though her body ached with every move that she made, Blue was quick to get off of RipEar's back. He had carried her for hours, but despite that effort the mare was in no mood to forgive him—not yet. She was careful to make her displeasure known; she walked quickly, her head held high and with her tail raised, her wings open as wide as she could manage. Her ears were pinned back, an action which ponies became good at out here, and if RipEar could have seen her face he would surely have frowned at her firmly clenched jaw.

She didn't have to maintain the act for long. Within ten minutes the stallion, who had begun to prance about by now, finally agreed—reluctantly—that a rest was necessary. He had been adamant that they couldn't sleep out in the tunnel itself, though; after the odd attack by lone changeling survivors, both Blue and Coalburst had been in agreeance with that decision.

As they made their way through the tunnel, it had become more and more evident that the hill pass had been designed as a railway. By now, the occasional section of track could be found laying abandoned on the floor, only crudely put together. With every hour or so of walking, a waiting room could often be seen as well, though only if one was to specifically look for it—the heavy blackness in the pass seemed to dim the light of even unicorn magic.

Blue was quick to scan the waiting room before she entered, eager to stay in front if only to keep away from RipEar. She swung the sword—the village's reward—as she trod forwards slowly; with a yelp as the blade hit the wall, she sighed and plonked her rump down on a fallen-apart bench. She spun around so that she then faced the wall and kept silent as she studied the posters plastered across. The first was the same white unicorn stallion as before; the second featured a stunning young alicorn mare whose coat was a pale pink wrapping a bandage of ice around a wounded changeling's ankle. Its caption read, "Prevention is the best tactic."

As she sat there, Blue could hear RipEar's quiet questions and mumbles from behind. But she kept quiet, making no response to him; not at first, anyway.

"Blue? Please, I'm sorry."

"Shut up."

RipEar frowned as Blue's ears fell further back and he took a small step closer. "Seriously, I'm sorry."

"I don't want to hear it."

RipEar waited without a word for a moment and then glanced at Coalburst, his eyes somewhat watery as Blue refused to turn around. Nevertheless, he kept his head held high and tried not to wince at the filly's scowl, instead walking forwards so that Blue had no choice but to look at him. Her glare was vicious; the stallion averted his gaze and held her mouth closed with his magic.

"Blue, please. You've gotta believe me when I say I'm sorry."

Blue's posture slowly slackened a little as RipEar released his magic from her mouth. Then she stood, wings flared out again, and ground her teeth together so that they squeaked. She kept silent for a minute before she spoke slowly, her voice somewhat quavering. "What in Tartarus got into you?" she hissed, eyes thin. She flapped her wings once and raised a hoof. "You were being a complete arse back there!"

"I know, but I-"

"You nearly killed Coalburst! And you nearly killed me!" Blue paused for a moment. "In fact, you nearly killed us all, you jerk!"

RipEar's head fell as his body slouched. With a sigh, he then glanced upwards at Blue. "I just didn't want to get you hurt."

"Well, you mucked that up badly. Really badly. You'd better have a good explanation."

RipEar didn't give an answer as he stepped away from Blue slowly. As his flank pressed up against Coalburst's chest, however, he yelped and was forced to face the mare again. For a breath's time he stood tall and kept his muzzle firmly shut; when Blue's frustration heightened and she ground her teeth louder, his resolve snapped. His words were reluctant, as if he spoke against his will.

"This tunnel's dangerous, Blue. Cursed. It gets dangerous at night."

Blue frowned at RipEar and trod slowly closer, her expression no less displeased. "Go on."

"I-" RipEar shook his head and then turned away. As Blue struck his flank with a hoof, however, he hung his head again and sighed. "Fine. This tunnel was important back in the war. It would've been the key to winning 'cos the changeling armies were based over here. If I remember history class properly, anywa-"

"Hey, hey!" Coalburst butted in as she hopped infront of the stallion. Her glare had fallen to be replaced with a curious sparkle in her eyes. "You went to a school?"

RipEar stiffened for a moment. "It was a, uh, village school. Basic teaching and all that."

Coalburst huffed. "Lucky," she whispered as she then slouched and sat down.

"Right," RipEar said before he returned his attention to Blue. "Anyway, the changelings were based in the Undiscovered West. They were smart creatures, too; had a forcefield around the whole place so that the only way in was through the hill pass, even if their base was way out from the hill. So it was obvious for Celestia's army to build a train station through this pass to attack the changelings at the heart.

"But Celestia underestimated the strength of the alliance between the changelings and Sombra. She never thought that he'd attack, but he did. Cursed the pass as it was being built so that anyone who tried to get through would be attacked. Scorpions were his favourite, I heard, but poison gas wasn't ignored."

Blue frowned and folded her hooves as she sat on her haunches. "Why weren't we killed the other day then?"

"It's been a century since the spell was cast. It's weaker now; only effective for an hour a day, the village reckons. There's never been a poison gas attack either, but plenty of scorpions still. Mutated scorpions, often."

Blue's frown only heightened. "The village uses the tunnels as access. You told me so. If they don't know when there's gonna be an attack, somepony'd have gotten attacked. So where's all the dead scorpions?"

RipEar was quiet for a moment as Blue grinned. He then shrugged. "I dunno. Disappear, I guess. They're magic, after all."

"Oh. I... I suppose that's possible." Blue rose to her hooves and walked slowly to Coalburst's side. She sat down next to the filly and glanced out the corridor, blocked off by a heavy wooden door. Her eyes grew narrower as she did so; her posture stiffened. "Still, why couldn't you have just told me? And Coal? Because that was ridiculous to be honest, if we'd just known-"

RipEar's face began to redden and he pawed at the ground slowly. "I did it for a reason, Blue!" he interjected as his hoof rose sharply. His ears disappeared into his neck as he strode closer. "I'm not a foal, I'll have you know! You just don't get it... You don't understand how much it tears me up to see you hurt or scared!"

Blue's expression softened for a moment at the words. Her response, thus, was slightly delayed, but not so greatly that she seemed much happier. "That's ridiculous! Sweet but stupid! You said this place was dangerous yourself, RipEar; I'm gonna have to face things one day, so I may as well get used to it!"

"Yes, but-"

"No! No, don't try to explain yourself. You're a foal, you really are! You nearly killed yourself and Coalburst 'cos you took all the stress, and nearly killed me when that happened as well! If we had just known what was going on, we could've worked together instead, and you wouldn't have got so caught up that you fell off the edge of a cliff!

"Actually, it's the same with everything! You could've just told me that the facility wanted to kill me! I could've worked out with you, could've been less of a burden when we did escape! And then with the changelings the other day! Why couldn't you have just mentioned them? It would've made things a lot easier, you know!"

RipEar grunted and threw his head as he turned sharply and trotted away from the mare. As he faced the wall, he swished his short tail about so loudly that the air was parted with a whistle.

"I just didn't!" he hissed, his heart pounding. As he stomped his hoof he snorted loudly and turned back to look at the mare and filly. "I'm sorry for trying to make things easier!"

Blue was quiet for a moment before Coalburst stepped forwards, glowering. "You could've listened when Blue yelled though."

"What?" RipEar crumpled his muzzle a little as his torn ear pricked forwards. He quickly flinched when Blue urged Coalburst behind her and came closer but then stood tall, his brows knitted together as the mare's mouth opened in a cry.

"Yes, RipEar! I yelled! I yelled and yelled so much that my chest burned!" Blue took a breath and looked away; tears suddenly shimmered in the corners of her eyes. Even as she clenched them tightly shut, however, she did not relax her tensed up body. "My chest burned, and you were just an arse and you kept galloping on like nothing was wrong and nearly got yourself killed all because you never let me have a say or an opinion or anything!"

A moment of silence fell on the room which was only penetrated by Blue's heavy gasps. It did not last long, however, as RipEar stepped forwards with thunderous hoofsteps and snorted again. As Blue peeked her eyes open, only now relaxing and with a suddenly fatigued mind, she had to recoil slightly at his glare.

"You want to know why I'm such an arse, as you put it?" RipEar yelled as he bucked, his hoof skimming the wall. "You want to know why?"

Blue whimpered quietly as she reached a hoof over to Coalburst. She pulled the filly closer to her side quickly and wrapped her wing around so that only the foal's muzzle could poke through the feathers. Blue then began to murmur quietly and she shook her head; her heart burned less after her outburst, now merely burdensome. But RipEar saw nothing but the flames of fury; he tossed his head once more and galloped to the door to the corridor, slamming it open.

"I'm not immune, Blue! I'm deaf! I haven't heard a bucking thing in three years, not since I helped you escape that bloody city! Not a bucking thing, all 'cos you were too pathetic to tackle this place on your own!" The stallion only hesitated for a moment before he stepped out of the doorway and yelled, with tears flooding his eyes and staining every inch of his fur, "Be a big girl for once, 'cos I ain't gonna sugarcoat things for you anymore!"

With that, he bucked the door shut and ran. His hoofsteps were so loud that Blue and Coalburst, sat stiffly in the waiting room, could hear every clamorous pound.

Tortoiseshell Tank

The vending machine, as had been the case before, was so well stocked that it threatened to overflow. Though many of its contents were undeniably inedible—unlike the previous machine, this one was not stocked entirely with uni-vac products—there was still more than enough for two little ponies to choose from. At first, Coalburst had taken another pot of peanuts and the carrot drink that Blue had drunk before in the hopes that some of the so called painkiller could be made again. When that endeavour failed—though the pegasus had hardly put her all into it, the filly merely settled on nourishing herself.

The pair sat in the room for hours, so long that Coalburst had taken to making paper pegasi from the yellowed posters and wrappers. She had plenty of material to work with; after a tub of peanuts, two bags of salted crisps, a bar of white chocolate and—much to her delight—half of a dragonfruit, it came as no surprise. But Blue, though eager to eat everything in sight—she hadn't had a slap-up three course meal in weeks now, and her appetite had never been the sort to keep quiet—could hardly bring herself to nibble at anything. In the end, after a good ten hours, she had only managed a small bag of "cola horseshoes".

The time ticked by tediously, every second as dull and silent as the one before. Blue seemed quite content to just lay on the floor and wait, her eyes leaking the odd tear now and then. She said nothing and did not move even to drink; only when a bottle was placed directly in front of her did she accept it.

Coalburst's patience, however, could only hold out for so long. After yet more hours had dragged by, she gave a grumble and filled her horn with magic as she enveloped Blue's tail in a yellow aura. She then tugged upwards and jerked the mare into a standing position; as she released the hold Blue threatened to crumple to the floor again and Coalburst was quick to keep her up.

"For Celestia's sake, Blue! I know you think RipEar'll come back, but it's nearly been a whole day. He's not gonna come back—we'll have to go to him."

Blue mumbled and looked away, fighting half-heartedly to pull her tail from the filly's weak grip. As she shook her head and closed her eyes, however, she was dragged roughly towards the door.

"We. Are. Going." Coalburst bit out her words in between gasped breaths. "C'mon, Blue! Don't make me go without you!"

Blue was quiet for a moment before she sighed and nodded her head. She dragged her hooves as she walked, but it was an improvement nonetheless.

The tunnels were quiet, as was much of the outside world. The journey was equally so; a few skeletons were scattered about in places but otherwise the place was barren of anything other than rock. As RipEar had mentioned, scorpions had swarmed the tunnels whilst Blue and Coalburst had been in the waiting room; unable to get in, the curse was thus of no threat. Indeed, the sole time that the pair were attacked after the first they merely hid, little the worse for wear, in a waiting room until the scorpions were gone.

The tunnel was long, not helped by Blue's quiet, disheartened nature. She trudged along slowly and refused to utter a word; by the time that the end of the tunnel neared nearly two days later, Coalburst had begun to wonder if leaving Blue behind might have been better. She wouldn't have done that, though—couldn't have.

After the time spent in the tunnels, stepping hoof outside came as something of a shock for even Blue's uninvolved mind. The air was substantially colder and the wind was present, strong enough to chill the mare to the bone. She instinctively fluffed up her feathers and squinted her eyes as she began to follow in Coalburst's hoofsteps, incapable of navigating herself. The dim light from the sun and moon proved enough to blind her; the filly was quicker to adapt.

Worse than the wind and the cold and the bright bleakness, however, was the rain which began to fall within minutes. In the few weeks that she had been outside, Blue had hardly ever seen the stuff; now it fell in torrential amounts, drenching both the mare and the filly as they trudged through increasingly claggy mud. But neither complained; both were much too occupied with their own thoughts.

Lost in her own muddle of a mind, Blue hardly noticed as Coalburst shouted down at her from some elevated position. As she shook her head slowly, though, and let her eyes readjust, she had no time to think on RipEar; she was much too busy trying to figure out what monstrosity lay before her.

It was an armoured carriage, that was for sure, though Blue could see no harnesses or poles on which to attach a workhorse. Its wheels were misshapen, too; in fact, they were completely replaced by odd treads, large enough in diameter for a pony to stand. At its front a large pole—not dissimilar to a thin cannon—jutted out at an odd angle.

It was a monstrous beast.

"This way, Blue!" Coalburst called from up above as she beckoned with a hoof, her fur completely sodden. She could hardly be heard over the roar of the rain. "We can wait this out in here!"

Blue frowned as she kept still. After a moment's contemplation, however, she took a shuddery step forwards and flew unsteadily up to the carriage's roof. Just as the filly disappeared into the beast's belly, Blue landed with a stumble and fell in after her.

It was dark inside the carriage and certainly nothing like anything Blue had ever read in the facility's books. Even the war chariots depicted in the texts were a far cry from this freak of machinery; they were fine, ideal for flat out charges and for quick attacks, designed to traverse flat terrain efficiently—this was a brutish thing, surely designed to lumber along and crush anything in its path.

As Blue looked around herself she felt her chest constrict even more and she sucked in a breath. A large, pony-sized hamster wheel could be seen in the same position as the treads on either side. In the left one, a skeleton lay crumpled at the bottom, some of the brittle bones knawed on and shattered. A second could be found just away from the right wheel, it being in a similar state of repair to the first. A final skeleton also lay nearer to the front of the beast, its foreleg uncleanly cut in two pieces while its muzzle hung at an odd angle. It could only suggest a fracture or break, even for a pony such as Blue who knew next to nothing in the medical field.

"What... What happened here?" Blue whispered as she glanced behind herself. When she saw no more skeletons there, she stumbled back and cowered in the corner. Coalburst, on the contrary, seemed mostly unperturbed as she looked the scene over and shrugged.

"Nothing all that exciting," she mumbled as she sat down next to the mare. She paused for a moment to brush up against Blue's soft but sodden feathers. "This thing's a Tortoiseshell Tank. They were real important in the war 'cos nothing could get through 'em, not even Sombra's magic. That's why they're called "Tortoiseshell", but I dunno why they stuck the word "Tank" on the end. Silly war ponies. Mum said it was somepony important's pet's name or something, but that seems stupid to me.

"Anyway... Uh, what was I saying?" The filly stopped speaking and frowned before her face lit up soon after. "Oh, right. What happened. Well, like I said, it's not that special. They—" Coalburst glanced to the side and pointed at the two skeletons which must have once worked the hamster wheels "—were probably killed by the other guy. The one with the broken leg and muzzle."

Blue was quiet for a moment before her mouth opened slightly. "How can you know that?"

"Easy. You'll see it a lot out here—well, kinda. But it's pretty obvious; the broken-leg guy would've been infected first when Celestia cast her spell and he ended up being a mad'un. Attacked the other two and killed them, that's why the bones look chewed. But he was a mad'un so couldn't get out of here, so when he'd eaten his friends he began to attack himself. Mad'uns don't feel pain much, you know that, so he bit through his leg. By that point, he probably bled out." Coalburst stood up and trotted over to the mad'un skeleton's side. Blue could only hold her breath, the fur on her neck tingly. "See his teeth? It's gotta be him who attacked 'cos they're all worn down."

Blue nodded slowly and scrunched up her muzzle as her tail tucked between her legs. "Okay, I... That's a lot to take in, but I guess so." She shuddered and glanced upwards at the hole in the machine's roof. "Can we go now?"

Coalburst giggled and trotted closer as she pulled the door to the hole shut with her magic. A small flame then flickered into being in the darkness as the filly curled up at the mare's side once more. "C'mon, Blue, I thought I'm meant to be the foal here! This place is great; maybe a bit spooky, I guess, but it's dry and warm. And I'm tired."

"Oh." Blue looked towards the skeletons and winced. "Well, fine. I... Just until the rain lets up, 'kay? Then we're gonna go... We're gonna go find RipEar." As she spoke the words, Blue's voice quavered a little; Coalburst was quick to wrap a hoof around the mare's shoulder.

"Good plan," she whispered, then lowering her head as her eyes slipped shut. "Don't worry; no big bad ghosts are gonna get us."

Blue gave a weak smile and giggle as she lay down with the filly. As she wrapped her head around Coalburst's smaller body, however, she had no doubt that sleep and rest would be nought but wishful thinking.

