I was right in my assumption. Now that Nightmare didn't need its underlings any more to kill humans, they patrolled the streets again right after sundown. Armor and I sat on the roof of the hangar where the Celestia had been parked. He had teleported himself up here while I had climbed via the use of the trapdoor. The hall was wide enough that three other ships of this size could fit, though the height had just been adequate. All in all, it was a good place to come to a halt, as it had begun to snow a little outside.

We secured everything with lamps under the ceiling in which we replaced the light bulb with diamonds, which could be turned on by a switch. It had been an idea from Twilight and carried out with the help of Rainbow and Fluttershy. We had similarly protected the outside area. Some floodlights stood on the edge of the runways and now held something of value, at least from our point of view. They were directed upon the hall so that it was illuminated from two sides. Otherwise, the airport had an open field and we could spot if anything was coming long before. It was powered by its own generator that we just had to turn on.

"If you had told me one or two years ago that I would be a unicorn on a flying ship going around the world, I would have laughed at you," I said to Armor. Still, it had only been months that I had once been a human. "Never mind the fact that I would be engaged and have a foal on the way.” Emphasis on the word ‘foal’.

“And yet you’ve managed to remain mostly quiet and calm. Particularly impressive when one considers the situation with your family.” This evening he wasn’t here as my captain, but as a friend.

“I’ve let out my frustrations long enough. It’s something I’ve been fighting all this time, bit by bit. I’ve probably reached the acceptance stage and trying to see everything in a more positive light.” A hiss interrupted me briefly as a Nightmare ran in the light and dissolved. It was just like a mosquito lamp. “I naturally still hope that my mother and my brother are still alive, and would be sad if that isn’t the case, but I know there’s nothing I could do for them. I most likely would have died with them. I think they would be glad to know that I’m alright and well since they are my family."

"Just remember that we are also your family and friends, and want the same,” he answered and nudged me in the side.

“Hey!” A cry came from the hall to us and, at the next moment, Julian came from the same trapdoor as I did, only he had something else between his front hooves. "Is this what I think it is?" He positioned a small keg under our noses as he made room for himself. I examined the keg shortly and gave it a quick smell.

“Apple cider?” I stated in amazement. “Who smuggled that on here?” Armor gave me a look that told me just what he thought of such an idiotic question. “Pinkie, naturally,” I answered for him.

"Is there alcohol in there?” asked Julian and tried to open the barrel.

“Sure, only that it won't work for you.” He looked up from the barrel to me. “Ponies aren’t that susceptible to alcohol. Now, if you want to get the desired effect, you need salt." Armor pulled the barrel from his hooves and sniffed in it.

“No salt.” Julian allowed a disappointed sigh to escape him. “Not that I would have had any if I could get drunk from it. We need to stay in top form.” With that, Julian took back the barrel again.

"Hey, Light, what is that on the ground?" I looked to where his hoof pointed, though I only saw the normal tin roof of the hall.

"I don’t see anything—" I only realized what he had planned a split second before wood smashed into my horn. He had hit the lid of the barrel against it and now a hole was large enough in order to drink from it. The problem was that wooden splinters now landed on my mane and face. I cleared myself of them with a hoof and saw that Julian had balanced on his hind legs and used his wings to aid him while he used his front hooves to lift the barrel. A giggle from the side startled me as it came from someone I never thought it could originate, and I saw Armor desperately trying not to laugh.

"Give me a drink too.” I glared at him as Armor practically ripped away the barrel from his grasp. It floated to him as he gladly took a drink as well. Not as quickly as Julian had done, but he still managed to imbibe a good bit.

"This stuff is good. Doesn’t your marefriend make this on her farm?" asked Julian, noisily gulping down the remainder that he had saved in his mouth.

"Yes and I will gladly take some," I was just about to levitate the barrel away from Armor before a blue blur beat me to it and snatched it away.

"Nothing so fast! I’m next." Rainbow had to have also come through the trapdoor and had seen the oh so desirable golden beverage we had in our possession. “Besides, I already saw you drinking your share,” she said between two gulps.

“That was Julian when he used my horn to make the hole.” I looked over to him, though he only grinned idiotically and Armor again tried to suppress his laughter. Rainbow was about to take another gulp before my aura worked to take it away from her. “Hey!” I exclaimed as the last three drops fell onto my tongue as I overturned the barrel. “You can’t be serious!” Rainbow, probably because she had had this happen to her before, lay down and started to laugh. It was so infectious that the two others soon joined in. "Yes, ha ha ha, very funny." From frustration, I threw the wooden keg on one of the shades just as it sprung from the darkness before it met the searchlight. Although the object simply sailed by it, it seemed to take exception to my actions and took some steps in our direction. It sizzled again.

I signalled to the others to follow me. Rainbow and Star were above us; Armor, Julian, Trixie, and AJ behind me. We were on our first investigative trip of the city and we had just reached the industrial section that bordered the airport. Twilight had stayed behind with Luna to discuss the possibility of ways that we could get back home. Besides, somebody had to remain in order to protect everyone else and the ship, as the light emanating from it was not exactly subtle in this darkened city. Both pegasi had been chosen by their fur colours harmonizing with the sky, thus reducing the chances of them being spotted. Therefore, even Star was without his armour for the first time, allowing me to glimpse his cutie mark, a falling star.

