The small group of ponies and a single griffon were gathered around a small campfire housed in a ring of metal plating, located just outside of the lighthouse. The unicorn mare of the group had placed a soundproofing spell inside the walls of their residence to ensure that the foals inside the lighthouse and the creatures of the night wouldn’t hear the chuckles and laughter of the friends.

Maverick sat with Talos to his right and the recently rescued newcomer - Nourish - to his left as he did his best to recite a story despite his drunken state. This night had become a monthly tradition for the group, but due to the presence of a new family member, Maverick had decided to go with an old story about his own foalhood. A story that two ponies sitting here had already been through.

“So, Ms. Rose has already started collecting our homework and I’m reaching into my bag for mine when it hits me…” Maverick says, pausing for a moment to take a swig of one of the many bottles being passed around the circle, “I never did mine. In fact, I never even took it out of the bag!” He continues with an exaggerated laugh, “But my folks promised me that I would be taking summer school if I came home with one more ‘F’ and it's lookin like I’ll be spending my summer in boredom until ‘Mr. Invincible’ over there comes in to save the day!” A gesture of his hoof to Storm, who was deep in reading something in his pocket book and not paying the story any mind.

“Ms. Rose had gotten on to us helping each other with assignments long ag-” Maverick continued before a playful punch to the shoulder from his right interrupts.

“Each other?” Talos repeated, slurring his words. “You mean, Storm saving your ass.”

Maverick gave a gesture that was a mix of mock surrender and a shrug that displayed the thoughts of ‘you got me’ without having to even verbalize it. After a chuckle from both of them, the violet stallion continued.

“Anywho, she had caught on to that a while ago so she began making ‘A’ and ‘B’ copies of all our assignments and made sure Storm and I got different copies. I had an ‘A’ and he had a ‘B’ which had probably been done five minutes after he got home. So, here I am, trying to fix it all before it's too late-”

“You tried to finish a whole assignment in a few seconds?” Ivory giggled, accidentally cutting him off due to her alcohol induced non-existent filter.

“Nah, I was trying to think of a good excuse for my parents!” Maverick corrected, earning a chuckle from Talos, Ivory, and even a slight one from Nourish, who was just happy to be a part of a family rather than property to one. “So I’m like internally freaking out when Storm notices and grabs my paper and then guess what this fucker does? He finishes the whole thing - front and back - in less than a minute! Ms. Rose had no fucking idea and even told me she was pleased with my effort and that I got every single question right!”

“I guess Storm’s always been an egghead, huh?” Talos laughed, nearly falling off of his makeshift seat.

Maverick helped the griffon steady himself while attempting to hold in snickering at his friend’s drunken clumsiness. Ivory was less resilient at holding in the humorous scene before her and starting giggling. Nourish’s small smile had grown bigger even though she was a bit nervous around everyone after only being here a few days.

Ivory was the first to come down from the laughter at the funnier-than-it-should-have-been display. Her gaze turned to his right, where she saw a sight that Storm was still buried in his book. He was leaned back at the slightest of angles, forehooves crossed over his chest with one of them sticking up to hold the book in front of his face, and his eyes were scanning over it’s contents in concentrated manner.

Storm was going over the list he had created with Nourishes help the day prior as he tried to memorize it in addition to mental map out when he should have everything by before her due date.

Sheets Rubbing Alcohol Cotton Balls Oxygen Machine Scalpel or knife Baby food/formula Diapers Nursing Pillow Thermal bottle carrier

There were many more items on the list, but the stallion’s vision started to blur after going over them for the upteenth time in a row. It wasn’t the size of the list that bothered him, but the fact that none of it was crossed off and in their possession was.

A gentle nudge to his left broke his concentration and he quickly lowered the sketchbook, meeting Ivory’s eyes that held ‘the look’ in them. The one that showed she was concerned about something and was going to voice it despite knowing he would give her the same answer.

Instead, what he got was different. In the blink of an eye, the mare swiped the book from his hoof and quickly scanned through the page he had been on. When she was finished, Ivory sighed softly before handing the book back to its owner, but dropped it on the ground by accident.

“Ya know, one of these days, I’m going to die.” She states in a half playful, half serious tone, ignoring the book. “So is Talos, Maverick, hell, - everypony is. You’re gonna be the last one standing, Stormy. And when that happens, you’ll wish you had taken the time to just say fuck it and enjoy yourself for once.”