Facility

As she had predicted, Blue's mind had refused, point blank, to switch off and drift into sleep. Indeed, when Coalburst finally awoke from her slumber Blue wasted no time in leaving the tank.  

The rain had stopped, thankfully, and the outside world was as such something of a reasonably pleasant place. At least Blue thought so; compared to the confined and musty air of the tank, everything out here felt and smelt so fresh. Even the mud was not so horrible now—it was at least better than ice-cold steel.

In fact, by the outside's standards, it was now something of a pleasant day. It was bleak, sure—it was always bleak—but the sun shone more boldy in the sky than the moon that day. The additional light that it donated was feeble, certainly, but when everything was so dim even a little could do wonders.

Though she was tired—exhausted, even—Blue felt better than she had done in days. She trotted along gayly and flew a little way, humming as she did so and bucking now and then. Though neither talked as they travelled, Blue nickered and whinnied quietly as she flew and threw her legs about in the air in some feeble attempt at a dance. Coalburst, to her credit, managed to stifle her own giggles—though it was tough to do so.

"So, um, Blue," Coalburst began as the pair turned a corner, spluttering a little as she fought not to laugh. "What was the facility like? Other than the whole, y'know, trying to kill you bit."

Blue was quiet for a second before she fluttered down to the ground to walk beside the filly. "Eh, not bad. I guess. I mean, the tests were horrible... Really horrible. But that might be me 'cos I hate needles and all that." Blue shuddered and then gave a feeble smile. "But the food was nice at least."

"Oh," Coalburst murmured as she glanced about, her ears flicking. She walked with a rather more pronounced skip in her step. "And what were the ponies there like?"

"They... They were nice. To eachother. They didn't like me but I think that was 'cos I'm a part amnesiac. Ponies are jealous or something—that's what the doctor always told me."

"Well, it's good that they weren't horrid to everyone then..." Coalburst trailed off and her mouth morphed into a grin. She ignored Blue's frown as she continued to speak. "So, you... Would you go back? Or... Would you go to a different facility?"

Blue's frown heightened as she ducked her head to avoid a large outcrop of rock. "They tried to kill me, Coal," she said, "so no, I don't want to go back. Though come to think of it"—Blue glanced about and shuddered—"I'm not all that fond of being outside either."

"Oh." Coalburst stopped and turned to face west, looking at the entrance to a tunnel which now could be seen fifty metres away. "I... Um, I only say that 'cos were outside one now."

"What?" Blue recoiled quickly before she paused and eyed up the cave entrance. Lo, the broken watch logo of the facilities could be seen engraved above the hole. She then spun to Coalburst and whispered though gritted teeth, "That's a rather massive coincidence, Coalburst."

The filly shrunk a little as she gave a sheepish smile, a blush colourings her dark cheeks. "Okay, so maybe I knew where this was and maybe I led us this way. Maybe. But just think 'bout it; there must be tons of good stuff in there! And the tunnel's open! And supposedly it's abandoned! It's... It's pretty much begging that we go explore it!" Coalburst giggled as she finished and hopped on the spot a little. Blue, however, took one more glance at the facility, shuddered and quickly began to walk away, her head held high in the air. She kept her feathers wrapped tightly around the filly's waist as she began to drag her away.

"No thanks. I-"

"Wait!" Coalburst stiffened and her body tensed up. "Shh."  The filly tapped her hoof to Blue's muzzle. Her ears swivelled and she took a few rushed steps away from the tunnel's entrance. After a few moments, she then hunched slightly and began to back up slowly, placing each hoof as if walking on eggshells.

Blue frowned and followed the filly slowly, listening intently herself. The world was silent, it seemed, other than the soft sound of the pair's breathing—but it only took a moment for the mare to pick up on the danger as well.

Voices.

At first, the sentences could not be made out; within twenty seconds, however, the odd word was clear enough to get the gist of the conversation.

By the sounds of it, the two ponies involved in the discussion were alone. Despite the potential vulnerability, though, they talked somewhat loudly and adopted a jovial and relaxed tone as they did so; it was hard to decide whether they were naïve or overconfident.

"So, what're we after again?" the first pony, a mare, asked. She waited for a moment before she continued. "I mean, "those two escapees" wasn't much to go on when I don't have a clue who they were."

Blue frowned and looked down at Coalburst, shrinking back a little faster. The filly returned the glance and whispered, "You don't reckon..." She didn't have time to finish, however, as the new mare's stallion companion answered for her.

"They didn' tell me much either, but I took a look at that file o' theirs. Said it was a unicorn buck and a peggy mare, 'bout the same age. Kinda look similar... Well, they've both got blue hair, anyway. Mare's an amnesiac, no cutie mark and grey coat. She's a wimp, probably wouldn' leave the buck's side. Then tha' buck, he's got beige—no, tan—fur and a lock cutie mark. Pretty easy."

The mare was quiet before she replied. "Yeah. Easy-ish. Shouldn't be too hard to find; killing them might be harder though. They avoided the guards when they broke out so nothing to say they can't do it again."

The stallion chuckled. Blue's hair stood on end when she realised how close she must have been to be able to hear it. "Well, tha's where we've got it good. Find 'em and hit 'em before they can run. Bam! They're down."

"Sounds good to me."

Blue shuddered and looked down at Coalburst again, whimpering a little as she shuffled closer; the filly opened her mouth to reply, but she cut herself off when the new ponies began to talk again.

"Oh, Papercut! Where've you been, boy?" The mare's cries were interjected by a loud but determined bark. After a few whines, the voice then returned. "What is it? What've you found, boy?"

Coalburst gulped and pressed herself up to Blue, burying herself under the pegasus' feathers. "Oh, Cob! We're screwed!"

Blue moaned and pushed herself back, trying to squish in between the crevices in the rock wall. She had kept herself hidden from the filly when they had first met by hiding in the shadows; maybe, by some miracle, the dog would lose their scent in it too?

Lose the scent...

Blue's eyes widened and her wings snapped open. She then jumped to her hooves and began to take off, lacing her hooves under Coalburst's legs just as the dog appeared in her field of vision. Her heart sunk at the sight and she whimpered quietly; Coalburst picked up on her plan and whispered up to her quickly.

"There's no choice, Blue! We've gotta go in that facility—they won't look for us there!"

Blue whimpered a little more; her legs trembled so much that she feared she would soon drop the filly. But when the dog barked again and the sound echoed around, she took one final glance around and shot into the new facility's entrance tunnel.

Entry

The tunnel which led down to the facility, to neither Blue nor Coalburst's surprise, was unpleasantly damp. Water dripped from the rocky ceiling slowly in a rythmic, haunting pattern; it splattered on the floor in the puddles which Blue and Coalburst splashed through as they galloped.

Though hesitant, Blue ran ahead of the filly, spurred on by the promise of the lesser of two evils. Coalburst, by contrast, genuinely seemed happy—excited, even.

It didn't take long for the pair to reach their goal. With a gasp and a quiet yell they skidded to a stop—the door to the facility seemed to have appeared from nowhere—and glanced up at it. In truth, it was just like any other wooden door, coated with peeling white paint, and the only difference was that it was emblazoned with a single word: "Chameleon".

Blue cocked her head at the door and frowned. "What?"

Coalburst glanced behind herself quickly and, upon seeing no attackers, waved her hoof at the door. "Well, that's the name of the facility. The Chameleon facility."

"That seems pointless. Why not just... Why not just call them all facilities, or give them numbers? Is a name really necessary?"

Coalburst shrugged and gave a little giggle. "I think it's supposed to make them seem nicer. A number... It's pretty boring, isn't it?"

Blue considered that for a moment before she nodded slowly. "Well, I suppose," she said, then returning her attention to the door as the sound of barking returned. "So, uh, how we getting in here? We've only got a few minutes!"

Coalburst stood taller and raised her head into the air, grinning. "Easy!" she whispered as she then enveloped the bottom corner of the door with magic. The filly gave a drawn out moan and gritted her teeth; the smell of burning then filled the damp air of the tunnel soon after. The corner of the wooden door quickly began to turn to ash, forming a small hole in the base.

"Voila!" Coalburst whispered, a smile upon her muzzle. She gave a tiny buck before she then lowered to her belly and began to crawl forwards. "C'mon—oh, and mind your feathers. It's a pretty small hole."

Blue scowled as she lowered herself down; her legs trembled and her breath caught in her throat as she moved ever so slowly. "You couldn't have made it slightly bigger, huh?" she hissed with a wince as her shoulders got stuck. With a wriggle and a squirm, however, she managed to sluggishly urge her body through the hole.

The sight which met Blue's eyes was... surprisingly similar to her own facility. The entrance hall—a room which ponies passed through once and once alone—was simple, decorated with red ribbon and flowerless vases. There was no sign of struggle, no sign of neglect, no sign of disrepair; apart from the lack of flora, the space was pristine and looked about ready to welcome new occupants. So, then, why did Coalburst think it was it abandoned?

To ask the filly for her reasoning now, however, would have been futile. She was completely caught up in awe as she trotted about and let loose a stream of "ooh"s and "aah"s. Blue could swear that she had never seen the poor thing looking so excited.

"Oh my Cob, Blue!" she whispered as she bounced a little on the spot; her eyes darted about at one hundred miles per hour as she galloped across the wooden floor. "Just... Just look at this place! It's gorgeous!"

Blue looked about and shrugged. "Well, it's not that special. A nice change from the dirt, but it's the same as my facility. Though to tell the truth, I was in the coma when I passed through, so I've only seen brief glimpses."

Coalburst giggled a little and trotted to the side of the room, then nudging a vase with her muzzle oh-so-gently. "Well, yeah, maybe. But it's still great, even if it's a bit, uh, boring." Coalburst spun around and bounced back to Blue's side. "Just 'cos you're so lucky!  I've always lived out here and it stinks. I mean, it gets to you after a while and it's just nice to see a change from mud and blood, y'know?"

Blue, who had begun to make her way through the corridors once more,  paused briefly as her ears fell and she nodded solemnly. "I can't say I'm surprised," she whispered, her mind's eye picturing the bog-like mud around the tortoiseshell tank. With a shudder she pushed the thoughts from her mind and continued onwards. "C'mon, kiddo. Let's get on with this."

Coalburst nodded eagerly and leapt forwards; her eyes glimmered with each bound and her ears, for once, remained pulled forwards and at ease.

Blue found it hard not to succumb to the contagious joy.

Hunger

The heavy mahogony door which awaited the duo at the end of the long corridor was an intimidating sight. Though it was completely lifeless, Blue felt sure that, as she looked up at the towering wood, she hadn't felt so uneasy in a long time. Ever, perhaps—something about the door just oozed, "watch out".

Coalburst, much to her surprise, also seemed a little less joyful. Though there was still a smile plastered on her muzzle and a bounce to her walk, she eyed the door warily and sniffed at the air a little. She didn't even try to hide the fact that her horn had begun to spark in readiness; with baited breath, Blue rushed to follow her lead and retrieved the deadly rapier which she had held under her wing, clenching it in her teeth as she fought to inhale and exhale steadily.

"What's wrong, Coal?" Blue whispered, giving her best unaware expression. The filly, much to her dissapointment, did not seem to feel the need to indulge her.

"I thought this place was abandoned," she murmured, glancing about herself. She cringed slightly as she did so, though nothing  was particularly out of place. "But I... Eh, whatever. I'm just being stupid!" Coalburst nudged Blue's shoulder gently and forced a grin whilst she wagged her tail just a little slower than usual.

The door, peculiarly, slid open without so much as a creak. It was, in a word, silent—and that was perhaps even more unnerving.

Coalburst took the lead quickly as the very tip of her horn began to glow dimly. She only glanced about herself slowly, still with a smile on her face, but the way her ears swivelled betrayed her. Nevertheless, Blue was not going to call it out; she was quite happy to keep silent.

The foyer, in comparison to the grandeur of the entrance hall, was relatively small. As a rough guess, Blue couldn't imagine that any more than twenty ponies would fit inside comfortably. Nevertheless, despite the numerous doors around the edge, the limited space was for once reassuring; it made assessing the dangers easier. And, for once, it seemed that there was none to be found—but neither she nor Coalburst lowered their guard, just in case. Something about the way the wooden boards creaked and the way the silence was interrupted by muted shuffling... It didn't do much for one's confidence.

They were, at the end of the day, stuck there. There was no way they could go back yet; not while those two hunters still lurked with their dog. Neither could they simply wait it out here in the confirmed safety; Coalburst's returned curiosity would never allow it. Hence, with a quick glance back to her armour-covered flank which was held together by partly-healed stitches, she stepped forwards slowly.

The first rooms, labelled with the numbers twelve to eighteen, were left ignored for the time being in favour of the narrow set of stairs, illuminated by bright red LEDs. The glow was both warm and yet warning, bold enough to send shivers down both ponies' spines. But it wasn't enough to stop Coalburst by far, and Blue was in no mind to be left alone here. So, with hooves which dragged and a slumped posture, she crawled forwards and heaved her unwilling legs up the stairs.

The landing was the exact same as the one before had been, the sole exception being that a large set of of stairs was positioned up against the furthest wall. It led up to a landing in front of an elevated door, larger and better decorated than all the others; what was more disturbing, however, were the numerous bodies which were strewn over each step, not yet rotted but certainly lifeless.

"What... What happened here?" Coalburst's voice was suddenly weak and, when Blue glanced down at her, tears shone in her turquoise eyes. Her tail was low and held between her legs. "They're... They're all dead."

Blue nodded slowly, her body suddenly even heavier. With the rapier held tightly in her mouth, she then whimpered but walked forwards, wiping the tears from her eyes as she approached the bloody mess cautiously. A quiet creak made her squeak and hunch up, cowering a little on the floor; when no zombie-ponies attacked, she spared a glance back to the heartbroken filly whose dreams had been crushed in that one instant and knew she couldn't let the poor thing suffer any more. And so it was she, quivering body and all, who sheepishly stepped closer, wings opened and ready to be used. Repositioning the rapier between her teeth, she then nudged the closest body with the tip and shot backwards with a squeak, then letting out a breath when it did not attack. It was then that she finally could interpret the stench; it was death, no doubt about it.

Blue shuddered and backed up towards Coalburst before she wrapped a hoof around her; the filly, however, was in no mood to accept the embrace and she instead stepped forwards slowly. She wiped her nose with a hoof before she then whispered, "They're... They're the enemy."

"What?"

Blue trod up to Coalburst's side and took a closer look at the masses, her muzzle scrunched up. At first, she hadn't taken much notice of the ponies themselves; now that she did so, she could understand what Coalburst meant. The true ponies were glossier than most and their eyes, wide open but unseeing, were crystalline in effect. Among them were the black masses that she had wrongly assumed to be ponies; rather, their bug-like wings and hole-ridden bodies, hidden slightly under their comrades, revealed them to be changelings.

She shuddered and stepped back, but not before she spared a glance up to the door at the top of the stairs. She then shook her head and murmured, her voice quavering, "How about we go search these rooms? We..." She trailed off, unsure of what to say, and gently placed a hoof on Coalburst's shoulder. She then pushed her forwards gently but stopped her before she could open it. "We should find out what happened. Right?"

The filly looked up slowly, eyes filled with tears which she quickly wiped away. Nodding, she then hopped past Blue and placed her handle on the door knob and said, before there was chance to protest, "I wanted to come here, so I should go first. And I'm better at surviving than you." Coalburst gave a weak smile before she then took a breath, turned the handle and pushed the door open, her horn alight—only to find a standard-looking room.

As the pair walked inside, both on their guard, Blue couldn't help but whimper a little at the likeness to her old room in her facility. This one was called the Chameleon Facility, but she had no idea what her old home had been known as; it was, she supposed, not such a home after all.

But it had been warm, and it had always seemed safe at least. And, in this tired and half-destroyed place, very similar in size and layout to her own, she couldn't help but feel as if she were once more back in her bedroom. Back in her home, where she was fed well whenever she pleased and where everyone scowled at her when she passed—but, notably, didn't try to kill her.

"Blue?" Coalburst looked up at her and tugged on her mane gently. "Blue, you okay?"

She nodded quickly and tried to smile, though the sight of the window made her heart ache more. "Nostalgia, that's all. And sadness, I suppose." She shrugged a little before she picked the filly up in her wing and carried her the few metres to the wall on which the shattered window could be found. "Look at that."

Coalburst, too short to properly see, climbed ungainly up onto Blue's back to glance into the fragmented glass. Her jaw dropped as she did so and her breath caught in her throat at the sight before her; the sky, just as it should be. And then, before she could be stopped, she reached out with her magic and carefully removed one of the shards, still with the illusion of the sun pictured on it as she pulled it closer. She hopped back down to the floor and trotted over to the bed, snagging a bit of the material so that she cut a small patch off. Then scratching the shard against the wall the smoothen the edges, she wrapped it in the piece of cloth and placed it in her hoof, holding it with her magic between the wall and the frog.

"That's beautiful," she finally whispered, looking up to Blue with still tearful eyes—but there was a small smile on her muzzle now to replace the frown. "It's just... Perfect."