Armor took a look around once he reached my position, though he quickly pulled his head back from around the corner. "The air is… really…" I knew that there was no fitting description for the smell. I stepped in the narrow alley between some apartment houses and saw the corpses that were there. There were two women and three men in clothing, or what was left of it at least. Flies and maggots were almost everywhere.

"Can we take no other alley?" Trixie asked nervously when she saw the conditions of the path as well.

"We must avoid open streets,” came the answer of the captain. “Just… try not to breathe with your nose.” He demonstrated and moved on. However, my attention was directed on AJ. She had insisted at all costs on not remaining on the ship any longer and joining the expedition. Since we were only exploring the surroundings and not planning to meet any humans or the like, neither Armor nor I had found any objections, so the Element of Honesty had started to argue when she didn’t need to. I made a wide curve around the man in the middle and even pressed myself against the wall a bit to try and avoid him. I really tried to breathe through my mouth, but even still, enough of the rotten smell, the taste of death, seeped in. I looked and saw AJ as she left behind her breakfast at the entrance.

“Are you alright? Do you want to head back?” Somehow I hoped that she would do so.

“No… it’s not his fault.” She pointed at the corpse that I had just walked by. “It’s yours.” And now she pointed at me.

“Should I renew the magic?” I asked as me again I again pressed against the wall to avoid the dead person and she joined me.

"It’s already gone. I can tell you that this morning sickness is something I’m not going to miss." I pulled a cloth from her saddlebag and handed it to her. “Now if my joints could stop feeling so funny." She held out the cloth to me, now a bit dirtier, and I simply levitated it on the ground by her breakfast.

"I don't think someone will complain in the near future." Now we both squeezed past the other man and joined the others who had been waiting for us on the other end.

“How does it look up there?" Julian asked through his radio that he had received from Armor. It made sense to give it to another being that had once been a human and thus could operate the technology better. "Okay," he said after the short break when he had waited for an answer. "Still nobody in sight. Everything is good to go."

The alley divided before us and we took the left path that went further into the city and the television station. We needed information on how many survivors there were and the possibility on if we could get more weapons. We went through the alleys, always waiting on the information from above, always finding more corpses. They looked mostly intact from the cold weather, and I saw that everyone had problems keeping their meals intact. We came to another stop as we discovered another group that would have been more dangerous than ordinary civilians. The German flag was visible on their shoulders.

"Soldiers?" Armor asked, and I nodded. With my magic, I lifted the silver tag from around the neck of one of the soldiers and noticed that the second tag was missing.

"Somebody has made the effort to collect their tags. It's a kind of chain holding something that can be used to identify their body,” I explained. Either they had been here long enough for them to be looted, or their brethren had collected them. However, it generally seemed that at least someone had passed through here. "I want to check something a bit." I separated myself from the group and turned into an alley obliquely on the right from myself. It was darkened as expected, but I nevertheless saw the horror with my eyes. It was a cul-de-sac, though I could not say whether it had always been so. Hundreds from corpses, stacked on each other, flies and maggots everywhere, blocked the way. The sound of thousands of flies was so strong that it was as though I was standing before a speaker and allowing the vibrations through my head and chest. Someone had to also be here to collect and stack all these bodies.

"Light? Are you okay?" I heard Trixie’s voice and reared back into the alley where the others were.

"Yes! Stay there! Do not come!” Trixie had been already been halfway down to me as they saw the horror on my face. "Please… do not come." I was glad that I did not have any breakfast, as only froth came up. I wasn’t going to be able to eat anything anytime soon. AJ wanted to run to me, but Shining Armor held her back.

"If he says you shouldn’t go, then you should trust him." I supposed he knew how bad it could get and did not want the mares to see. "Let’s go."

"Yes… sure.” I got a small bottle of water from my saddlebag, freed the cork and gargled some water before I spat it on the ground. "That’s better…" At least I had gotten rid of the foul taste in my mouth. I joined the others and we continued on our way. After a few minutes and several turns in the alley, Shining dropped back to me.

"I do not know what you saw, but I can think I can imagine. During my education, I was in Cowrea for some months, the homeland the minotaurs. They have a different way of thinking than we do. Differences do not end if the other one is still breathing. If a bull takes another bull by the horns that isn't what I would call a good day. It’s another reason why I’m in the Royal Guard. I don’t want such things to happen if I could help it.” With that, he took the lead again and took us to a small street that had smaller businesses.

“Hold!" came from Julian, and we immediately moved up and waited for further clarification. "We have three persons, possibly with weapons, and a fourth one to the opposite side. Not visible if they’re armed or not. They are a bit down the street and then the first alley on the right."