Storm was about to voice his objections to how her drunken mind put that sentence when his intentions were interrupted by the sound of Talos and Maverick fighting over some bottle of hard cider across from them. Ivory chuckled at the scene and went over to scold her coltfriend and Talos before this got out of hoof.

While the mare was trying her best to seperate the two males, Storm’s eyes were fixed on his fallen sketchbook that had opened to his list, which was illuminated by the glow of the nearby fire. The flame’s glow danced on the page like an alert notification telling him that something had to be dealt with urgently. Before reaching down to pick it up, his gaze shifted up to Talos, who was chugging the remains of the bottle, Maverick whose head was being cradled by Ivory and being thanked for ‘being the better stallion’ by giving up the bottle, and Nourish who was watching it all with a sheepish smile on her muzzle.

Just the sight before him was almost enough to forget that they were literally just placing distraction after distraction in front of them to avoid the truth that everything was gone. Everypony else was trying to find something to hold on to - anything to have a reason to wake up and make it through another day.

What was he doing? Trying to run from yesterday in hopes that tomorrow was better, but the truth is that it never would be.

The crashing of the river’s waves was the only sound muffling the metaphorical alarm of the rowboat’s makeshift motor. The passengers of said boat were struggling to position themselves to combat the bumpy ride but they made due with Storm Surge tilting the mixers to keep their momentum up and Rainbow Dash occasionally rounding a tight corner or stray piece of debris with the wooden oars.

For the most part, the ride had been silent on the ponies part. They had a communications channel, so conversation was not out of the question, but neither would say a word.

Or maybe there was nothing to say.

Storm had never been one for conversation even from a young age. He often only spoke when spoken too or if it was necessary, and would leave the talking to a certain charismatic violet pegasus in the past. Storm had learned that he could absorb a lot more about a pony by listening rather than speaking - a skill that saved his ass quite a few times up until now - but in the silence of a two pony boat, it only served to make things uncomfortable or awkward even.

But what could he say?

Nothing.

All the stallion could do was watch the overhanging trees that cast their shadows like spindly claws reaching out for their small vessel. Each passing shadow nearly made him unholster his weapon on a dime, but he continued to look forward and pay attention to the rhythm of his own filtered breathing as a way to drown everything else out.

Storm noticed that the mare sitting up front, who was facing away from him slightly with one forehoof on the side of the boat and another resting on her chin in a laid back banner, and gazing forward almost longingly as if she hadn’t just found herself in hell the day prior.

He found it so strange how she was rarely afraid. The only time he had seen her panic was when she woke up and during the Mimic encounter. Every other instance, she had been rearing for some opportunity for action or to get the hell out of here. While most outsiders would have praised such bravery, he knew better.

If you were fearless, then you were stupid. If you were stupid, then you were dead.

But that was why he was here. He had learned to fear the outside, then how to deal with it, and how to overcome it. If she couldn’t learn to fear it, then he would have to deal with it for both of them and make sure their heads remained above water.

For however long that would last.

Despite how much of a pain in the ass she had been these past few days, Storm wouldn’t have minded her staying a bit longer. It was better than the silence which would follow and encase him permanently after her departure. He hadn’t even thought about what to do with himself after getting her back, but he knew what the answer was without any clarity.

He just didn’t want to think about it. Not yet.

Priorities. First, get Rainbow back to her group and then whatever comes after-

Then he saw it. Standing on the bank, to the left and where the tree’s ended was a figure. A figure wearing an ATS suit - a golden one. While that was fairly common, it wasn’t the suit that disturbed him. It was the familiar custom sniper rifle it held.

Storm was too busy staring at the figure that he entirely drowned out Rainbow’s yell just before the boat slammed into the bank. Rainbow was knocked into the middle of the boat, while Storm was flung off of the vessel and into the waters below.

The suited mare scrambled to her hooves quickly and grasped the side of the rocking boat, looking for her companion.

“Storm!” She shouted, nearly drowned out by the current. “Where are you?!”

Storm was currently being tossed around like a midget in a circus underneath the ravaging waves. His only advantage being that his visor didn’t match the color of the water and he was able to see his surroundings decently well.