Blue smiled at Coalburst's awe and wrapped her closer in a wing to nuzzle her gently. "Thought you'd like it," she whispered before she then picked the little thing up, pushing her forwards. It seemed a shame to waste the filly's moment of glee but, at the end of the day, they had a job to do here.

But she couldn't bring herself to tell the filly that they had to get on; the poor foal had pushed a half-broken dresser to the window—which, Blue supposed, was perhaps more of a well-disguised mirror—and was now gazing intently up at the illusion of a fixed sky. She touched her hoof to the glass and traced the rays of sunlight as they fell across a normal, non-mutated land; they were bolder and stronger and more beautiful than anything she had ever seen.

With a sigh, Blue let her wings fall open and she then trod forwards slowly, rapier held tightly in her mouth. The room was, just as hers had been, very small; the only real difference was that the window was positioned on the right wall here, as opposed to the back just behind the headboard as had been the case for her.

There was, Blue was unsurprised to find, nothing to be found under the bed. Though a wonderful place to live, all things considered, facilities were hardly ideal for hoarders; very few personal items were allowed. She had never known why, though; it was just one of those weird and seemingly pointless rules. But whoever had inhabited this room had, it came to be known once she began to search the wardrobe, kept as much as they possibly could.

To be honest, nothing was particularly useful. A few small, multicoloured plastic balls sat at the bottom, surrounded by scraps of fabric and paper; handwritten notes, it seemed, but the ink was too light in colour to actually read. Every one was exactly the same; completely worthless to her, in other words. Hence, with a sigh, Blue picked up one of the little balls—they were good fun in such a bleak world, and an equally good distraction if that dog was still lurking—and tucked them under her feathers. She then turned back to Coalburst and, with eyes that sparkled slightly more than normal, she whispered, "We ought to go, little filly." When her posture slumped, Blue then finished off with, "There'll be unbroken windows in the other rooms? With different views, I'll bet."

Coalburst squealed and spun around, her eyes alight as she shot from the room. Blue hardly had time to react before the filly had opened the door to the opposite room and had bolted inside—and promptly let out a small scream, her horn flaring into life as a fiery glow engulfed it. She then reared up unsteadily on her back leg—how did she even manage that?—and shot a ball of fire towards whatever creature awaited inside; it screamed in response and, judging by the sounds of the crashing and clattering which rung true, panicked. A timid little voice then cried out, "P-please, wait! Don't hurt me!"

Blue's eyes widened and she trotted forwards so as to push Coalburst out of the way before she struck once again; the second fireball crashed into a nearby wall with such ferocity that the brick was blown to pieces. Shards flew out at rapid speeds, but she watched them approach as if in slow motion. With a yelp, she then grabbed the filly in her wing and dragged her to her side before she leapt into the safety of the room, though not before the shards sliced at her rear fetlock. She screamed and her leg buckled when she placed it down; landing on the floor, she then trembled and whimpered as she felt something hot seep from the new wound and, when she spared a glance, she felt her world spin and she lay her head back down. She was a lot stronger than she had been when she came outside; that didn't stop the nausea which arose when she saw her blood, though.

"Blue!" Coalburst's gasped cry was shrill and she was quick to escape from the feathers which had held her. When she leapt around to Blue's rear, however, she let out a small sigh of relief. "Wow, you're lucky. I thought it would've been bleeding more, but it looks like the changeling bite began to heal up already."

Blue moaned and twitched a little on the floor whilst she gagged. "There's a whole chunk out of my fetlock, Coalburst!" she hissed, then screaming when the filly unwound the bandage around her neck—a bloodied accessory which, Blue realised with a start, she had worn ever since she had met her—and then twisted it around the fresh wound. Hers was an old one by now; there was a most repulsive scab on the left side of her neck which oozed very slightly, but nothing other than that. When she spared a blurry glance to the filly to see what she was doing, Blue realised that she wasn't sure it was healed all that well; without the willpower to raise her head to speak, however, she merely grumbled and closed her eyes once again as she gasped for breath, as if doing so would ease the pain.

"This is my fault..." a timid voice said from the shadows, the same one that had screamed earlier. With the bandage now tied off, Coalburst hopped around to Blue's head and growled warningly as her horn flared into life; the other being yelped and then stammered, "No, no! I'm not trying to hurt you, I p-promise! Please, just give me a chance and I can help her!"

Coalburst growled deeper but hesitated when Blue, groaning and moaning as she did so, placed a shaky hoof on her good leg. She then sighed and, in as threatening a voice as she could muster but without directly snarling, she then said, "Come out so I can see you. And leave your weapons or I will kill you."

"O-okay!"

To the creature's credit, it crept forwards slowly and kept its belly to the floor as it did so. It whined quietly as it approached and kept its gaze averted, a demonstration of submission. Its appearance, however, was far from calming; it looked, if she had to compare it, similar to a deer of sorts, except with insect like wings at its side and a colouring which was much, much more eyecatching. Even more so than its coat, however, was the abhorrent state of its body; every single rib showed through its skin and there was surely not a single bit of flesh upon its back. Its eyes were gaunt and had lost their sparkle; its mane was thin and had mostly fallen out.

Coalburst could not contain the snarl which arose in her throat at the sight of the creature. Her words were filled to the brim with disdain when she then said, "What are you?"

The creature whimpered on the floor quietly and its tongue flicked out quickly, as if it were not in control. "I... I am a changeling," he whispered, his gaze still averted. "P-please don't hurt me; I really mean no harm!"

Coalburst growled at the cowering creature and stepped closer, but not before she spared a glance to Blue to check that she hadn't passed out. Though quiet, she still writhed and moaned quietly on the floor, which was a good sign, and so the filly instead returned her attention to the creature and reared up. She remained in that position for only a fraction of a second before she slammed her hooves down at either side of the changeling's muzzle, an act which made it yelp.

"If you're a changeling, why are you so bright?" she hissed. The accused merely muttered to itself for a few seconds before it then replied.

"I'm a reformed changeling. I was never part of Queen Chrysalis' attack!" he cried, sounding almost desperate. "But look where it got me! My hive was tricked and brought here... They said they were trying to find a cure for this plague, but they lied! They lied! And my subjects... They were all locked inside and starved, without any love to feed them... And they got desperate! You can't blame them, I can't blame them; they were starving and... And... And they reverted to their old ways! They abandoned my philosophy and everything I taught them and began to attack eachother, draining every last drop of love from their peers until all they knew once again was greed and lovelust! And now here I am, the sole survivor, only able to survive on the meager love that each of my subjects still spared for me before they died!" The changeling gasped and buried his head in his hooves. At first Coalburst thought he was trembling and she bared her teeth, ready to attack and end the thing; a moment later, it looked up and, it transpired, its massive but gaunt eyes were flooded with tears. "And now I'm starving, and I'm gonna die, and I don't want to die! I need to live, I need to teach the unreformed to be good!"

Coalburst narrowed her eyes and stepped back, grabbing Blue's fallen rapier with her magic. She then held it out in front of her and hissed, "You're lying. Chrysalis' attack was... Well, a long time ago! Too long for a pony to live for, at least!"

"I know, I'm sorry!" the changeling wailed before it curled up into something resembling a fetal position. "I know you don't believe me and I'm making you mad, and I don't want to make you mad!"

"Huh?"

Blue groaned as she watched the two arguing, her vision blurred from the pain which overwhelmed her senses. But the poor changeling—or supposed changeling, for she was just as skeptical as the filly— would surely end up dead soon; either at Coalburst's hooves, or simply from despair. And so with a muffled scream and with hisses and groans, she unsteadily wobbled to her hooves, the injured kept elevated, and limped towards the pair.

"C-Coalburst!" she snapped, her unfocused and watery eyes as vicious as they could be. It didn't amount to much, but her scowl at least—both from the pain and the situation—was evidence enough of her displeasure. "Let him spea—argh!" Blue's cry was laced with anguish as her hoof touched the ground and she eyed the changeling warily before she painfully fluttered up into the air, flying the few metres dangerously unsteadily before she collapsed on the bed. With a sigh, she then finished off with, "Let him speak. Please."

"But Blue!" Coalburst cried, her eyes suddenly wide and pleading. If she had to liken the filly to anything, she would have compared her to a puppy who'd just been kicked. "Just look at him! How can you trust him?"

Blue turned her head groggily and then let it flop down on the mattress; her leg throbbed and burned and screamed with every breath she took. "He hasn't.. hasn't done anything to us," she said slowly whilst she wiped away the tears with a feather. "He hasn't attacked us yet... Why shouldn't he deserve a chance?"

Coalburst rolled her eyes and slunk around the downed pony; her tail flicked and cracked like a whip as she did so. "Well, he reckons he's a hundred year old changeling! I can't count all that well but I still know that's a lot!"

Blue sighed and shuffled around to hang her head over the edge of the mattress, wiping her tears away again, on the duvet this time. "Well, did you let him—ugh—explain? If he can give us an explanation, then..."

Coalburst grumbled a little and hopped back from the changeling so that she now stood nearer to Blue. She then walked a little further away so as to glance in a shattered mirror and inspect her seeping wound when she grunted, "Go on then, liar."

The changeling whimpered a little and its lip pouted before it then said, "My name's Thorax. I was a drone back in Chrysalis' hive before the war."

"Ha!" Coalburst spun around and pointed an accusatory hoof, a grin on her muzzle. "You said you weren't part of Chrysalis' hive!"

Thorax whimpered and scrunched up a little tighter before he began to shuffle backwards slightly. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lie, but I... I didn't lie, but I..." Thorax hung his head and took a deep breath before he then said, in a hardly more stable voice, "I left the hive and learnt about friendship, and learnt that changelings... We don't need to steal love to survive! And then I was reformed, and I became like this when I shared my love with my peers. And when they accepted it, they were all reformed too and we began our own, new hive. But Chrysalis... she didn't accept, and she fled with a few others. She started anew, built the hive again and she... Well, that was when she found Sombra's spirit. She helped to create a new body for him, demonic magic and all that. And then... Well, you know. They attacked Equestria and everypony died, or it felt like it, and I was caught in the middle!" Thorax whimpered again and wiped his hoof across his eyes; his tears looked almost like droplets of crystal. "But I survived the war, and most of my new hive did as well. We kept away from the fighting, kept to ourselves up in the Frozen North. It was tough, but we lived—and when we came out of our new hive, we found a mad world.

"That was years and years and years ago now, and ever since then our numbers have dwindled slowly. But we never died of old age; a changeling cannot die of old age. Starvation or injury, yes, but not old age. And that's why I'm still here today, still seeing the horrors of this land and watching every one of my subjects, my brothers and sisters, revert to insanity and die! And I shall perish soon, too, but what is there left? I'm a changeling, and it was tough to make friends before the war... With all the suspicion, it's impossible now."

Coalburst frowned and climbed up onto the bed; her hoof fiddled non-stop with her mane. Before she could speak, however, Blue sat up a little straighter, tears still shining in her eyes, and opened her own mouth. "Well, how do you know if you don't—nngh—try?"

"My species caused this whole mess," Thorax grumbled as he crept further backwards so that only his head was fully visible, everything else partially concealed by the shadows. "Who would trust a creature like me?"

Blue was quiet for a moment before she unfurled her wings slowly and flapped once so as to drift over to Thorax's side. After a quick glance about to check for weapons—she saw none—she then crumpled to the floor next to him, a gasp tore from her throat when she touched her wounded hoof down. "I would," she whispered, a smile on her muzzle. "You haven't done anything wrong, nor did you attack us. Why should I judge you?"

"Wha-huh?" Thorax shuffled away from Blue quickly and frowned before he scratched behind his antlers in puzzlement. "You're pulling my wing."

Blue shook her head quickly and glanced to Coalburst, her eyes narrowed. The filly was quiet for a moment before she then sighed and rose to her hooves, her scowl wide. "Fine. If you don't attack me then I'll... I won't attack you. But I'm not your friend."

Thorax nodded eagerly and rose to his hooves, but not before he lifted Blue onto his back so as to elevate her injured leg. He then pulled the bloodied bandage off—despite the filly's protests—and threw it in the corner. He then trod over to the other side, his eyes wide and ears prickedwhen he came to a halt next to Coalburst, and opened his dresser, rummaging for a few seconds before he pulled out an clean-looking white sock. He then unrolled it and handed it to the filly slowly before he turned to reveal Blue's injured fetlock for her to tie it onto. Once she had done so he then lay her down on the bed and stepped back before he closed his eyes and pushed his weak magic outwards, trembling as he did so; he then shot a beam of yellow towards the wound just as the filly began to retaliate and Blue screamed.

"You—" Coalburst's horn sparked dangerously and Thorax yelped before he fell to the floor and cowered, his hooves over his head; a moment later, just before the filly could attack, Blue pushed her away from the changeling to reveal her hoof, now encased in some sort of yellow gel which solidified rapidly around her entire hoof. The filly's snarl fell away to reveal a confused frown; Thorax only whimpered, his head lowered.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he cried, trembling. "I was only trying to help!"

Blue looked at Coalburst slowly and wrapped a wing around her in a quick embrace; she then opened the other and pushed up into the air, the yellow gel surprisingly heavy, and then floated back to the ground. Her heart thudded in her chest and she felt as if she were about to be sick—but rather than excrutiating pain, her wounded leg merely grumbled a little when it touched down. It was hardly any more sore than her mostly healed shoulder and her nearly better, stitched together flank; in other words, bearable.

"Th-thank you, Thorax," Blue whispered, her mouth open in awe as she touched the hoof down gently. The changeling, upon realising that he was no longer under attack, stood unsteadily and grinned. His legs trembled now and it looked as though his starvation was catching up to him; a moment later, he took a deep breath in and sighed. He then cantered towards Blue and threw his hooves around her armoured body, pulling her into a massive hug. Blue, dangling in midair, merely stuttered, "Th-Thorax! Ouch!"

The changeling yelped and dropped Blue immediately. As he jumped backwards, she came to realise that he wore a massive blush on his cheeks; it was a cute look. He scratched behind his ear before he then said, "I... I really can't say thank you enough!"

"What did I do?" Blue asked as she cocked her head. Thorax guffawed as if it was the most obvious thing ever; in just that moment, he'd regained the sparkle in his eyes.

"Your gratitude!" he said, his mouth open in a grin. "Your gratitude... It gave me love! It gave me food!"

Blue was quiet for a moment before a small smile rose on her muzzle and she giggled a little. As she did so she glanced over to Coalburst; upon realising that the little filly was sat with a scowl, she then rolled her eyes and limped over to her side. She dragged her from the bed with her wing and laughed at the unicorn's dazed expression. A moment later, Coalburst finally gave in and giggled a little too before she sat upright and nudged the yellow gel around Blue's hoof, amazed. She then turned her attention to Thorax and frowned before she gave him a forced grin; he returned the expression much more easily and then returned his attention to his dresser, out of which he levitated something small and round and red.

An apple.

"Here," he said as he levitated it down to Coalburst's and Blue's hooves and ripped the plastic packaging—Univac, of course—from the oh-so-perfect food. "It's not much good for me; it wasn't even grown with love, so I can't get anything out of it."

Coalburst harrumphed and turned away, pointing her muzzle up in the air (though her nostrils were flared at the oh-so-sweet smell). Thorax's expression fell at the sight for a moment before his ears then perked forwards and he took a bite. He looked neither happy nor offput at the taste. "See? Not poisoned."

Coalburst's eyes moved to land on Thorax as he chewed and swallowed his reasonably sized bite; she whimpered as she watched Blue dig in hungrily, who tore large chunks of the pre-war fruit with her teeth. But she kept her willpower and looked away; she fought the delectable aroma until the very last minute. And then, just when Blue was about to eat the last bit, she tore it from her with magic and threw it into her own mouth. She moaned at the taste and licked her lips as she swallowed; when she opened her eyes to see Blue and Thorax's amused grins, she couldn't help the small giggle that she made.

Embrace

"So, what now?"

Coalburst sat quietly at Blue's side, her turquoise eyes pinned on the changeling before them even after she had spoken. Every so often she moved her hoof to tap the yellow casing of Blue's injured hoof, a perplexed frown forming on her muzzle each time that she did so. All the while she refused to let her gaze shift, her horn sparking now and then.

Thorax was quiet as he watched Coalburst's distrustful display, his wings buzzing slowly. Though it was hard to see much emotion in his bright pink eyes, their slight dullness and watery edges couldn't help but imply his nerves. It was no surprise, Blue reasoned, when he had little more to offer them now that his apple was gone.

"Well, it's... it's up to you," Thorax murmured whilst his hoof drew little circles in the dusty floor. "If you can trust a changeling I... I can do my best to help you?"

Coalburst scowled slightly. "Well, unless you wanna turn yourself into an apple with those creepy powers of yours so that we can eat you, I don't know what good you can be." She crossed her hooves and looked away, eyes closed in defiance as her horn sparked a little more; she was quickly prevented from continuing to do so, however, when Blue gave her a not-so-gentle shove.