"Light and I will check it out. Turn your radios on." I did as requested and made the device operational. Because we did not know when next we would get batteries for them, we had to use them rather economically. Sure, we had gotten some from the Media Markt, but they had been disposed of like snacks at a Pinkie Pie party. "You others stay here and make sure we don’t have any additional visitors. Trixie, you can disguise the entrance of the alley?" She grinned in response.

"Naturally, the Great and Powerful Trixie can perform such a simple task," she said in her usual ‘humble’ way, walking with a raised head to the entrance of the alley and making her horn light up. The air gleamed shortly for a while before she pointed at the empty space with her hoof. "Done.” I was surprised, but Armor was satisfied.

"Come on." He looked around the corner to be certain there was no change in the situation, before he quickly crossed the street and squeezed against the house wall on the other side. One would only see him if they came out of the alley. I followed and did the same quickly. I wanted to throw a look back on the others, but to my surprise, the alley was not to be seen any more. Now there was simply a wall between the two buildings. My attention was directed at Shining Armor when he turned his horn to me, and a flash took away my eyesight for a few seconds. “Stealth magic, so our hooves won’t be heard.” Like the idiot who did the same after being told a plate was hot, I had to test it out immediately. I hardly heard anything as my hooves hit the sidewalk.

"And you could not have taught me that earlier?" He didn’t answer, concentrating on the place Julian had described to us. “Only use the radio for emergencies,” I said over the device as we got closer, and I caught the first words to escape.

"Are you sure that they are in there?" asked a voice that obviously belonged to a young person. He could not be older than perhaps fifteen or sixteen.

"Yeah. I saw them disappearing in the old MCD. They came out again after a few minutes. They had one or two rifles and pistols. Nothing we can’t handle.“ This voice belonged to a yet younger boy. Perhaps ten or eleven years.

"What is it about?" Armor whispered to me. "I do not speak the language, but it sounds like Germane."

"They’re talking like they’ve met other survivors." I stopped and listened.

"We’ll gather in K and simply get rid of them. We have more people here, and we need the food. The bastards have hoarded everything for themselves.” This had to be a third one, and slowly a picture formed in my head. The youngest one was a scout, because he could hide in the smallest places. The older ones had given his report to someone who was likely their leader, which seemed to revolve around a dispute with another group and the supplies in the region.

"They’re preparing to attack another group," I hissed to Armor. He pulled me back a bit by my tail.

"We cannot interfere here. We can’t afford to get stuck in between two groups." I had to agree to him. Being caught in the crossfire was not an ideal situation, particularly because we had only just arrived and hardly had any information or knew the surroundings. Risking a battle would be more than stupid. It clicked.

"Wh… Wah… Don’t move!" We both turned and saw a human behind us, his weapon at the ready and pointed at us. He was thin and slight, probably about a meter seventy and looked to be about fourteen years. He looked frightened as his grip tightened around his weapon. "I’ll shoot!" Armor did not seem to have understood what he said, but the presence of a weapon was enough for the captain not to react aggressively.

"Okay, calm down. We don’t mean harm to you,” I said. Damn it, why hadn’t Trixie or Rainbow warned us? He looked at me suspiciously.

"Hands up!" If there hadn’t been an AK trembling under my nose, I would have put a hoof through his face.

"Unfortunately, I don’t have any,” I answered instead.

"Micha! What are you doing?” one of the other voices called.

"I have… horses." I did not try to correct him. Armor, on the contrary, looked as though he was concentrating on a plan to get us out of here, or at least I hoped so. If necessary, we could still defend ourselves, but I did not want to fight children. At least the others were safe.

"You’re trying to take me for a ride… eh?" I saw the other young persons in the corner of my eye coming from the alley and the weapons they had at hand was surprising. The biggest, possible the leader of the small gang, had a Glock in hand, while the other two both had MP5’s. It was probably easy for someone to get such weapons in Germany. The three got closer, while the youngest stayed behind them. He was also the only one who did not seem to have a weapon.

"Did they fall in paint? What’s wrong with them?" One of those who had a MP5 approached me and prodded with his shoes against my rear.

"I think everything is alright, huh?" I asked Armor before all the weapons were directed upon us. Now they were levelled at me.

"Holy… speaking horses! Do you think we can eat one? We haven’t had meat in a while." This time it was the other owner of a MP5, a stocky kid with a cap on his head.

"Maybe we should ask them." With that, the leader bent to me and held his Glock under my nose. “What are you? Some kind of mutant animals that broke out of a lab or something?"

"Yeah, and you’ll get superpowers if I bite you,” I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster. "We come from the planet Melmac and want to speak with your leader." I had one run.

"Now listen to me, you wiseass. Either I have an answer at the count of three or you and your friend over there will both have something else to worry about. At least after we’ll have some meat to eat." He cocked his weapon. "One!"

"No matter what I say, you will not believe it." He obviously enjoyed threatening us.

“Two…" I saw from the corners of my eye that Armor kept his cool. He would surely protect himself with magic, and I hoped it would also suffice for me.

“Okay boys, fire up the grill. Three!” A shot rang out.

Author's Notes:

Translated and edited by JBL