He heard Rainbow calling for him, presumingly from up above, as the channel crackled from being overloaded by too much noise. It was hard to think while being spun constantly, but the stallion had an idea.

Activating his blade, Storm extended his left forehoof out and hard as possible, causing the blade to dig into the soil and anchor him to the spot. While he was stationary for the most part, the current made his lower half bob up and down like a rag in the wind. Using his right forehoof, he reached upward, breaking the water’s surface and barely grabbing onto the ledge of a lower spot on the bank. With a swift pull, the stallion heaved himself halfway onto the bank and dug his blade in there before hoisting the rest of his body up and onto the safety of the shore.

Getting into a kneeling position, then sitting up, Storm got to his hooves and deactivated his blade just in time to see Rainbow, who had also gotten onto the bank, walking over to him.

“There you are.” She stated, irritation clear in her tone. “Can you not say a simple ‘yeah, I’m not dead’ in the channel?”

“Can you not overload the mic and give me a headache?” He weakly retorted, catching his breath.

“Hey, I’m not the one who nearly drowned us just now!” She reminded defensively. “What was that back there anyway? Weren't you the one who said never to get distracted out here?”

Storm turned his head towards where he unmistakably saw the figure only find nothing there. He started to scan the rest of the area when a rough shove in the side interrupted. The mare’s small frame against his own heavy one and suit barely moved him, but it was enough to get his attention.

“Hey! Are you even listening?!”

“Yeah…” He replied, trailing off for a second before continuing. “There's something I need to check out.” Storm then walked past her and towards where the figure was.

The stallion suddenly stopped just a few steps from her as something else popped into his head. “You did remember to tie the boat up, right?” He asked, turning to face her.

The absent minded rubbing of the back of her helmet was all the answer he needed, but she confirmed his worries nevertheless. “Uh… about that…” She sheepishly replied while turning her head towards the river.

Storm did the same just in time to see the boat drifting around the corner of the bank and out of sight quite possibly forever.

“Great…” He muttered, then turned back to his intended destination. “You comin?”

Though nopony could see her face, Rainbow’s expression was one of confusion at the swift turn of events. What had ‘Mr. Survivalist’ seen that caused him to nearly send them both under?

Guess we’ll find out… She thought while jogging slightly to catch up to him.

A couple minutes later, the duo had left the noise of the waves behind along with the need for an open comms channel, since they could speak without any additional ambience. Despite the clear air, neither one spoke a word. The thick, claw-like limbs of the Everfree trees had completely dissipated into a clearing with a different kind of tree.

These trees were a lot less overgrown - resembling slightly warped circles with straight trunks in contrast to their bent and hanging counterparts. The leaves were turning a brownish-black with fall ending and winter just around the corner, but a few still retained patches of mossy green here and there.

Both ponies were scanning the treeline, each for their own reasons. Storm was looking for any signs of danger or that familiar - if not impossible - figure while Rainbow was just looking around wondering how the world could be so quiet. It wasn’t boring like she would have expected, just unnerving. The only sound she could hear was the crunching of their hooves over leaves and her own metallic breathing.

It was the little things in life that she hadn’t noticed until now such as that sound. Those little details weren’t worth taking note of. They were boring and she had much better things to do than ponder them. But now the world was quiet enough for her to notice.

And she hated that.

A small object being crushed underneath her hoof broke Rainbow out of her thoughts. This object didn’t crunch like the plethora of dead leaves surrounding the two, instead it squished and split under her touch. Looking down, Rainbow almost didn’t recognize the faded round object that shared the same color as a deep champagne. She rolled the object over to view the opened insides better and found seeds in the rotten must.

Apple seeds.

Wait a minute! These threes, this clearing, these apples. Then it hit her.

They were at Sweet Apple Acres.

Or at least the very tip of it’s outskirts. Wiping her hoof on the thick pile of leaves next to the rotted apple, Rainbow found the faintest trace of one of the many dirt trails that led to the farm’s center. Judging by the rest of the surroundings, she was worried about how much the farm could have changed - or even if anypony was alive - but she had to know.

She had to.

From the looks of things, the two were heading through the trees and towards Ponyville if her guestimate on their surroundings was correct.

“Hey!” She started a little too energetically, causing him to flinch slightly. “Let’s go this way.”