"Hey!" she whispered, her own eyes narrowed. "When I first met you, you attacked me and yet I still let you come with me and RipEar! You're not really one to talk right now."

"Oh." Coalburst's head fell and she whimpered slightly as she looked at Blue with a small blush on her cheeks. "I... I didn't think of that."

Blue grinned and nodded once before she turned back to Thorax, holding out a hoof. "Maybe I'm stupid to trust you," she said, sparing a glance to the filly at her side, "but I know what it's like to be hated. Back in the facility... Everypony in there was different, somehow. I guess they didn't have to worry about making allies when they weren't in constant danger, and so they all seemed to hate me for being a part-amnesiac. Nopony'd talk to me or give me the time of day and it... it hurt.

"But I don't want to be like those ponies, and I don't want to be alone. Like I said, I'm probably stupid for being like I am—but I didn't really do anything to get the other ponies' hate. Not on purpose."

Thorax looked at Blue uncertainly; his eyes had regained most of their usual brightness when he then whispered, "What... What are you s-saying?"

Blue stood up slowly and placed a little weight on her encased but injured hoof. When only a few sharp sparks of pain came, as opposed to the agony that had surfaced before, she walked over to his side a little lamely. She kept her distance at first, eyeing him up quickly, before she then moved closer to his side and sat down beside him and said, "Everypony deserves a chance, whoever they are. And what you are, or what you've done, shouldn't really matter. Not if you have good intentions now."

Thorax gave a massive beam as he leapt to his hooves, his wings now buzzing frantically as he spun about on the spot. He giggled a little as he shot to the drawer and began to rummage about, eventually pulling out an old piece of leather. He then shot towards Blue and tied it loosely around her neck as if it were a sash, much to her—somewhat nervous—puzzlement. He then proceeded to tie the two thinner pieces of leather around her shoulders so as to hold it in position.

"Et, voila!" he cried as he tied of the second strap, then stepping back to admire his work. With a short but excitable nod he then picked up the rapier with his magic from Coalburst's side and floated it over slowly, aware of Blue's large eyes as it approached her. It was with the utmost care that he then pushed it through a small loop of leather that was attached to the sash, slipping the blade through until the handle was reached, at which point he let go. The rapier then sat quietly at Blue's side, pointing outwards from her body slightly, with the handle at the perfect height for her to whip it out.

"Thorax..." Blue whispered quietly as she looked down at the new adornment, rather rustic in comparison to her shiny silver armour. "Why would you give me this?"

Thorax smiled and nudged the handle of the rapier, reassured when the blade did not come close to her fur. "Somepony got it for me before the war. Well, somedragon really, but still. Either way, it was too small for me and rubbed whenever I put it on, but I always kept it 'cos it was a great friend who gave it to me. He was into his sword fighting, see; he liked all those old comics, y'know? Y'know what I mean, right?" Blue and Coalburst nodded quickly and Thorax sighed. "Oh, good! I got worried then, I thought you'd never seen one before! I mean, the ones that still exist are really old but they're really good still anyway!"

Coalburst, still sat a way off and still with a somewhat suspicious frown on her muzzle, rolled her eyes. "You're waffling," she said with a slight snort.

Thorax stiffened and rubbed behind his ears before he gave a quiet laugh. "Oh. Was I? Well, anyway, it's too small. But it's a really, really horrid world out there, and I'll bet it's tough not having magic to hold your weapons with! And that harness is great, 'cos it was designed to hold things like swords and guns and... well, whatever you want, really. Better access to things than a saddlebag, too. And I don't like the thought of you carrying that thing under your wing, anyway. Ugh."

Blue gave a small smile as she gripped the handle with her teeth, pulling the rapier out experimentally—the leather became softer when she did so—and beaming at the ease. She then turned around slowly and began to walk back towards the door, at which point she poked her head out quickly and, upon seeing no hostile attackers, she beckoned with her hoof for the other two to follow her. "Well, if we're going to travel together we may as well get on with it," she said with a laugh. Thorax needed no encouragement and zipped to her side, nearly knocking her over; Coalburst was slightly more reserved as she plod forwards, eyes still narrowed.

"How can you be so wimpy and then so confident all in the same hour?"

Blue laughed and stretched out her wing to pull the filly closer. She then nuzzled just below Coalburst's chin as she whispered, "I'm a wuss when it comes to fighting, I know. But at least I can be happy when I'm not being attacked, right?"

Coalburst smiled a little when she stepped away from Blue and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I s'pose," she grumbled in a teasingly grumpy voice, then she giggled a little bit as well. "So, are we going or what?"

Blue removed her wing from the filly’s back before she flicked her with her hoof, an act which made her wince. She then laughed and said, as she stepped slowly out of the room with Thorax at her side, “You were the one holding us up. But I don’t know this place, anyway; how would I know where we should start searching?”

“E-Excuse me?” Thorax’s quiet voice interrupted Coalburst’s attempt at speech, making the filly scowl and grumble. He sent her an apologetic glance before he then said, in an increasingly weak and timid manner, “Could we, y’know, search the head’s office first? I… I’d like to know what happened to all of my family and I…” Thorax spared a glance towards his dead and decaying comrades who lay littered across the steps before he finished with, “I think the best place to look would be there.”

Blue looked about the clearing before she nodded slowly and shrugged. “Well, we’ve got nowhere better to start, really. There might be some good stuff up there, anyway.” After a glance to Coalburst, who actually lost her grumpy scowl at the suggestion, Blue nodded and looked back to the changeling. Her eyes then landed on the pile of bodies which led up to where he was going and, in an instant, her determination mostly dissipated. “Uh… You first?”

Blue turned the key in her hoof slowly and grinned when the slight click of the lock opening was heard, despite her trembling body. Indeed, she hardly spared a moment before she shot into the room—she did not even notice when the key which she had thrown onto the ground morphed back into a panting Thorax. She then let out a held breath, more than a little relieved to be free from the starved corpses of changelings and ponies alike. When she did so, however, she suddenly realised she didn’t feel much more reassured; the impenetrable darkness of the room engulfed her, burned at her fur—or at least until Coalburst formed a few small flames in front of her horn to see a little better. When it transpired that there was a large, burned out lamp in the middle of the room, she then moved the flame, which needed only her magic as fuel, inside. She then picked it up with her mouth, her horn still alight, and cautiously passed it to Thorax.

The room which the trio now stood in was, in a word, bland. Just as the landings had been, this circular space was mostly devoid of any furnishings, the walls merely host to two doors which, presumably, led to other parts of the head pony’s lodgings. There was one exception, however, in the form of a weathered old wooden desk which was strewn with papers and over-sharpened quills.

Thorax was the first to approach the desk, shuffling through the papers slowly but without much interest, none evidently catching his interest. He muttered under his breath as he skimmed, uttering something about the “silly ponies!” and the “insanity of it all”. When he finally reemerged, however, he didn’t look displeased, per se; rather, he simply looked saddened. When Blue stepped forwards to question him, though, he held up a hoof and shook his head.

“D-don’t worry about me,” he said, a trembling smile on his face as he stood slightly taller. Though somewhat unsure, Blue was quick to take a step backwards as she ruffled her feathers. “There’s nothing here. Just the normal paperwork. Y’know, supplies, bills…”

Blue paused and raised a hoof, her eyes a frown. “Bills? Money’s still used, then?”

“No, not really. I… I should’ve said that better. It’s kinda like an old bill, but with… Well, a s-service in exchange.” Thorax gave a too-loud snort and turned away; his stunning, transparent wings glistened in the firelight as they dragged across the dusty wooden floor. “We should search these rooms, shouldn’t we?”

Before either pony could answer, Thorax opened the first door—it required something of a heavy-hoofed nudge to convince it—and stepped inside. He yelped as he did so, however, and was quick to scarper backwards, eyes wide as he reared up. From the blackness a small white foal shot out, its crystalline eyes pointing in opposite directions and its face coated in red. Blood already dripped from its side where a mangled wound could be seen, yellow and pussy and completely swollen. The poor thing’s legs were all battered and bruised, almost completely purple in colour. Its wings were tattered and featherless, quite horrific in appearance. But just as disturbing was the wet hiss which sounded from its mouth as it lunged towards Blue, mouth open and ready to bite; she screamed and shot up into the air, fumbling for the rapier as she did so. It slipped from the  harness easily, just as Thorax had promised earlier, but actually using the weapon proved a greater challenge; she swung rapidly as she whimpered, each attack uncoordinated and far from hitting its mark. All the while should couldn’t help but tear up a little, the sight of the mad foal whose sanity and very life had been stolen by the vicious reality of life painful.

She couldn’t do it—she couldn’t strike. The foal, however, was more than capable as it snapped at her hooves; she shot backwards and screamed before it then changed its target, spinning unsteadily on the spot and hurling its body towards Thorax. The changeling, in turn, whined loudly but held his own nevertheless; he lowered his head quickly and threw his head, his sharp, antler-like horns enough of a deterrence to make the foal change its mind once again. It then fumbled towards Coalburst, snapping and snorting, before a wall of flames burst into being above it. The filly strained to keep the fire controlled as it burned on the wooden floor; the mad foal hardly noticed, however, and fell through as if it did not even notice. Its eyes rolled into the back of its head as it did so, its flesh now charred and burning, and it fell to the ground before her hooves. It did not once cease in its frantic biting, however, and hardly seemed to even notice the agonising flames which had already burned its half-torn-out mane and tail to ashes; a second later, as it tried to rise up to its bloodied hooves, it spluttered and fell to the ground, its eyes swivelling with pinprick pupils but completely unseeing. It took a deep, final breath in and then lay completely still, other than the occasional twitch.

After a few seconds, Coalburst’s flames died out and she stumbled, suddenly looking exhausted. She coughed and spluttered a little, too, as she tried to bat the smoke which still lingered from her face; Thorax was quick to rush to her side, scooping her up onto his back and stepping towards the room from which the mad little foal had come. He whimpered as he passed it, tears shining in his pink eyes; as she fluttered to the ground and walked around it with a wide berth, Blue couldn’t help but feel the same way. She wasted no time in hurrying past and into the room, glad to be free from the corpse—the corpse of a foal who hadn’t deserved to die.

When Thorax and Coalburst had entered the room as well, Blue quickly bucked the door shut—only to realise that it was now completely pitch black. She moaned at the sight and hissed, in a shaky voice, “Coal, light!” before a feeble flame flickered into existence. It died out only a moment later, leaving the room’s occupants in darkness once more until the filly was able to make a slightly stronger flame. Well aware that she wouldn’t be able to make anything more substantial, Blue stumbled backwards slowly and began to whimper a little louder; when her hoof landed on something smooth and round she fell to her rump with a yelp, only to find a metallic torch at her hooves. She picked it up slowly and twisted the cracked and bloodied lid off, a frown on her muzzle before she grinned and climbed back up. She then limped sorely over to the filly and, trembling as she reached closer with her muzzle, she scooped the tiny flame into the torch. When she replaced the lid, dim light was then spread throughout the room.

“Good idea,” Thorax mentioned quietly, a small blush on his cheeks. Blue raised an eyebrow at the sight but did not question it; instead she trod closer to Coalburst and nudged the filly gently, rubbing a small patch of grim material from her cheek. When the latter gave a small, tired smile, Blue then returned the expression and turned away, drawing her rapier once again and walking forwards, the torch now held under her wing. Though slow to do so, Thorax followed suit.

By the looks of it, the room was—or, perhaps more accurately, had once been—a dining room and kitchen. A small square table—mahogany, by the looks of it—lay upturned to the side, crashed into what was probably some sort of painting (in the darkness it was hard to make much sense of it). Around the edges of the wall, blood-stained and scratched up worktops could be found, the heart of which was the large, ancient-looking stove with its towering smoke funnel that led outside. Though its doors were dented from, Blue presumed, continual bucking—at the hooves of the colt, no doubt—and its body was generally dirtied from both blood and grime, it was still quite a breathtaking thing.

The room was, upon further inspection, something of a let down in terms of its available loot. Empty packets—or half eaten boxes completely ruined either by mold or some foul smelling, putrid, lumpy green gunk that, truth be told, Blue was quite glad she didn’t know the identity of—were littered across the floor. It was quite clear that the foal had been trapped inside for some time, too; the numerous mounds of dung, oddly enough only in one corner, were proof enough of that—as was the fact that the piles no longer gave off a noxious stink.

“There’s nothing much here,” Thorax murmured as he walked forwards and pulled open a cupboard door, sniffing slowly. “Nothing made with even the slightest amount of love, anyway. I’m starving; I’d smell it if there was anything.”

Blue nodded, looking around as she walked forwards slowly. She kept her rapier clutched firmly between her teeth when she flew higher up and began to search through the semi-broken, wall-mounted cupboards; the only fruits of her labour were a few small sweets which had lain abandoned at the back of the last one that she searched, long since rendered inedible.

“That foal probably grabbed everything,” Coalburst murmured, giving a sigh once she had done so. She then struggled slowly and slipped from Thorax’s back to land a moment later with a cringeworthy thud. She didn’t complain, however, and instead hopped forwards wearily, her fore hooves dragging a little. She then crouched down and lit her horn ever so slightly, the nigh-on nonexistent light from doing so just enough for her to peek under the cupboards. After a few moments, she then pressed her muzzle underneath and her horn glowed more boldly before she jerked herself back out, spluttering and brushing dust from her nose as she did so. In her aura she gripped a meat cleaver triumphantly.

Blue rolled her eyes but grinned all the same before she then turned back to Thorax and trotted up to his side; every other step on her sore hoof made her wince slightly. She then pushed the door open slowly, waved the rapier around stepped back into the main entrance room.

“There’s nothing here,” she murmured whilst she used the rapier’s blade to push the now-dead colt’s body further from her; when she drew backwards, she cringed at the sight of the pus-tipped end. She then flew up into the air and hovered there slowly before she said, “So, who’s going first for the next room?”

There was silence for a moment before both Coalburst’s and Thorax’s eyes came to land on Blue. She was quiet for a moment before she fell back to the floor and galloped backwards, shaking her head wildly.

“No, no, no!” she hissed, her ears pinned. Her eyes were narrowed as she then said, “I’m not going in there first! If I know it’s clear then fine, I can do that, but I am not going in there first!”

Coalburst laughed and hopped forwards with her tongue stuck out. “Aww, poor baby!” she murmured, laughing. “Y’know, you’re not gonna get any better at living out here if you can’t open a door!”

Blue scowled and nudged the little filly’s shoulder, grinning at her stumble. “Oh, haha. Very funny, Coalburst.” She glowered a little before she then stood straighter and took a deep breath, a small smile then gracing her face. “Look, I’ll get there. But an insane foal just ran out of the last one and I had to watch it die right in front of me, and while you might be used to that it’s still a pretty new thing for me. So… just cut me some slack, alright?”

Coalburst was quiet for a moment before she grinned and nodded, her horn sparking. The magic was duller than usual, her reserves not quite restored yet, but she turned to the door anyway with her new knife in hoof. “Well, fine. But if we find anything good I’m having it!”

Blue laughed and beckoned for Thorax to come closer as she replied with, “Yeah, fine.” She then stepped an inch closer to the second door whilst Coalburst scooted quickly around the changeling and opened her wings, her rapier ready as per usual. She gave Thorax, who now looked more than a little hurt by the filly’s evident distrust, a small smile and draped her wing across his side (she couldn’t quite reach over the top of his back). He, in turn, smiled and wrapped his own hoof around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him and holding her there tightly for a moment. When she did not squirm, his smile only grew and he whispered, with his eyes still pinned on the door which the filly was now slowly pushing open, “You trust me?”

Blue nodded as she slipped out from the changeling’s hooves. “Well, yeah. Like I said, you’ve not done anything to make me not trust you.”

Thorax beamed and then stepped in front of Blue, his wings buzzing as he shielded her from whatever horrors might come out of the room. “Th-thank you. It means a lot.”

Blue laughed and stepped up to Thorax’s side, pushing him slightly out of her way. “No problem. But please, let me at least try and stand up for myself? At least until I pass out; then you can be my knight in shining armour, okay?”

“Yeah, su—“

“Oi!” Coalburst’s cry interrupted Thorax’s words and both he and Blue spun on the spot to see what was going on, the former now crouched low and ready to strike whilst the latter simply stood tall, or as tall as her slightly trembling legs would allow. When no attack came, though, and it transpired that the filly stood alone in the doorway, both sighed and relaxed as they stepped nearer. “Stop chattin’, lovebirds!”

Thorax shook his head as he gave a laugh. “I… I don’t think I would actually be this skinny if we were “lovebirds,” as you say,” he said, his steps cautious as he watched Coalburst’s eyes narrow as he drew closer. He was careful to stop a few metres away from her; plenty enough room for her to erect a fiery wall, should she so desire. When she realised that fact, she seemed to relax a little, so much so that she could even laugh a little.

"Well, yeah, maybe. You are kinda scrawny." She laughed and turned tail, though not without swishing it threateningly. "There's nothing in here; like, nothing. Maybe we should—“

Thorax raised a hoof and sniffed the air slowly before his eyes widened in delight; he stepped forwards slowly and brushed Coalburst out of his way with a gentle hoof. He then shot towards the opposite end of room, sniffing with his head low to the ground in a manner not so unlike the hound which had been following the two ponies before.

