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.