The stallion turned and followed the direction she was gesturing to, taking a moment to silently scan over the path. To her, it was like he was a foal trying to decide between two flavors of ice cream with the short few seconds he stayed silent, weighing the options.

“No, it’s too much of a detour. We won’t make it to Ponyville before dark if we do.” He replied.

“I’ll take that chance then.” She stated, determination coating her voice, before walking down the trail leaving him standing there.

Storm turned to face where he thought the figure would have most likely gone by now but turned back when she said something else.

“You comin?” It was almost snark-like in tone.

With an irritated sigh, he began after her, the unforgiving part of his mind knowing that this would bite them both in the ass later.

A couple minutes of walking through the trail, and a white fence had appeared at the sides, signaling that they were close to the farmhouse. Rainbow was practically bouncing and kicking up leaves as she trotted through the trail. Storm had also picked up his pace to keep up with her, which wasn’t easy, but as long as she was in his sights, any danger could be prevented.

Hopefully.

The farmhouse finally came into view where the fence ended and arched over with a string of dead plants at both sides. A stone well was located to the immediate left of the arch and appeared to be mostly intact. To the right, a weathered and destroyed chicken coop stood on its last legs. Further in the back was the barn itself.

The once lush red and pearl white wooden structure was now desaturated with years of neglect and abandonment. The white had become a sandy beige resembling sand with gravel particles within and the red had faded, looking like a crude bronze. The windows where shiny glass and potted flowers used to be were now stained, cracked, and lacking any flora whatsoever. The Apple-shaped windmill that had been at the top of the building was now just a jagged stump of a pole, presumably knocked off during a flare.

While Rainbow was busy looking over what used to be one of her favorite places filled with amazing memories, Storm was stuck on a collection of smaller buildings on the far side of the farmhouse - or more accurately - who was next to the buildings.

The figure was back. Though he could barely see it from the distance, the build and glowing visor were enough to let him know who it was. Even if he didn’t want to believe it. He was staring directly at the two, and it almost seemed as if he was locking eyes with Storm.

“You been here before?” Storm asked, not taking his eyes off the spot.

“Yeah - many times…” Rainbow answered, trailing off before adding; “But not like this. Its’ so…”

“Different?”

“Yeah… that.”

“We need to cover as much ground as possible to make it to Ponyville in time.” He stated, checking the time, which read 10:07 AM, and momentarily taking his focus off of the figure. Upon returning his gaze to the spot, Storm discovered that the figure was gone.

“I’m going to the barn. Maybe somepony is still there.” Rainbow said, her voice displaying that she was trying to convince herself with the last part.

Storm checked his HUD to find that the radiation levels were only at 21% due to the fact that they were so far from the atmospheric tears. The further one got from Los Pegasus or Canterlot, the lesser the radiation’s harsh effects hit. Meaning it was entirely possible for somepony to be living here still.

And that worried him.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll go check out those buildings over there.” He gestured with a slight nod in the structure’s direction.

“K. See you in a bit!” Rainbow replied, losing the battle to restrain herself from bounding off towards the barn in that second.

“Hold on.” He ordered, grabbing her hoof and stopping the mare in her tracks. An exaggerated sigh was his response as she turned to face him. “Damned can be out here during the day. The radiation is low enough for them to be holed up inside of buildings, so be careful. You remember where to aim, right?”

“The blue thingies.” Dash answered, clearly not in the mood for any more tips.

“Plexers.” He corrected. “And I shouldn't have to say this, but don’t ever take your helmet off around them - no matter what!”

“Gee, thanks, dad.” She replied sarcastically before swatting his hoof away and heading off.

Storm stayed rooted to the spot for a moment, contemplating if he should go with her. A reckless attitude like hers and lack of patience wasn’t going to get her far. He might have listened to his conscience, but he had to check out those smaller buildings.

The pony behind them couldn’t be who he thought it was, right? He had buried that pony just this morning, so there was no way it was him. Somepony could have swiped the rifle from his grave and were keeping watch over the two now. If that was the case, then they were going to fucking pay.

He would make sure of it.

Unholstering his Sweeper and switching the safety off, Storm began his own journey towards his respective destination.

The stallion had checked his open comms for any sign of another ATS user for the past twenty minutes, but the only one he got was Rainbow’s suit.

Should show her how to hide that signal. He thought, but that was for later.