It was unnerving. But not so much as the sight which then met the pair's eyes; as Thorax's horns brushed against the wall, a low rumble sounded before dust fell from the roof, enshrouding the trio in a coating of grey powder. Once they had shaken it off, however, the wall began to crumble and then disintegrate before them—just as the door to the outside was blocked by a wall of its own, which formed from midair. It drew a whimper from Blue and Coalburst, both of whom had clamped tails and pinned ears; Thorax, however, did not make such a sound. Rather, an excited squeak came from his mouth and he shot into the enclosed space without a moment’s notice.

Blue glanced to the filly beside her, her legs and wings trembling as she did so; the feathers were filthy by now, coated with dust and debris and tiny flecks of blood. But, after a few weeks of being outside, she could just about stomach that now. The prospect of disappearing into a small room which had just appeared, quite literally, out of thin air, though? That wasn't so easy to accept. But, at Thorax's cry of amazement and beckoning hoof, both she and the filly found they had no choice but to follow. Coalburst did so especially slowly, her suspicious scowl back on her face once again.

The entrance to the hidden room was small and restrictive; had she been claustrophobic, Blue was certain she wouldn't have even gotten close to the rough, rocky tunnel which was by the looks of it, quite literally carved from the rock of the cliff. But, as she pushed her way through with splutters and coughs as dust filled her nostrils, she found her heart pumping strongly in her chest, a sure reminder that she could do this.

She would survive out here. That thought replayed itself in her mind as she scrambled after Thorax, wincing whenever she placed her hoof down on a particularly sharp stone or brushed her body against the unforgiving tunnel wall. Her rapier was kept by her side, ready to be unsheathed if need be, but with each step that she took Blue couldn’t help but feel like it was the right thing to do.

Coalburst, a mere filly, seemed to survive well out here—excluding the fact that she’d lost half of her leg, of course. And if she could do alright, then Blue could surely learn to be that way as well; once she found RipEar and bucked some sense into his stubborn mind, she would thrive. They would journey to whatever village he wanted to head to and set up a home—a stable home, to boot—there. And, she couldn’t help but imagine, maybe one day he would finally loosen up around her and accept her affections.

It was odd, she found herself thinking. Though she admired him and loved him in a friendly way, she was not particularly attracted to RipEar, per se. Rather, he was a stallion. And, for a mare in the middle of summer, he was a more than adequate candidate for a mate.

But then again, she hadn’t felt any needs for a while, now. A good few days at least. With that realisation in mind, Blue sighed and pushed her way forwards faster, content in the knowledge that she wouldn’t have to restrain her own desires again for a few weeks, at least. RipEar wouldn’t help her, anyway, and she didn’t exactly feel comfortable trying to get it on with Thorax.

Though presumably he wouldn’t refuse, either. He seemed more than willing to prove his trustworthiness.

Blue shook her head and laughed a little but, with her eyes closed, she soon found her muzzle squashed up against Thorax’s rump. She yelped and jumped back whilst Thorax reacted in an equal manner, though his yell was less loud and he recovered much quicker. He then laughed weakly, mumbling, “You should watch where you’re going, or you might, get hurt. And I, y’know, don’t want you to get hurt.” He then nudged a small button on the wall, stepping back to allow a trembling Blue and Coalburst out of the tunnel and into the clearing—and the sight that met their eyes could not have been predicted.

The room was small, wide enough for the three of them at a squeeze and only twice as long. The cramped feel was not helped by the feebly flickering glow of the lightbulb that dangled from the relatively low, rocky ceiling. Shadows, so dark that one could stretched across the majority of the space, formed by the few pieces of furniture which could be found inside. As seemed standard in the Chameleon facility there was a plain wooden dresser, though it did not show the scars of age, and a small, unbroken window which showed the illusion of the outside world. Coalburst smiled at the sight of it and glanced at the fragment in her hoof, smiling as a bird flew past the image of the sun. When she looked back up, she squealed as a small robin, its red breast fluffed out, then landed down on the window ledge. She trotted over and looked up to it, her mouth open in a small “oh”. Thorax trod closer tentatively and then lifted her up on his head, holding her between his antlers; she yelped and glared at him for a moment but, when she realised that he now held her right next to the window, she sighed and leaned in closer, grinning when the little bird turned to her and tweeted a few times. Though she could not hear it, a few small tears leaked from the corners of her eyes anyway.

Thorax grinned and looked to Blue, his eyes alight with glee. She, in turn, gave a smile and walked up to his side, patting him on the back with a feather. When she did so, however, she couldn’t help but feel that something suddenly wasn’t right; flying up a short distance so as to reach the light, she tilted it so as to move the shadows. A moment later, she gasped and fell to the floor with her wings clamped, her hoof raised accusingly. But she did not point and Thorax or Coalburst; instead, her gaze was directed towards the opposite end of the room which had not yet been investigated where, in the moving glow of the swinging light, two skeletons could be seen laying on a clean white mattress, a blanket pulled over them.

Coalburst grumbled a little and jumped down to the floor again as Thorax backed up a little as well. That being said, though, the way his wings were flared out wider than before indicated that he was in a defensive stance more than anything else.

“Really? C’mon, it’s just bones!” she whined as she stomped her hoof, her muzzle contorted—once again—in a scowl. Before she could say anything else, though, Thorax blushed a little and stepped closer—and promptly cut her off.

“No, it’s not just bones,” he said, his hooves now outstretched towards the bed. He then drew back quickly, a yellowed envelope which contained a pile of paper in his hooves. “These are… sort of like journal entries.”

“Huh?” Blue took a tentative step forwards and took the papers from him with her wing, then moving them towards her face. She scanned them quickly and frowned at the realisation that half of them were too faded to even be legible; with a small sigh, she then began to read the surviving entries out. It was at that point that Coalburst sat down with a sigh and rested her head on her hooves so as to let her eyes flutter shut, though whether she was interested or merely tired was a mystery.

Winter, 1107 ANM. I never knew they were building a new facility, especially not one so near to the village. Though I’m sure mother and Tourmee—oh, how disappointed she would be if she saw me calling her that—will be most upset that I left, I don’t doubt that I’ll be able to go back one day. Actually, scratch that. After all, I’m the head mare; maybe one day I will be able to let them in as well and they can live here in safety, instead of out in the wasteland of Equestria.

Spring, 1110 ANM. When I agreed to be head mare for the facility, I wasn’t quite aware how much work had to be done before it could be habitable—nor did I realise that I would be the one doing the majority of the work. Painting the rooms, furnishing them, the like. Nevertheless, I am quite pleased with how well my facility—my facility, how lovely it sounds—has turned out. Just a few final touches and it will at last be ready. The powers-that-be up in Canterlot have been most accommodating with my requests as well, bless their hearts. I just hope the medics and cooks will be as helpful—on which note, their arrival is much anticipated. Only seeing the same few delivery ponies for three years… I could do with some fresh new faces.

Summer, 1110 ANM. It took them long enough to get help in, but the few ponies who have turned up seem to be pleasant. Two guards, and I would mention that the younger has… something of an agreeable body. Silkiest brown coat I’ve ever seen, and my gosh, that mane! And then there’s his general build… I shouldn’t be surprised, earth pony stallions have something of a reputation for being stocky, though we mares tend to be a little less so. Whatever the case, I think I may be spending some time with him sooner or later.

Winter, 1110 ANM. The first occupants have come today, but I’m a little concerned. Oddly enough they are all either crystal ponies or, god forbid, changelings. They do their best and keep up a pony appearance, don’t get me wrong, but we all know who—and what—they really are. But I should be safe; I’ve got my guards. The food supplies for the residents are dwindling rather rapidly, though, and if Canterlot doesn’t send more soon I don’t think my two boys could stop the masses.

Fall, 1114 ANM. It’s sickening. Even little Pigeon, bless her heart, knows something isn’t right, and she’s only just turned four! But I can’t do anything about it; I have my orders, and I have to follow them, as I have done for years. I thought I would have authority and power when I came here first… It seems Canterlot has more influence than I could have imagined. Over my facility and over my mind, or so it seems sometimes. But I have to look after Pigeon; I can’t let her suffer the same fate as poor old Teacup. He did his best, and I’ll—we’ll—be forever grateful.

Fall, 1115 ANM. Just had the latest batch through. Five batches so far this year; the recruiters have been working overtime, I must say. As have I; every minute I spend thinking, daydreaming… But my thoughts are the stuff of nightmares. I once vowed to bring my family here, but I now know better. No one survives in here. No one.

Winter, 1115 ANM. My role here is nothing more than protocol. I keep up appearances and make every order for supplies, but my power is virtually that of the inhabitants. I have no magic to send the orders; I have to relay everything to Sparkes, and he’ll then put the order in. And every time he complains and, as he puts it, “fixes” my list. I can't even order a bowl of apples without his approval.

Spring, 1116 ANM. The doors were not properly locked to the rooms and almost all of the inhabitants are out. They know what's going on, now; they know this so called "salvation", as it was advertised, is more of a slaughterhouse. The changelings were different this time. Friendly, amiable, when they arrived. But when the doors were closed and they were shut into their rooms, the starvation turned them on eachother; once they broke out, there was little love left here for them to feed on, and even less actual food for the crystal ponies. And now I've had to flee my own room and cower up here in my hideout, my little Pigeon at my side. I have a few scraps of food, but the kitchen is off limits. A crystal foal got in, a mad'un, and I've nothing with which to fight him. Sparkes is alive, I imagine, but he has fled the scene. Buck has gone down; I heard his screams, his sacrifice for Pigeon and me now worthless. I fear it is only a matter of time; we have water and oxygen supplies to last a while, but there is only enough food to keep us alive for a few weeks or so; double that, if I go without. But for now, all I can do is fight and hope my strength is enough to break down this wall.

Spring, 1116 ANM. There is no rescue coming. Pigeon is so chipper, so happy, despite the bleakness of our situation. She does not understand. I envy her for that. I am starved, but she is quite content and developing something of a tubby belly. Over the sounds of fighting outside, it is the only thing that can make me smile these days. But I know what must be done, though the choice is a painful and heart-wrenching decision. I have a single sachet of a uni-vac herb in my possession, a painless and slow acting poison that was slipped into my coat pocket the first day I became the head mare of this cursed place. If I can feed it to her, she can drift off before I am gone, before she has to watch her mother die and before she then succumbs in the same agonising way as me. I now just need to find the courage to do so, before her happiness is gone and before I leave this world too.

Spring, 1116 ANM. My time is near. I have hardly the strength to lift my quill to write, but I must. Pigeon is aware that something is wrong but remains happy to stuff her face and play tiddlywinks. I made her a banquet of a meal earlier, too, with the basketful of food we have left. She rather enjoyed it, but didn't so much as question where the next meal was coming from. She does not realise it will be her last, but I am certain that it was enjoyable at least. And yet it breaks my heart to know that I am not only responsible for the death of numerous batches—how that word disgusts me—of changelings and crystal ponies, but I am the murderer of the sweet little foal in front of me. And I can see her drifting now, and she is getting weaker. She has climbed into my lap, has whispered in a feeble voice, "Tell me a story, Mama." And so I do, and I hug her tight to my chest with one hoof as I continue to write this last note, nonsense spewing from my mouth as I feel her body go limp in my hooves. And then her last breath, so small and from such a tiny foal, blows across my muzzle. And she is still, never to hear the end of my garbled story. And my tale is a warped one, and, as I clutch her warm but lifeless body close, I can only pray that if anyone finds these, they realise that I am no monster. I did not mean to do this; not any of it. And now I must pay for my unwanted crimes in a most horrible way; with my filly daughter, but a few years into her childhood, held to my chest in death as I succumb to my starvation. And I know that one day we will be reunited in fields of grass, but for now... Now I have only her lifeless body as a reminder of how I cou—

There was silence as Blue's voice trailed off and the trio looked around the room. Indeed, a half finished game of tiddlywinks could be seen by the bed and, with a quill laying next to the mattress' side, the two skeletons were clutched tightly in an embrace. The smaller was well protected by the larger, whose hooves were gently wrapped around the fragile bones in a tender hold.

Blue whimpered quietly, and even Coalburst looked shaken as she whispered, "I think we should just go and let them sleep." And, though each knew it was as far from the truth was as possible, Blue and Thorax both nodded and began to back away slowly, creeping back through the tunnel with trembling bodies and tear stained cheeks.

And all the while, the mother and daughter lay in their long-cold bed, held in an eternal embrace.

Ambitions

Though a sense of duty prompted the three to search the rooms of the long-dead inhabitants, they did so reluctantly and without a word. A few unenthusiastic grunts and murmurs made up the extent of their conversations, and even then they were quiet and forced at best.

Perhaps, at some point, the rooms may have been filled with useful and valuable loot; a few were still home to the starved corpses of imprisoned crystal ponies and changelings. Colts and fillies, hatchlings and grubs, it made no difference. The few who had not escaped from their rooms still had succumbed to the same cruel and horrific fate as their comrades.

It made Blue feel sick.

Neither she nor the filly, however, could claim to be nearly as pained by the entire experience as Thorax was. The sight of each downed crystal pony made him whimper a little, and whenever they stumbled upon an empty room semi-ravaged by bite marks he would freeze in the doorway, only able to stumble forwards numbly and murmur a few words of quiet, near-incomprehensible gibberish. But when the room was home to a changeling? Well, he did not react at all; he merely glanced about the room and blinked a few times, then sluggishly hauling his hooves forwards into the room. He would only manage to get a few steps away from the door, however, before his wings and tail and ears would droop and his eyes would lose any trace of shine they may have had before.

Despite the fact that she had lived out here all of her life, Coalburst, though not looking as miserable as her companions, was more than a little depressed herself. It was a fact of which Blue could understand oh so well; her excitement when they had arrived outside was so great, so genuine, only for it to be torn to shreds by the reality of this place. Truth be told, she was completely wrong now to have thought so poorly of her facility; their intention had not, she presumed, been to kill her outright. It was only when she outlived her use there that they decided to do so; here, every pony who stepped hoof through the door was doomed from the get go.

Except Thorax, of course, but it was hard to say that he was not doomed. His face, so lacking in any form of emotion, was surely evidence of his great suffering. Nevertheless, he followed the pair without question and did as he was told; after half-heartedly changing into a fly and floating out of the facility, he then returned slowly and morphed back into his standard form, panting a little but without much other reaction. He was simply quiet.

“We’re clear,” he grunted. He then turned tail once again and crept out through the charred hole in the wooden door; after a moment’s hesitation, Coalburst and Blue crept after him on their bellies. The former, taking up the rear—after all that she’d seen, Blue had refused point blank to leave last, though it was quite clear that there was nothing alive left to haunt them—couldn’t help but falter before she finally slipped out with a sniffle and sigh.

After being in the facility for hours, or weeks in Thorax’s case, the cold air of the outside world was unpleasant to say the least. Each little drip of water on the floor of the rocky tunnel sent chills through the spines of each pony. Every gentle, stray breath of wind made them whimper and cringe. It wasn’t long before they mutually agreed on ascending to a gentle trot in order for their muscles to simply produce a little more heat; Blue had fluffed up her feathers almost instinctively the second she stepped away from the facility whilst her teeth chattered rapidly.

The burn of lactic acid rose up quickly, though the delay was longer than it would have been the few weeks ago when Blue left the facility. As she fought to ignore the pain, it was that which she focused on; how long, exactly, had she been outside? She’d spent a week at the village, about a week getting there, and it had probably been close to a week since RipEar had disappeared. The thought of him was unpleasant and she gritted her teeth so as not to let herself think on his fate too much; he was strong, and he was not as inexperienced as she. He had lived outside for his entire life, just as she had done, but the key difference was that he knew of his past. He would remember how to survive.

"Um, e-excuse me?" Thorax whispered as he fell backwards—his longer legs were a bonus in the speed department—so that he trotted slowly by Blue's side now. He panted as he did so and his voice sounded pained, but he didn't stop. "Are you alright? I mean, I don't want to just butt in but... well, you look pretty down."

"Oh. No, no, I'm fine." Blue's smile was forced, at best. "Just... I'm worried about my friend is all."

Thorax frowned and cocked his head a little as his eyes darted between his two companions. "What, you mean Coalburst? She looks alright, y'know, but I'm s—"

"No, no, no," Blue cut in with a shaking head, her smile only slight less fake—but it was an improvement. "Another friend. He... he ran out on us a week or so back, probably."

"But... why would he do that? Doesn't he realise how important it is to have friends out here?"

Blue whimpered quietly. "That's not it. It... it was my fault. He was deaf, but I never actually... I never realised it, Thorax. Can you imagine how hard it must have been for him, living with such a massive secret on his shoulders?"

Thorax whimpered slightly and hung his head, a few tears glistening in his eyes. "Yeah, I can imagine... just how awful that must be. Poor stallion."