He was in the now currently. Now, he had some possibly deranged or at least sick bastard who has his dead friend’s rifle for whatever reason. Now, he had a very real danger that was following him. Now, he had real problems.

Once he was within spitting distance of the four smaller structures, Storm stopped and listened. He held his breath and stood as still as possible, listening for any signs of life. Hoovesteps, the loading of a weapon, breathing, anything.

But nothing came out of the buildings or around the corner for him.

Though he didn’t show it on the surface, Storm’s mind was beginning to cloud with rage at the mere thought that some fucker would dare take anything off of his friend’s gravesite. It took everything he had to remain composed and approach this correctly.

Upon pressing a button on his chestpiece, a small rectangular module lit up with electric purple accents, as it was unlocked from its resting place and began to hover. The small transparent window of a live video feed from the device popped up on his HUD. Controlling the device with his Tethertech, Storm sent it to the left while he stalked to the right of the buildings.

Pressing himself against the already cleared side of the nearest building, Storm turned his attention to the device’s feed, which was scanning through the front of all four destroyed structures. Each structure was small enough that he could see inside them from the already caked on damage. Once the module was at the end of the fourth building, he had it round the corner to find…

Nothing.

That could only mean one thing - this pony was directly on the backside of the building. Storm mentally prepared himself to fire every round he had at this stranger the second he saw them. Readying his rifle and placing the camera device on the opposite side, he counted down in his head.

3…

2…

1…

Now!

Storm swung around the corner with his weapon raised high and his camera on the other side in case the figure tried to flee, but he only saw nothing.

Nothing. Again. No graverobber or survivor waiting to take him out. Nothing.

After a moment of scanning the rest of the nearby treeline, Storm decreed that there was no way somepony could have crossed an open field of that size without him seeing them. It was like this stranger had vanished into thin air.

Was this all his mind fucking with him again? It had found toying with his friends pretty amusing apparently, so maybe that was all this was. Just a vision of Maverick to remind him that the mentioned stallion could be standing here with him right now if he hadn’t been a selfish, wreckless-

Enough! Storm mentally scolded himself while shaking his head slightly. There was time for self pity later. Right now, he had to check on Rainbow.

As he turned to leave, his hoof brushed up against something hard sticking out of the ground. Looking down revealed it was a stray plank of wood that didn’t match any of the nearby buildings in color or size. The plank was located in a small impression in the soil that had been eroded away by years of violent weathering.

Brushing aside the buildup of dust and dirt on the plank, he discovered a fraction of a label that read ‘-ells’ with a western themed border on the edge of the cut-off text. Activating his blade, Storm dug the weapon into the soil next to the plank and began to push aside the dirt in an attempt to free whatever mystery item was below.

A couple seconds later revealed that the object was not a wooden plank, but rather a small wooden box, which he had almost halfway out of the ground by now. The part with the label was still completely concealed by the Earth, so after deactivating his blade, the stallion placed his hooves on either side of the freed portion and pulled.

The box gave relatively easily as the dirt separated around it with each steady tug. When it was finally free, he wiped the remaining grime off of the lid to reveal the full title which read “Whinnychester Buckshot Shells.” Alongside the label, he was able to see a western-themed decorative border with an icon of a cowboy stallion in the center of said border.

It took a small amount of effort to pry open the box with his hooves due to how long it had been supposedly buried down there, but he managed nevertheless. Upon opening the lid, and displaying contents that hadn’t seen the sunlight in Celestia-knows-how-long, he was greeted with a nearly stocked row of shotgun shells.

Well I’ll be damned… He thought while looking over the interior.

Coated in a faded velvet interior were twelve cylinder shaped compartments to store the label’s intended contents. The first four slots were empty, but the remaining eight had standard-issue buckshot shells snug tightly next to one another. Grabbing a shell and examining it, Storm was surprised that it was in perfect condition and looked safe to use even after all of these years. The stallion grabbed three shells in a hoof full and pocketed them into his suit. Then he grabbed three more, did the same, and was about to pocket the remaining two when a thought accrued to him.

What if the only reason these had remained here for so long was because somepony was still using them? What if he had just robbed some survivor or group of a last resort stash and would be the death of them? No! Not ever again.

Stopping his hoof from grabbing the remaining two shells, Storm closed the box with the remainders inside and placed the box back into the hole. Then he pushed dirt into the hole and attempted to halfway conceal it as it had been before he arrived.

Getting up from his crouched position, Storm holstered his Sweeper before grabbing his shotgun off his back and loading a few of the newly acquired ammunition into it’s cylinder. Once the shells were loaded, he racked the first one into the chamber with an audible click.

While he was fortunate to have found this ammo cache, everything about this was wrong. So wrong. This figure with seemingly nowhere to go vanishes and he just happens to find a nearly untouched ammo box for a weapon he just happened to have on him…

Storm didn’t like these odds. He knew there was no such thing as coincidence - especially in this world - but this was just too wrong. Something else was going down here. It had to be. He needed to make sure Rainbow was alright.

Better check on her. He thought while hailing her suit on his comms system.

“Dash,” He started, allowing the static to clear out. “I found some supplies. Anything on your end?”

Silence.

“Dash?”

“Dash?!” He repeated louder in case static or something on her end was blocking him out. “Answer me dammit!”

Still nothing.

Storm was about to try and reboot the channel when suddenly, a barrage of static filled his ears.

“Wh-ere ar-e -y-you go-in-g?” A distorted mare’s voice asked through the static.

It didn’t have the same raspy sounding tone as Rainbow’s, but he did feel like it was familiar in a way he couldn’t quite place yet.

“Who is this?” He asked, looking around with shotgun raised. “What have you done with Dash?!”

No answer. Just static.

“Answer me, asshole!” He demanded.

Rainbow Dash had wasted no time in reaching the front door to the farmhouse, which was off of it’s hinges and covered in dead vines on the ground. Inside the building, rays of sun broke through the shattered windows and many cracks in the rotted wood, giving the place an almost angelic feeling to it.

Almost, being that the furniture and everything inside looked like a hurricane had come through the place. The couch was nearly ripped in two and blocked off a portion of where the door had once been, almost as if somepony had tried to barricade it. Multiple shelves, tables and other appliances were in complete ruin.

Papers, clothing, tools, and rotted food littered the floor as the mare carefully walked through the building. On one wall, there was a dried bloodstain with multiple holes in it, resembling what might be made from a shotgun blast. Rainbow shuttered. It was like this place wasn’t the one she had known ever since meeting her friends. Sure, it was the same building - same layout and all - but it was completely different at the same time now.

It was wrong now.

The mare continued to search each room, only finding ashes of whatever happened here. Ashes of a story that she would probably never know. There was no way to tell if this happened a year ago, or twenty. All she knew was that all that remained of it were ashes.

Eventually, she came across a closed door in the upstairs part of the building. Trying to open it yielded no results, but she was able to push it slightly, meaning the door wasn’t locked. It was barricaded. Using significantly more force by putting her whole body - in addition to the suit’s weight - into slamming the door inward, it finally gave in and Rainbow was sent tumbling over a dresser where she fell to the other side on her back.

The suit had tanked most of the impact, so she wasn’t hurt, just slightly disoriented from the sudden change in positioning. Turning her head to face the inside of the room, her eyes widened and she recoiled in shock.

Laying on the ground, in whispering distance from her own armored head, was a skeleton. Rainbow backed into a nearby wall and scanned the rest of the room for any immediate threats. Other than the skeleton, all she saw was another bloodstain on the wall and more holes located on the other side of the bed.

Slowly, she got up and approached the skeleton before examining it, but not daring to touch it. The frame was small, lacking wing joints or a horn - meaning it was an earth pony - and quite possibly a mare. The bones were extremely thin, brittle even. And that's when it hit her.

Was that Granny Smith?

It had to be! Unless some random elderly earth pony holed up in here years prior, the skeleton before Rainbow had to be her. The identity of the skeleton didn’t stay in her head much longer upon noticing that it was missing a part of it’s skull and an entire forehoof bone was severed from the main skeleton.

Suddenly, a notification popped up in the corner of her HUD, signaling that an unknown caller opened a comms channel with her.

“Dash, I found some supplies. Anything on your end?”

It was Storm.

Rainbow could barely reply, her focus was entirely on the sight before her, so she turned away and responded. “N-no, the place is picked clean. What’d you find?”

“Dash?”

“Yeah?”

“Dash?!”

“Are you deaf? I’m right he-” The mare agitatedly replied before being cut off.