"Thorax?" A frown emerged on Blue's face as she slowed her trot and then took slowly to the air, her wings feeling ever so heavy. Similarly to her legs, though, they also had strengthened over the weeks. "Are you..."

"Oh, don't worry about me!" Thorax said with a gasp, his eyes suddenly wide after he brushed the tears out of them. He buzzed his wings and grinned. "I couldn't be happier to be out of there, y'know?"

Coalburst glowered slightly from her position a few metres away and stuck her nose up in the air slightly, her ears fallen but, significantly, not pinned. Her reaction was not one of malice. She could be dealt with later, though; clearly she was happy to wallow in her own pity for a little while. It would probably do her good; help her to accept the harsh reality. And so instead, Blue fluttered closer to Thorax and said, in a slightly shaky squeak, "Well, I never realised. He... He was ashamed by it, but if I'd known I could've helped him! But I... I never realised. I never realised. And I shouted at him for never letting me have a say, never letting me know his plans, when all along he was just trying to keep me safe..." Coalburst, though still a way off, had pricked a single ear at Blue's speech. In turn, she took a deep breath before she then continued in a  whispered voice, "It was my fault he was deaf. I don't know why, but he said something about... about it being my fault for not being able to cope alone, or something. I don't know why he said it and why it makes a difference, but... but he blames me. For some reason. And I..." Blue whimpered a little before she began to sob, her words somewhat hard to hear when she at last finished with, "I can't remember. I can't remember anything."

Thorax's eyes widened and he glanced over Blue's body, his eyes then darting between her mane, her eyes and her covered flank. In a quiet but somewhat firm voice, he then whispered, "You're a part-amnesiac." It was not a question. Before she could reply, though, he finished with, "You can't remember anything. But you can remember, if you try to. And I..." He lowered his head and looked away as he said, "I can help you remember, if you want?"

Blue's wings slowed almost instantaneously and she dropped from the air, landing with a painful thud on her chest. She winced as she then jumped unsteadily back up to her hooves and beamed at Thorax, her pale grey eyes now shining not with tears but with glee. "You know how?"

Thorax grinned and stepped backwards slowly, accepting Blue's eager hug after he had nodded. He then sighed and held her there for just a moment before he said, in a much more confident voice than before, "I know how, sure. Or, I know how to make remembering easier, anyway. I... I used to help my h-hivemates." He gave an explosive laugh. "When they were alive, anyway."

There was silence for a few moments before Thorax sighed and began to heave his legs forwards again, but he was groaning by now. Hardly a moment later his overworked legs gave way under him and he found himself laying rather painfully on his stomach in the thin cover of grass, his eyes dull once again. Blue was still for a moment before she then approached, but the words which came next were not from her.

"You feel guilty, right? Like it's all your fault, like you mucked up... all the things." Coalburst stepped forwards, now sniffling a little. Even with him laying down, she was still shorter. "I'm right, I know I'm right. 'Cos I can see it in your eyes and everything."

"It doesn't matter."

"But—"

Coalburst trailed off when Blue trotted to her side and placed her hoof on the filly's lips. She then turned to Thorax and stared at him directly, eye to eye; a moment later, she tried to smile and fell down on her rump. After she had glanced about herself quickly, scanning the just-about-grassy landscape before she sighed and lay down. With a wing, she then dragged Coalburst to her side and pulled a few loose twigs and scraps of dry grass to her side, placing them between herself and the changeling. She nodded to the pile before she let her eyes come to rest on Coalburst; after a few moments, the filly caught the silent command and made a small spark. The sticks immediately burst into flame. With both the magic and the fuel to keep them burning, they were warm and bright against the bleakness and crackled reassuringly, encasing the trio in warmth and warding off almost any stray beasts that could wander near.

"You don't have to talk about anything if you don't want to, Thorax. Not yet, at least." Blue gave Coalburst a pointed scowl. She then returned her attention to him, his face slightly obscured by the fire, and she beamed; doing so seemed to draw out a little of the gloom from his face. "But... I need to remember who I was—who I am. And I would love it if you could help me. One friend to another."

"Really?"

Blue nodded, joined soon after by an only-slightly-reluctant Coalburst. "Friends."

Aerial Views

With the survival skills of Coalburst, who’d spent her whole life outside, and Thorax, who'd been out here for a whole century, the week of wandering aimlessly could have been a lot worse than it was. The Undiscovered West, being the main target of Celestia’s oh-so-ironic spell, had been almost barren of life; though an incredibly weak disease which could be beaten ever so easily by the immune system—it was how fillies such as Coalburst could live for so long, potentially, before being infected—the sheer concentration of the plague had obliterated but a few life forms. It was quite possible that the cragodile swamp had been the only example of life out there—with the exception of a few stray flies, of course.

As the trio wandered further into Equestria proper, however, Blue couldn’t help but be amazed at the almost sudden change. Though the landscape was still much more depressing a sight than she had seen from her window in the facility, it was also far from as it had been. The ground cover was still somewhat lacking—such was the case all over the land, according to Thorax. Many of the trees were still dead and decaying, as well. But otherwise, things looked surprisingly… alright. The swollen, juicy blades of grass could be found every now and then—though, with that being said, they were too small to be a proper meal. Similarly, scattered amongst the bark of long dead giants, young bushes grew up tall; blackberries and hazel, especially, seemed to have come out of their ordeal somewhat for the better. Once again there was not enough wild forage to sustain two ponies, or even one alone, but the enlarged berries and oversized leaves at least filled the growing hole in Blue’s stomach.

She grumbled as she trod along, having fallen behind Thorax and Coalburst by now. It had been weeks, quite literally, since she had had a proper meal. She sighed longingly at the thought of her last supper in the facility, the taste almost real on her tongue; a large, buttery jacket potato dripping with melted cheddar cheese, her favourite meal. Arguably a heart attack on a plate, but oh, was it worth it! But now, stuck out here with only a few meagre shoots on which to nibble, even the sight of a Uni-vac health bar—completely void of flavour—would have been enough to send her insane.

That word took on a whole other meaning in Plague Equestria, though.

“Hey Blue!”

“What now?” Blue moaned, her head hung low. “Can’t you see that I’m busy being grumpy?”

Coalburst giggled and skipped to her side, trotting around her bouncily. “Sure I can. It’s kinda funny!”

Blue rolled her eyes but smiled anyway, though her chirpiness fell when she noticed the sight of ribs protruding slightly on Coalburst’s side. Whereas she was accustomed to being fed at a set time each day, the little filly before her was used to going hungry. She was far from quiet when she did get that way—one could get sick of her whining voice quite easily—but she seemed appreciative of any food and would be quiet after filling herself so slightly. What right did Blue have to complain?

With her stomach growling, Blue grumbled and ruffled her feathers before a thought struck her. After a moment’s pause to consider the recklessness of the action, she then opened her wings to pull Coalburst up onto her back. After she had done so, she trotted forwards so as to catch up to Thorax, moving with a skip in her step; Coalburst squealed with delight as she did so. Thorax, too, laughed at the sight. It took all of Blue’s willpower to not glower at him for being so well covered. Instead, she then opened her wings and flew slowly up into the air, only a metre or so, and hovered there for a few seconds. She beat her wings heavily and began to breathe deeply as she then slowly, slowly began to fly forwards; the filly’s truly delighted laugh as she swerved a little made all the struggle worth it.

“Hold on, Coal!” Blue cried in an only slightly strained voice before she beat her wings especially strongly and beckoned for Thorax to give her a hoof. He obliged without the slightest hesitance, placing one hoof under her stomach and one on Coalburst’s back as he helped her fly up higher into the overcast sky. All the while the filly squealed and gasped as the landscape shrunk slowly before her very eyes, each rock and tree getting smaller and smaller until she could see for hundreds of metres all around. She then coiled her hooves tightly around Blue’s neck and rested her head in the mane, her eyes large as they scanned the landscape below.

For all the destruction and death, the world was still reasonably beautiful. From their elevation, the patchy grass almost blurred into one large cover and the surviving plants and bushes and trees, mutated in a whole array of colours both bright and not so, made the whole scene resemble something from a fairy tale. A few animals pranced about the ground here and there; a pair of bengal kittens with ears not unlike those of elephants played together carelessly as their mother, easily the size of a pony, watched over them. She flapped her own massive ears and glanced up to the trio in the sky, her gaze focused on them as she scooted slightly closer to her offspring. When she then lay down at their side they all but pounced at her muzzle; mewling, she covered them over so as to hide them from view. She opened her mouth in a gentle meow, though it was inaudible from the elevation, just as a low crack of thunder somewhere in the distance made all three ponies jump ever so slightly. Naturally, Blue reacted the most.

Still trying to distract herself from her hunger, she swerved to the left with a slightly strained moan and then began to look about herself. She winced when she felt the burn of her wing muscles as they strained to keep both her and the filly airborne. It wasn’t long before something interesting caught her eye, however; just on the outskirts of what was once a woods, and which now seemed to be little more than an abandoned graveyard, a small wooden shack stood. It was half fallen down and surely a little draughty, but that didn’t mean that it was worthless—in the food department, mainly.

“Hey, Thorax,” she whispered, her voice now somewhat raspy as she stretched out a fore hoof. “Look down there.”

The changeling, wary of leaving Blue to fend for herself so high up, kept both of his hooves firmly where they were as he redirected his gaze downwards. When he did so, he kept quiet for a few moments before he then said, “I can sense your excitement. You… You want to go down there, don’t you?” He glanced to Blue and frowned, his head cocked slightly. When a single drop of rain landed with a small splash upon his muzzle, however, he jerked his head upwards to the sky momentarily.

“I… I’m really hungry,” Blue admitted with a sigh, though she cringed when Coalburst gently jabbed her unarmored neck with a fore hoof. She did her best to ignore it. “And… well, we haven’t been inside for a week. Not since we left the…” She faltered in her sentence and frowned before she settled on, “Not since we left.”

“Y’know,” Coalburst interjected, shifting about a little and making Blue drop slightly downwards at the change, “most ponies don’t moan ‘cos they cant go inside at night.”

Thorax frowned. “I… I don’t want to argue, but she does maybe have a point,” he said, wincing when another droplet landed on him, just above his eye this time. “It’s trying to rain, and I don’t know about you but I don’t enjoy being out in it.”

Coalburst rolled her eyes slightly. “I wasn’t saying we can’t go there!” she said, laughing. She then sat up straighter on Blue’s back and wobbled momentarily, after which she nudged her side and said, “I just said she moans a lot! She’s too fancy to be out here! We like roughin’ it!” Coalburst gave a meek laugh. “Well, Mum always told me that. I kinda think she was trying to… make me believe her, but I don’t believe her really. But it’s better to pretend it’s a fun life, even though it kinda sucks.”

Blue rolled her eyes and bent her neck around to hug the filly slightly. “You silly filly!” she teased, laughing a little herself—or, at least, until the first few drops began to land on her fur. She shivered and shook her dampened fur, then focusing on the shack. “Please tell me we’re in agreeance that we should go down there, then?”

Thorax nodded, then pulling a pouting Coalburst from Blue’s back and holding her in his hooves, just below his chest. Though still wary, she’d at least come to realise that, if he hurt her, she would never be his friend again and would not give him any love. “Well, I don’t mind,” he whispered, smiling feebly. “And you don’t, right, Coalburst?”

The little filly struggled and kicked a little, her pout now larger. The sight of her flailing about with her stump of a leg, however, was more comical than anything; when she realised this, she hung her head and said, “Fine. But only if you put me down quickly!”

Thorax’s smile was a mixture of amusement and disappointment. “Sure thing.”

Coalburst, after having wriggled her way free from Thorax’s grip a few metres above ground, shook herself off quickly when she landed. Stumbling a little to regain her balance, she then waited quietly for Thorax and Blue to land before she grinned and placed a hoof on the rickety door, after which she pushed it open almost effortlessly.

The rain was getting heavier now, even though it had been a meagre drizzle just a few minutes before hand. As such, it took no encouragement for the three, after a quick survey of the room to check for any waiting threats, to zip inside, Blue reluctantly entering last; she did not even take a second to breathe before she slammed the door shut behind her, glancing back quickly before she whispered, “You don’t think that cat will find us in here, do you?”

“We should be alright. I… I don’t think she’ll leave her kittens. They’d be a rather tasty meal for a hungry… Well, something hungry.” He smiled and stepped forwards slowly as if to test the waters; when Blue did not react, he pulled her to his side protectively and ruffled her mane gently. “Besides, she’s just a cat. And we have a fire-spitting filly on our side.”

“Hey!” Coalburst hopped forwards and bared her teeth slightly in a snarl before she snapped back, “I’m not a dragon, you know!”

Thorax recoiled slightly and lowered to the ground, whimpering as he cried, “Sorry!” When Coalburst’s eyes softened and she jumped back, smiling sheepishly, he then rose unsteadily to his hooves and eyed her warily, ears fallen and his tail between his legs. “Sorry!” he repeated, his voice quiet.

“Coalburst!” Blue hissed, eyes narrowed at the filly. “Now look what you did! He didn’t mean any harm, you know.” When the filly whined and lowered her head, sitting heavily on her rump with her head now lowered, Blue smiled at Thorax. “Seriously, though. She doesn’t hate you. I thought you said you could sense emotions; can’t you tell that?”

Thorax stood a little taller and sniffed the air deliberately a few times, then licking his lips as if tasting something. “Well, maybe,” he whispered, his eyes landing on Coalburst’s as she, too, stood up. He then walked towards her slowly and held out a hoof, tentative, before she took it and rolled her eyes. Her hoof was tiny when compared to his, but she shook his slowly nevertheless. You… you don’t hate me?”

“Well, you’re not my favourite pony, but…” Coalburst laughed but stiffened a little at Blue’s pointed glare. “No, I don’t hate you. I still don’t know if I wanna trust you and all but I don’t hate you. ‘Cos, y’know, you haven’t attacked me yet.” She took a slow step back. “But you are a changeling, fancy shell or not, so you’re gonna have to be real nice if you want to be my friend.”

Thorax stood taller and buzzed his wings as he nodded eagerly. “Yes, Ma’am!” he shouted, suddenly ever so happy. “What do you want me to do first?”

Coalburst eyes brightened with delight. “A leg rub would be great?”

Thorax shot forwards and all but bowled the little filly over in his enthusiasm; in the end, she got away with a just-about-gentle push onto the floor. He then immediately got to work, massaging the tense muscles in the little filly’s legs in such a way that, once her grumbling had dissipated, drew low “ooh”s  from her. After opening her mouth to retort, that alone was enough to make Blue step back and let Thorax ease the filly’s pain somewhat—though even she kept a watchful eye over her shoulder.

Instead, spurred on by her growling stomach, Blue lowered herself slightly and began to rummage through the shelves. She sniffed continuously as she did so, pushing aside empty cans and packets in her search. She did not mind that they clattered most noisily to the ground, nor was she put off by the roaring of the rain outside and the droplets which crept in through the hole-ridden wall. She only had one thing on her mind; food.

That all changed, however, when her rummaging led her to the back wall of the shack; as she pushed her way through the rubbish, she drew back in shock when something odd came to her attention. It was a small rock, not unlike silver in terms of colour, in the shape of a paw print. When she reached forwards slowly to pick it up, however, she found it stuck in place; after a few attempts at pulling it out, she then grumbled in defeat and struck at it with her hoof. When she turned to continue her search elsewhere, though, she found that the wooden floor beneath her hooves suddenly opened and fell away into a slope. And, try as she might, she could not prevent her fall—and nor could she stop Thorax and Coalburst from following, shooting down what appeared to be a slide after her and shouting all the while.

Prongs

Blue couldn’t help but scream as she hurtled down the slide, the only occasionally rough surface snagging at the skin uncovered by her armour—but not so much that she could stop. For all of her attempts to regain control, as well as Thorax’s and Coalburst’s magical intervention, she could only hope that the unpleasant trip would end soon.

And end soon it would, as she realised when a dim yellow light appeared not too far away. Holding her breath and squinting her eyes, she whimpered as the slide finally ended in something resembling a ramp. Her momentum kept her going, even as she was launched into the air; for a few moments, she was airborne. Without the time to react and to open her wings, however, she found herself landing chest first on her armour on the almost solid ground, pain sent through her body in waves. Thorax and Coalburst followed soon after, though they, at least, had learned from Blue’s distress; the former opened his wings in readiness and managed to keep airborne and the little filly, with a screwed up and pained face, was able just about able to slow her fall with her magic before she smashed into the dirt; as it was, she landed with a cringeworthy thud as opposed to the muted boom that Blue’s fall had caused.

After the noise from the falls had quietened, there was silence. Or, rather, there was silence until the three came to their senses and looked up so as to assess their surroundings—only to see a small herd of creatures staring down at them with wide eyes.

At a glance, one would perhaps have called them deer. The truth of the matter, however, was that they most certainly were not normal; first there were the pastel spots their backs, not unlike those of a fawn except in a rainbow palette as opposed to a shade of white. That alone would have hinted at the fact that they were some rare subspecies—but the massive, rabbit-like paws which replaced their forelegs put everything back into doubt even more.

No-one, neither deer nor pony nor changeling, said a word; each just stared their new company down and assesed them ever so carefully. Every little snort or sniffle did not go unmissed and instead drew the attention of each individual, everyone present suddenly alert and on the tips of their hooves—or paws. Even to breathe was loud in the situation.

Or, such was the case until a loud voice—similar to the one which had blared across the loudspeakers back in the facility—broke the near silence. The voice was feminine undeniably and had hints of melodic notes in it. That gentleness was overruled by the loud and angry intention it portrayed.

"Close the hatch, you stupid fawns!" the speaker cried as she pushed forwards through the small crowd. They parted almost without a word, falling in a bow as they did so. She did not smile at the sight; she merely threw her head around so as to clear out the final few stragglers with her antlers. In the yellow light of glowing fungi which grew around the walls she was quite a sight.

Or, so Blue thought at first. It was then, however, that she realised that the deer's muzzle was less curved than any doe's would be and their muscle mass was much too pronounced—and, below their stomach, an extra flap of skin confirmed the truth.

"Yes, my king!" a young doe squeaked as she shot past the trio, her delicate paws pounding against the dirt as she sped next to the end of the slide. Blue watched quietly as she stepped away from the large buck, closer to her companions. At the same time she kept a careful eye on the doe, whimpering under her breath as the little thing pulled on a lever made of vines on the wall; a loud thud sounded soon after and Blue yelped as she fell to her hooves, whimpering a little whilst she cowered. When no attack came, however, she then stood up slowly and looked about nervously as the somewhat amused faces of the now-standing deer surrounding her. It was at that moment that the large buck stepped forwards and hooked his antler under her leather harness before pulling her up to her hooves.

"Who," he hissed, his teeth bared, "are you?" The buck dropped her to the ground and began to pace around her as he tugged at her feathers and tapped her silver armour. He then changed his focus onto Coalburst, his eyes narrowed at the sight of her cutie mark—and then he noticed Thorax, now cowering a little way away with his hooves over his head. But, rather than eyeing him with disdain, the deer then simply frowned and stepped closer, his body threatening but not, as of yet, ready to attack. "And what are you?" He nudged Thorax's antlers with his own and laughed at their lack of grandeur, at least when in comparison.  "Are you some mutated fawn, come to challenge me for my herd and family?"

Thorax yelped and scarpered backwards, an action which only caused the gathered herd to snicker a little. He then nodded quickly, eyes wide. "Yes! Yes, that's it! I'm... I'm a deer! A mutant deer! Yep, that's definitely what I am!"

The buck raised an eyebrow and dug at the dirt slowly with his paw. "You are sure? You seem most uncertain in that claim."

"Of course I am sure!" he cried, nodding ferociously. "I know what sort of—"

"Ugh! Quit lying, Thorax!" A silence descended once more as Coalburst stared at each pony, her muzzle a scowl. "A buck? I mean, come on! Look at him!" She gestured with a fore hoof and wobbled a little when she found herself balancing only on two. "He's a changeing."

"What?" The buck leapt backwards, eyes now massive. Coalburst snorted and grinned before she gave a curt nod and flicked her tail in triumph.

"Yup! So that means he could change into some huge, ginormous buck and squa—"

The buck held up a forepaw and pressed it most forcefully to Coalburst's lips, so hard that she was knocked backwards. She, in turn, yelled and leapt backwards just as Blue—after a moment's consoderation—shot forwards to pull her back anyway; though she trembled at the sight of the massive buck, she still held the little filly to her chest protectively and sent a shaky scowl the king's way.

"A changeling? That's a stretch to believe, foal; he hasn't got any black chitin on him at all. And these pathetic antlers and funny little"—He tapped the brightly-coloured bulges on Thorax's chest—"orbs are most certainly not a... typical attribute of changelings." The buck laughed and began to prance about; as he did so, he snapped with strong teeth at Coalburst, his eyes glinting. "Explain that, pony!"

Coalburst sat up straighter and grinned. "He's... he's a nice changeling, that's why? Uh, reformed! That's the word!"

A low gasp resonated throughout the crowd and the deer simultaneously leapt backwards, whispering in hushed voices and dancing on the spot. A few bleated and bellowed and bucked as they did so; a low whining signalled a fawn's distress. Worst of all was the reaction of the King, however; he snorted loudly and pawed at the dirt, his eyes flashing as he shouted, "A nice changeling! You stupid pony foal! You are exactly like the rest of your foolish species; holier-than-thou, every one of you!" He snorted even more and snapped his teeth again; all of a sudden, his antlers appeared sharper, deadlier. "Changelings are a race infinately more admirable than yours, equine. You have no right to scorn them when it is your princess who caused this whole mess!"

Coalburst gritted her teeth together and stood up, her horn sparking slightly. "My princess! She was just trying to save us when they attacked! The changelings teamed up with Sombra and they were the ones that tried to kill us!" she yelled, her ears now pinned. Her body scrunched itself up and her neck shot up high into the air. Her eyes glinted dangerously. "If Celestia didn't try to help the changelings would've stolen all of your love and killed you!"

The king's tail flicked a little as he turned slightly and began to pace around Coalburst, each thunderous step making the cavern threaten to fall in on them. "And this—" He waved a fore paw around his herd as he continued in his feminine voice, "—is thus fine, is it, little filly? The changelings never killed anypony in their day! They hid in the shadows, fed off love on the sidelines, and did they ever hurt anypony? No, they did not! They did what they had to do to survive, little foal, but your species... You became paranoid, evil. Chased them from your villages and doomed them to starve to death!

"We do not trust ponies. You are an insufferable species, ever blaming the changelings for this mess when your kind drove them to attack in the first place! Their siding with Sombra was a mistake, but one made out of desperation; we understood that desperation. You ponies always destroyed our forests to build your farms and orchards! Your boutiques and your restaurants! And then the war began, and it was inevitable, you foal! The changelings were starved for centuries, with only the love of the falling deer kingdoms to sustain them.

"And then your princess doomed us all. Released this blasted disease and then locked away her precious few in Canterlot. And was there a single deer or changeling in that city? No, of course there wasn't. We were all left to perish. And now look at us, one of the few herds left and unrecognisable as a species. Mongrels!"

Thorax whimpered and approached slowly, cautiously. "I... I wouldn't call you unrecognisable," he murmured, his head low and his eyes wide. "You look mostly like normal deer, except for... Well, y'know, the spots and the paws. But... they're not b-bad!" The king snorted and thinned his eyes at Thorax, nostrils flared; he scarpered backwards and hung his head, whimpering as he did so. When the massive buck stepped closer, he trembled even more and scrunched his eyes shut. He waited. But the blow he was waiting for never came.

"You know what I, for one, like about the changelings as a species, little intruder?" he hissed, though he retreated now to eye Thorax—who shook his head quickly—a little less threateningly. "I like their attitude, both in general and to society. Strong, confident warriors that don't take any nonsense. I appreciate that ethic. But even more than, or perhaps despite that, each drone contributes to society and each has their own place, defined from birth. There are no struggles between the ranks and no drone is better than any other. They may all be starving but, nevertheless, they all get the same feeble amount of love from the communal pool as the others.

"Ponies... Ponies are not like that. Ponies are greedy." He glowered at Thorax and ground his teeth together so that they squeaked. "But what about you? You claim to be a deer, she calls you a changeling, but I can sense neither the magical aura about your antlers, as is customary for we deer, nor do you have the changeling's confidence. But you... you are not a pony. Your scent is not so repulsive as that of these two." He nodded to Coalburst and Blue and sent them a nasty grin. Both, in turn, bridled and looked away.

Thorax was quiet for a moment before he sat a little straighter and mumured, "I'm a changeling," in a quiet, uncertain little voice. When the king cocked his head and thinned his eyes, he then whimpered and scooted even further back so that he was pressed up against the dirt wall.

"Then why would you claim not to be?" the king boomed in his delicate—but still intimidating—voice.  After a few moments, however, he relaxed a little and softened his severe expression. "Perhaps because you fear reprisal or detest? I have heard equines are not so... accepting of changelings as deer."

"Y-yes."

"I see." The king spun around to face his herd and yelled, with a rear hoof raised warningly should Blue or Coalburst or Thorax move, "What do you say, my does and fawns? Is this intruder worth a chance?"

A low murmur rung out through the crowd. Assent.

"Well, little... changeling. Here's your chance; turn into one of your little friends over there, and prove your claim once and for all."

Thorax whimpered a little and hid under his hooves slightly, his ears fallen, but soon forced himself to sit a little straighter. He then closed his eyes, took a shuddery breath and let his magic overcome him; a moment later, a perfect clone of Coalburst sat in his place, a cheeky grin upon its muzzle. The mouth parted in a relieved sigh before the disguise then fell away to leave Thorax now sat quietly on the floor with large eyes, awaiting judgement. And it came a few moments later when the buck smiled slightly and nodded, then shouting back to the herd, "Return to your preparations. I shall have someone deal with the newcomers from here out."

Thorax gasped and leapt to his hooves, his wings buzzing and eyes now alight as he shot over to Blue's and Coalburst's side. They, in turn, grinned at him in a mixture of joy and relief that they were not about to be pummelled to death by a herd of vengeful ungulates.

What a strange world they lived in.

Points of View

"Please, excuse the mess and chaos."

It was a doe, somewhere between the ages of Blue and Thorax, who had spoken. Her voice held an air of intelligence and refinement, a tongue perfected over years of careful studying and teaching in the village school. That fact alone, when revealed, had left Coalburst a little gloomy; she didn't complain, but the less than exaggerated hops were a sure indication. It was almost as if she was simply dragging herself along.

"This place... Is everyone normally this... crazy?" Thorax looked about himself quickly and just avoided a scarpering fawn who ran past; when the thing's eyes landed on him, it came to an abrupt stop and rose a paw quickly to its antler buds in a salute. For a moment, it stayed frozen in that position. When Thorax opened his mouth to question it, however, it shot off once more. The ageing doe giggled.

"Oh, it is not normally so hectic," she said, walking with slightly more swing in her step. Her small tail flicked as she did so, her hips swaying slightly. "Somebuck found a pony outside a few days back. The poor thing was barely alive... Well, our medics did what they could; despite the fact that he was a pony, he was still an animal of Equestria and we pride ourselves on helping those who need it. But, alas, our efforts were for nought and he died soon after. So we're holding a funeral on his behalf; we need not stoop to the level of greed and selfishness of you ponies."

Coalburst ground her teeth so that they squeaked and opened her mouth to snap back, but Blue was the first to reply. She shot into the air and in front of the doe, flapping her wings heavily and panting whilst she said, "The pony! What did he... what did he look like?"

The doe stopped and rose her fore paw, frowning at Blue. "Of what importance is that information to you?" After a few seconds of waiting, her eyes then softened and her tail fell. "You have lost a friend?"

Blue nodded slowly and whimpered as she fell to the floor. She landed with a small sniffle; Coalburst and Thorax both rushed to her side to surround her in an embrace. She backed up quickly, however, and slipped from their hooves so that she could stare once again at the doe.

"I'm sorry for your loss, pony, but I cannot help you. I have never seen the stallion myself and I have only heard his tale. The body will be presented later, though, before its burial; if you are so concerned, the best course of action would be to come along to the ceremony this evening. Since it's a pony funeral, my fellow deer should tolerate you mostly."

"Yeah." Blue's head fell and she touched her muzzle to the dirt unenthusiastically. She nuzzled about in it slowly and then stood back up, her nose slightly dusty. Her ears, completely folded against her neck, looked ever so small and gave her an air of depression. "Yeah."

The deer watched Blue quietly and then shook herself slowly so that her fur, sleek and shiny for the cool (but not hot) summer months of Plague-Equestria, was freed of the powdery dirt that had coated it. She then walked onwards, beckoning with her paw. As she did so, she opened her mouth and said, with only a little disgust in her tone, "Little foal, do you know of the deer's tale?" Coalburst shook her head frantically so that her mane, short and cropped though it was, flew about her face. That, at least, drew a smile from the doe, who was quick to continue. "Back during the reign of that beast, Discord, we deer were powerful. Our forests still thrived back then; our pure magic, still connected with  was strong enough to repel the chaos. Whilst the mud huts and crops of you equines hovered upside-down in the air, our thicket castles remained untouched and unharmed, and so did we.

"Then, of course, that glorious era ended when your princesses, Elements of Harmony in hoof, stepped up to overthrow the beast. For that, we can never blame your kind; it was a natural reaction. What we can blame them of, though, is their actions in the aftermath of that unpleasant era, when every stallion and mare all joined as one in paranoia to ensure that they were not so weak again. Forests were torn down without so much as a moment's consideration. In their place they built unnatural orchards and farms, with cattle roaming where they should not roam and sheep grazing the grass that should rightfully belong to the wildlife. And we deer were cast out from our own forests, the land which we had so carefully tended for for centuries, without so much as an apology or second glance!

"For centuries, our kind suffered in silence. We remained at the outskirts of pony society, doing our best to keep up our role and maintain what remained of our once sprawling woodlands. And then, only a few hundred years ago, the changelings came to us. Without our magic they were easily recognised when they tried to infiltrate our numbers, but we understood how weakened they were after being cast out from your towns and villages. We agreed to help them, to let them feed off of our love for the world and each other, and that maintained a mutually respectful relationship between our species. Hence, when they finally grew desperate and attacked your kind, their queen kept the bond strong and avoided us. And, despite their initial failure, we knew that, one day, the changelings would deliver unto us a land less overwhelmed by ponykind. A more natural land, without the hideous atrocities that your kind construct."

Blue frowned as she trotted along, her encased hoof making a loud thud each time it fell on the damp dirt. She snorted a little as she went along, her head hung low and her tail dragging. A few small twigs were now tangled up in the mess of pale strands, but she hardly seemed to notice—or if she did, she did not seem to be bothered. The doe sent her a slightly sympathetic glance before she continued on with her tale.

"Well, the time came eventually. Ten years after the initial attack on Canterlot city, the changelings rose once more under Queen Chrysalis and promised to make true of our beliefs; they allied with Sombra, though that was much scorned by our kind, and lay siege to Equestria once more. This time, they were much more successful; your princesses, foolish ponies, knew nothing of the threat and were taken by surprise. They reacted quickly, to be sure, but it was all too late. The changeling armies had gained too much ground to be stopped readily. The swarms were massive, overwhelming villages and engulfing towns, taking back the love which they had for so long been denied. The crystal ponies—kidnapped, brainwashed and cloned by Sombra's wicked magic—fought your kind alongside them; with ponies on the alert for changelings, even attacking their kin in their paranoia, Sombra's could easily sneak into communities and leave... gifts. Crystal ponies spread so much light that ponies didn't—couldn't—suspect them. It was a destructive partnership.

"But then things... things went downhill. With each village that the changelings took and the love they harvested, their numbers grew. Chrysalis worked overtime to produce new drone eggs; by the end of the fourth year of fighting, and with Equestria weakened at long last, the changeling armies were so expansive that it was hard to sustain them. They did not fight among themselves, not as ponies would have done. But they were unhappy, distressed, and Chrysalis knew that she had to make a move; the forces gave up on taking small villages and instead set their sights once more on Canterlot, a success which would give them control over the whole land and the ponies who still lived there in terror. Sombra's ponies joined the attack, lulling ponies slightly with their innate light before the changelings would then pounce.

"And then everything ended. Your princess panicked and uncovered a vicious spell. She never should have used it; she should have considered it more carefully, thought of the side effects of a spell that claimed to, ahem, cleanse the land of enemies. Gaia knows that it should have been an obvious catch. But she did not do so, and she released the spell on her kingdom—and it was only then that she realised that she had doomed her own ponies as well. It was a matter of hours until the disease had spread acrossed the entirety of our land, mutating and killing life in its wake; after a hasty retrieval of her favourites, she and her sibling threw up the shield and abandoned the rest of the world. And for we deer, who waited and tolerated your actions so patiently until you eventually got your comeuppance... Well, we came out of everything even worse for wear than your kind. Our numbers are so small now... if any of your biologists cared, we may as well be registered as extinct."

The doe's words trailed off and she fell into silence, the only sound left that of the steps of each individual, deer and changeling and pony alike. The dirt was damp beneath the group and absorbed much of the sound that they made. The slightly musty air was so Iquiet, in fact, that even the king's feminine voice could be heard from the other side of the space—or maybe it was just their imagination.

The next few minutes trudged by without a word, Blue and Coalburst feeling too awkward to mention anything and Thorax in quiet contemplation. The ageing doe just hung her head and walked a little less bouncily, looking slightly depressed until she came to a halt outside what looked like a mud hut. Why a hut was needed underground, out of the elements, was beyond Blue.

"Some old garments should fit you, should you choose to come to the funeral this evening. Make yourself presentable; you may be tolerated, but there is no reason to give anybuck a reason to scorn you any more than they already will." The doe sighed and hung her head, but quickly stiffened and smiled slightly at Thorax as he walked past. "Excluding you. You should be accepted, at least."