“Answer me dammit!” He sounded stressed now.

“I have been!” Rainbow retorted. “Something must be wrong on your end. Maybe the-” Again, she was cut off by a demand from him.

“Who is this?! What have you done with Dash?!” He was practically yelling at this point, as if someone had really pissed him off. “Answer me, asshole!”

Has he lost his fucking mind?! Rainbow thought, flinching slightly at the additional outburst. With a sigh, she ended the call and exited the room. I need to get home before he accidentally shoots me at this rate… She started to think, but mentally slapped herself for it. The guy was obviously traumatized by what happened to his friends - and quite possibly more from what little she could tell - now this was the result. He couldn’t help it, but that didn’t make her worry about either of their sakes any less.

The mare had just rounded the corner for the living room when something large slammed into her, knocking her out of her thoughts and onto her back. With a surprised grunt, she landed and scrambled for the machine gun that had fallen out of her hooves. Rainbow was stopped when an extremely bright flashlight beam clouded her vision and forced her to block her visor from the light.

As soon as it appeared, the light vanished, revealing Storm - who put down his shotgun and switched off the flashlight - before looking down at her.

“You alright?” He asked, his tone slightly raspy from earlier, as he extended a hoof downwards.

“I should be asking that.” She replied, accepting his hoof and tethering her weapon back into her grasp. “What did you hear in the channel?”

He didn’t answer at first. It was like he was purposely choosing each word that he was about to speak. To Rainbow, that meant he was hiding something.

“Static.” He finally replied.

“That's it?”

“That's it.”

“Really?” She snorted, “Then who were you yelling at?”

The stallion froze. Previously, he had been slightly fidgeting in place almost expecting some sort of attack or something, but now he was a statue as he replied.

“Just thought I heard someone.” Storm answered at last before swiftly changing the subject. “Come on, it’s getting close to noon. We should get going.”

Rainbow paused momentarily before replying. “Uh, dude, Ponyville is only like ten minutes from us now. We’ve still got five hours left.”

“I know. We need to scout it out before entering.”

“Scout it out?” Rainbow half asked, half repeated. “Are you planning a heist or something?” She continued sarcastically.

The look he gave her was the ‘not in the bullshitting mood’ one she had started to get accustomed to recently. “No, I’m planning to not walk into an ambush or any other nasty surprises.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes at that. He couldn’t see her gesture of annoyance, but it was more of a subconscious reaction at this point. What the hell did he know? Ponyville was a place of wonder, laughter, and might as well be the capital of friendship if such a thing existed. Even if everything had changed around here, there was no way every shred of that could disappear.

Right?

“Okay then.” She started. “Let’s go waste time stalking ponies instead of meeting them and getting this over with.”

“You’ll thank me later.” He replied. “Until then how about we tone down the smartass comments.”

Rainbow lifted her good wing and curled every feather with the sole exception of her primary one located in the middle as a response.

With that, the two turned and exited the building, leaving Sweet Apple Acres as it was…

Ashes of the old world.

Rainbow huffed impatiently as she absentmindedly tapped a hoof on the floor of the third story building she had found herself in for the past eternity.

The two had found some resemblance of civilization in Ponyville. The central part of the town where the mayor's office and market square were located had been walled off by towering concrete barriers, of which Rainbow could barely see over with her position. All that was visible being the tops of two dozen buildings that looked surprisingly intact.

She couldn’t see any of the town’s residents, but judging by the almost brand new banners hung on the top of some buildings, the place was still inhabited. The suspense of finding anypony else, especially her friends, was eating at her like one of those creatures would if they caught her.

Another minute or two ticked by and she finally had enough. With a frustrated grunt, she connected to the comms channel to reach Storm, who was prone on the roof of the very same building she was inside.

“What's taking so long? I could’ve had us in there in ten seconds flat.” She complained.

“You would have gotten us killed in ten seconds flat. It’ll go by faster if you’d stop calling every couple of minutes.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rainbow retorted, followed by a brief moment of silence before continuing. “So, uh, see anything interesting?”

“They’re preparing some kind of a gathering. There’s a banner that says ‘Remember the fallen for they live on in our hearts, in our bodies, and in our spirits’ above the center building.” He replied. “There's a lot of them too. At least thirty, but none of them are armed as far as I can tell.”