Thorax lowered his head, ears slightly back, and tried to smile. "That... I never thought that anypony—or, well, anydeer—would ever... would ever like me. Not anymore. For who I am, for being a changeling." He gave a nervous smile and glanced to Blue and Coalburst. "Well, I hope... I hope you don't mind me. It's just, wherever I go I get scorned and hated and attacked. Nopony trusts a changeling anymore."

The doe grinned and nodded her head, her eyes softer. "Your kind is not to blame for what happened, changeling. Just remember that; we deer know the truth. It was the ponies who drove your kind to do what they did, and we have never blamed you for anything."

Thorax shook his head and stepped closer to Blue and Coalburst slowly, his eyes slightly brighter. "I... I don't think so. I don't blame ponykind for hating my species." He tentatively reached a hoof out to Blue and wrapped it around her neck. "I just... One day, I would just love to see everyone come together and fix things. Changelings and deer and ponies and every other species... We just need to, you know, get on and be friends. Friendship is really great, and it's really powerful too—I should know! Because otherwise... Well, otherwise we're never gonna be able to fix the world and be happy again."

The doe was quiet before she began to back up slowly, leaving through the hole in the mud wall. "If only it was that easy, little changeling. But maybe one day it will happen—but not until someone steps up to take the lead."

Reluctance

Coalburst approached Blue slowly, uncertainly. With every few steps that she took she stumbled, the garment between her teeth something of a hindrance each time that it slipped underneath her hooves. She kept her head held ever so high and struggled to prevent the dress from getting dirtied in the muddy floor. When that attempt proved futile, she instead spat it out and grabbed it with her magic, the yellow aura against the mutated hazel leaves looking unnervingly like a crackling display of fire. She couldn't help but sigh when it didn't turn to ash—though her relief ended when she began to force the dress onto Blue, but to no avail; she was having none of it.

Coalburst huffed and turned away with a snort. She then trotted slowly back to the chest and placed, with a regretful moan, the leafy gown down on top of the lid. Once she had done so, however, a smile grew upon her muzzle at the sight of it. After brief consideration and a hesitant pawing at the ground, she sent a wide—though a little forced—grin to Thorax and lifted the gown in her magic. She then inched forwards and dipped her head into the fabric before she pulled it over herself; it fell around her frame in massive waves of material and pooled on the ground in an oval around her three hooves. She giggled and pranced about a bit, with a buck now and again—or at least until her hoof got tangled in the excessive folds of fabric and she crashed down to the ground. She landed with a yelp on her side and rolled a little before she then leapt back up to her hooves, squealing. Thorax, too, gave a cautious laugh; when her attention turned to Blue, however, she was disappointed to see that she still sat glumly.

Slipping the dress off quickly and throwing it to the side, she glanced about and her eyes landed on a small box which lay at the edge of the hut. She scampered over and peered inside the case; her eyes lit up when she did so and she hovered out a small brush. She then turned to Blue and trotted over, beaming—but found the challenge of utilising her new tools less than simple.

"Geez, Blue! Just stop moving already!" Coalburst gritted her teeth as she leaned towards Blue, her hoof outstretched. Paint coated the tip and dripped slightly on the grey coat, making her scramble backwards and snarl. Her expression was dull; gloomy and depressed.

"Go away, Coalburst," she whispered, opening a wing to push the filly away as she, herself, turned to face the wall. Coalburst, however, merely hissed and grabbed one of the feathers in her magic so as to pull it away from her path, then skipping in front before she could be stopped. Her hoof swept across Blue's cheek in one fluid motion after that, painting a gentle swirl across the fur. It was a warm shade of orange and yellow and red, not unlike the palette of colours which decorated the filly's window shard from the facility; warm, inviting.

When Blue opened her mouth to protest, Coalburst gritted her teeth and clasped her lips shut in a yellow aura so that she could not complain. A dainty paintbrush was then raised and dipped in a bowl of snow-white paint; held tentatively between the filly's teeth, it traced the outline of the fresh mark roughly so that the fine white line produced took on a gently marbled effect with the surrounding colours. She drew away afterwards with a final, gentle flick so that a few white droplets were sprinkled across her muzzle, not so unlike snowflakes falling from a cloudy sky. Blue's eyes crossed as she strained to look at them; the scowl on her muzzle then grew larger and more prominent.

"What are you doing, Coalburst?" she asked with an audible sigh, her voice now gentler in tone than it had been before—but that didn't mean that it was lacking in sorrow. That much was even more clear when she turned away, wings fallen open so that her feathers were draped across the floor, with her ears resting backwards slightly; they were neither pinned back in anger, nor were they alert. They simply hung there, without the enthusiasm to even flick about.

"It's tradition, duh. My mum always said, it's good to be like that and follow tradition 'cos it's a part of your... well, it's part of you. And your history. And stuff." She spoke with a roll of her eyes and a small grin rose on her face as she did so. When Blue's only reaction was to look further away, however, the happiness all but fell from her face and her eyes dulled. "Blue? Are you alright?"

Blue gave a feeble smile and nodded slowly but pushed Coalburst away as she sighed again and lay down; after a few breaths, she then rolled over and wrapped her wings around herself in a cocoon of sorts. Her feathers were long overdue a brush off, by now slightly darker in colour than they should have been. The odd flecks of blood which stained a few did not help her appearance. Both Thorax and Coalburst seemed to notice this at the same time; they glanced to eachother, the latter slightly reluctantly, and made eye contact. Both seemed to think the same thing.

With a quick backwards glance, Coalburst scampered outside hastily with Thorax at her side. Left alone, Blue merely whimpered. After a few moments, she then drew her rear legs closer to her body and tightened her hold on her body whilst her eyes slipped shut and her breathing slowed; there she lay, suddenly cold. There was no breeze, though that much was obvious. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but cringe at the chill which now seemed to seep through her skin and into her heart—or, it did for a moment. After that second, however, something gentle and warm began to brush across her body, caressing her aching and torn up muscles. She let out a breath and her body relaxed ever so slightly as water trickled across her fur, and all the while the gentleness continued.

When she straightened a little and began to sit up, her body feeling inexplicably lighter, healthier, Blue squinted an eye open. Before her stood an exciteable Coalburst, a scrap of cloth in hoof and a bucket of slightly steaming water beside her. She was grinning again now and her eyes shone with glee once more as she leaned in to wipe Blue's neck. Each soft stroke of warm water against the fur eased away the dirt; with every tender touch, a section came up clean as it was meant to be. And with the tickle of the warm water as it trailed down her side, she felt her distress lessen ever so slightly. She could not, however, quite bring herself to smile, not even when the tin bucket morphed back into Thorax in a flash of white light—who was promptly soaked by the warm water. She did, however, manage to heave her ears forwards and accept, reluctantly, the hazel-leaf dress which Coalburst had, by now, levitated back to her side.

"Thanks."

Gatherings

Though it was more than a little hard to be cheerful at such a mournful occasion, Blue couldn't help but at least be slightly impressed by the sheer effort that the deer had gone to. Given their—certainly not disguised—hatred of ponykind, they had not missed out any detail when it came to the stallion's funeral. The walls of the dug out village had been inscribed with a swirling pattern, the chalk exposed below giving it quite the effect. The graveyard, too, had been done up to an impressive standard; every headstone—or, perhaps more fitting for the wooden signs, every marker—had been dusted off and polished, each name now quite bold compared to what it had been before. A little way off, a tangle of vines and plants had been made to serve as a table of sorts, littered with plates of not-quite-unpleasant food and drink. It would have been nothing, though, without the breathtaking, sunrise-coloured lights which now radiated around the village.

"Woah," Coalburst said as she hopped along beside Blue, her face painted in similar, warm hues. Against her black coat and orangey-red mane, she looked like quite the little fireball. Such was only accentuated by the small gown that she now wore; it belonged to the deer community and was naturally a little off-sized. Nevertheless, the bright autumnal leaves—many small ones, in contrast to the hazel leaf dress which was now worn by Blue—were more than gorgeous on her. She laughed and giggled as she hopped along, eyeing up her dress every few seconds with a most gleeful squeal. It was a pleasant change from her survivalist mentality.

Thorax, too, had put in some effort. Though he was much too smale in frame for any of the buck clothing, he had studied them carefully and eventually was able to morph into a version of himself wearing the same style. The tuxedo-esque piece, made from snowy owl feathers, certainly managed to turn a few deer heads—though the extra attention only made Thorax begin to regret his decision slightly whilst he trod beside the two ponies.

When the large sand timer positioned at the edge of the graveyard let its last grain fall, the deer slowly began to come together. Their heads were bowed in respect and their eyes were kept closed once they had found their spot among the crowd, arranged in such a way that the fawns of the herd—even those hardly a year of age—were laying at the front. They looked around themselves inquisitively and flicked their little ears, whispering in hushed voices to eachother as they did so. Occasionally a comment regarding the funeral would come up, but for the most part their discussions consisted only of complimenting—or bragging about their own, much to their parents' chargin—make up and outfit.

In fact, despite the sombre nature of the event, every deer present seemed to be less than respectful to the dead stallion. The only traces of black—a colour acceptable for funerals, Blue had once read in an old book—were for accentuation of the bright arrays of outfits worn.

The does each wore a leafy dress, with some opting for a subtler shade whilst others, such as one young doe near to the front of the gathering, wore more vibrant gowns. Hers, for example, would surely draw anyone near to her side; the pale green leaves alone were pleasant, but the rich violet hue which burst from the center of each was eyecatching to say the least. Similarly, every buck present (of which there were only a few) wore a tuxedo not unlike Thorax's, though theirs were each composed of a different feather. The buck closest to the ponies wore an array of bronze, golden and prussian blue feathers; one male a few metres away displayed his lilac and silver display with a puffed out chest. None, however, could rival that of the king; when he stepped forwards upon an elevated mound each deer, though unable to see, bowed down instinctively. Blue, however, found herself transfixed. The peacock feathers which surrounded his head were gorgeous, as bold as any ever grown, and the electric blue feathers which he wore about his chest, laced with the occasional bright green, really took her breath away.

His displeased scowl, however, was even more heart-stopping; Blue squeaked and fell to the floor quickly, much to Coalburst's amusement.

"You may rise, my subjects."  

It was a little hard to hear that feminine voice once again; Blue had to contain the snort which threatened to tear from her lips. The filly at her side, too, seemed equally amused—but, of course, neither would admit that readily and both were able to keep themselves from laughing. Only Thorax seemed to be unaffected, though he merely stared up at the king with a cheerful smile—which the great buck himself returned before he spoke again.

"Life in our village is pleasant. Safe. For some of us, it may come as something of a shock when we recall the true nature of the world above; Equestria is a dangerous, bloodthirsty place. And it was from that place, a few moons ago—though they do no longer progress as they should—that one of our own noble bucks found a victim of the harsh reality, perhaps an hour's walk from this spot. The creature he found? A stallion. A species not truly worthy of care after all that they have done—but a living, breathing creature nonetheless. And it was as such that we took him in.

"Our efforts were in vain and the stallion died, completely abandoned by his kin. His injuries were severe; his chance of survival had been slim. But know this, my family, my friends; this stallion did not die alone. He died in our village, tended to by our medics, and now, his life shall be honoured by we who are gathered here today.

"Death... It is no uncommon thing. In our village, our elderly die with their family, peacefully. In the land above, where insanity is rife, creatures die slowly, and in pain. But for them to have died, they must have first lived—and it is with that notion in mind that we shall give this unfortunate stallion that which he is deserving of; a final farewell, a helping paw. It is today that we shall send him off on his next great journey, his previous one being now for nought. We shall help him reach Gaia's open fields, and we shall pray that he is thereupon accepted, and forgiven for the sins of his kind.

"I ask you now, my subjects. Let us not harbour negative thoughts or bitterness towards this stallion; let us instead give him our love, and let us do so together as a family."

The king fell quiet for a moment and closed his eyes, breathing slowly; all around him, his subjects let their heads fall and they, too, did not utter a sound. The serenity of the moment swept over everyone gathered, with even the fawns falling silent. At that moment, the door of vines behind the king opened slowly, slowly, and out of it stepped a small group of deer; two bucks balanced a large basket of thistles and vines upon their back, with does at either side supporting it as they moved. Through the gaps a large mass could just about be made out. A stallion. A pony.

A young fawn trotted to the far end of the graveyard and bent down slowly, scraping away with his paws quietly. When he had done so, he then bounced back to his mother. He walked with pride and all the fawns now gawped at him as if he had done something amazing—but Blue did not watch his happy display. Rather, her eyes were pinned on the two bucks who now carried the thistle bed down to the exposed, pre-dug grave; her legs began to tremble when they bent down to allow the does to remove the dead stallion's body. And for a moment, everything went silent and still—and then the does got to their work, pulling forth from the thistles a tan coloured stallion with mane and tail of deep, bold blue and with a golden lock, open, for a cutie mark.

"NO!" Blue's scream echoed around the village, her body trembling. But she could not hide; her wings snapped open and she shot into the musty air, faster than ever before, and crashed down to the ground beside the grave with a tremendous, muffled boom. It was then that she lay her eyes upon the painted body of her oldest friend; the only facility pony who had been genuinely pleasant towards her; the stallion who had risked his life countless times in the last few weeks alone to save her rump. The stallion who now lay without movement, his chest with a large, gnawed-out hole in its side. And as she looked into those eyes, those horrendously glassy eyes, another scream tore from her throat and she threw herself onto his cold body. He did not move, did not tell her—as he should have done—to buck her ideas up, to get on with things, to stop being such a damned waste of space. He did not snap, did not kick a leg, did not yell for her idiocy in trusting the deer community.

He was so peaceful in death.

"No! RipEar!" Blue's cry was agonised, shrill. A few deer rushed forwards to pull her back; she only cried harder, her forehooves entwined around the cold body. Her hooves struck out wildly as she clung on; a young buck yelled when she landed a heavy blow upon his leg and sent him careening to the ground. And all the while, RipEar did not scoff or scorn or scold.

"Little mare—"

"No! Go away! Get away from me!" Blue yelled as she glared at the king, screaming, wailing. She then spun back around and buried her head deep in RipEar's fur and howled; the thick stench of death hung around him and only made her anguish greater so that it flooded her very soul and left her nought but a shell of a mare. Every attempt of the deer at dragging her away were fruitless. She could not hear, could not see, could not think; all she knew was her lonliness and her pain.

"B-Blue?"

Coalburst spoke quietly. Her voice was timid as she began to drag herself forwards. When she reached Blue's side and let her eyes land upon RipEar's, she then collapsed to the floor with a gasp. Her chest heaved; her eyes were ever so wide. Blue could only open a heavy wing so as to drape it across her back, still keening with each glance at her stallion. After a few moments, however, with the deer now gathered warily around, Coalburst unsteadily began to rise back to her hooves. She whimpered audibly but stood as tall as she could; after she wiped her eyes with trembling hooves, she then accepted Thorax's support and activated her own flickering magic, painfully pulling Blue away. She screamed but did not react, now; when Coalburst opened her hooves and wrapped them around her tear-stained neck, Blue simply let her body slump against the filly as she wept into her dark, painted fur. Coalburst, too, blubbered a little. Nevertheless, she murmured slightly under her breath and trailed small circles behind Blue's left ear as she tried to stand properly on her own; when she felt some of the tension leave Blue's body, she then bent down and helped to weakly lift her to her hooves after a reassuring, tear-soaked nuzzle. But Blue did not respond and instead merely stood there, now sniffing as she stared into space and right through the filly.

Somewhere in the distance—or perhaps it was not so far away—the king mumbled something and his deer gathered around him once again. But Blue did not notice this; she merely stumbled forwards unwillingly as Thorax and Coalburst began to push and pull her away from the scene. Her vision was blurred from the tears; her ears rung with every choked breath that she took. But, when the dull mumbling of the king died out, her nose began to kick into gear and she broke free from the pair's grip, something primal controlling her mind. She staggered forwards blindly, not even aware of why she was doing so. Within a few seconds her vision then cleared just enough for her to see a large, carved out bowl of liquid before her. The smell... it was intoxicating, powerful, and ever so familiar. So, so familar.

Without warning—without even her own consideration—she let her head flop down so that her muzzle was partly submerged. With each desperate slurp her throat was burned, seared, but there was something ever so relaxing about the bitter—but not quite unpleasant—taste. She snorted slightly as she continued to guzzle it, the pain so intense as it went down her throat.

Minutes passed, slowly, slowly. And yet, despite the pain, she could not stop herself; Coalburst's and Thorax's shouts went ignored as she licked the wooden bowl dry, then laughing and crying and wavering when she stood up straighter. And then she cried, "You all wook... you wook... fwunny!" before her legs collapsed beneath her and she landed on her muzzle. She twitched and snorted as she screamed and wept and thrashed about on the muddy floor, mumbling something about "pwunny, pwunny, pwetty pwonies."

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The Pastromorbo Epidemic

Mature Rated Fiction

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