“They are ponies, dude - not monsters. Just try to relax and don’t make a scene in there for Celestia’s sake.”

“You don’t know that.” He retorted cooly. “You won’t ever know until it’s too late, and by then, you have to be willing to act accordingly.”

Though he was focused on the scene below, Storm could almost sense an eye roll from the mare below in addition to the brief silence that followed.

“Okay, got it.” She said quickly, brushing off the advice in an annoyed tone. “Did they pass your inspection test? Can we go now?”

Storm didn’t reply right away. Instead he kept scanning over the insides of the community. Nothing looked wrong, but nothing looked right either. Where were the lookouts? The armed guards? All he saw were market booths where ponies were chatting, trading, and acting like none of this hell existed in the first place. Despite the feeling in his gut, he had no tangible evidence of something being amiss, and in addition to that he also had the worst most impatient pegasus up his ass to speed things up.

Normally, he would be thinking something along the lines of it being her funeral, but the truth is that if - no when - things go south, it would be both of their funerals. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that he didn’t mind the thought.

Not one bit.

“Fine.” He finally answered. “Let’s go check it out. If shit hits the fan and we get seperated, then meet me back at that farm.”

Yeah, as if I’m spending another day with you… Rainbow thought upon hearing that. “About time.”

Dash exited the house just in time to meet with Storm, who had just climbed down with surprising stealth and agility for both his size and suit.

“Another thing,” He began. “The radiation level out here is at 4%. That's low enough to not do permanent damage and barely even be noticeable. I saw a lot of them without masks or suits on, so it’s safe to do so.”

“Finally.” Rainbow sighed in relief and deactivated her helmet. The metal plates were tethered neatly into the compartment behind her head, revealing her sweat coated mane to the world. The air around her both tasted and smelled of the faintest of a sweet and sour hybrid like she had just finished eating a green apple lollipop.

“Better hope they don’t have any snipers itching for a fight.” He commented on her action of removing the helmet.

Unsurprisingly, his own blue and bronze helmet remained on. Rainbow could feel the judgemental glare he gave off even with the protection of the visor’s purple lens. She was starting to get sick of being bossed around like some newbie employee who couldn’t do anything right in the manager’s eyes.

None of this would matter for much longer thankfully. Soon she would be reunited with her friends - at least some of them had to survive after all - and the two could go their separate ways. She just hoped he wouldn’t do anything rash before her and the others could fix this world.

But then it hit her. Maybe he could help. Despite the snarky, know-it-all pain in flank he was to her, Rainbow had to admit that the stallion did know his way around both the monsters and gadget-making as well. She made a mental note to ask him about that later, but the first thing is first.

It was time to see if her best friends had hopefully made it and had been spending all of this time planning for a way to fix their future. That’s got to be it, after all, the girls were smart enough to make it this far…

Right?

“Holster your weapon.” Storm ordered, as he did just that and placed his Sweeper on his back.

Rainbow did the same and swung the machine gun onto her back before following him to the front gates of the community. In contrast to the interior of the community, the outside did match the rest of the world. The buildings were decrepit, ransacked, and barely holding on.

The gate was made of concrete and stood about three and a half stories tall just like the rest of the wall. All in all, the structure seemed to be decently maintained as it had little cracks, dents, and stains on it.

Storm stopped in his tracks while the mare advanced towards the gate. No guards at the gate? Thats off… He thought, growing uneasy. His eyes began scanning the tops of nearby buildings for the glint of a scope or sign of movement.

“You afraid of ponies in general or somethin?” Rainbow asked, having noticed and looked back at his position. “Come on, I’ll hold your hoof if it helps.” She offered, chuckling at her own joke.

“Shut up.” He grunted, walking past the snickering mare.

Once the two were within spitting distance of the gate, Storm knocked on it three times loudly, making sure the plating of his suited hoof hit the stone for an amplified effect.

While he had been expecting guards or marauders to jump out of nowhere, or even the scope glints and laser sights to rest on their bodies, hell - he even expected somepony to tell them to ‘screw off’ with a loudspeaker from the otherside.

They didn’t get any of the ‘usual’ greetings most communities had. Instead, the gates made a grinding sound as they began to separate slowly. It took everything Storm had to not immediately ready his weapons at this strange occurance.

His eyes locked with about two dozen others, all of which had stopped various activities and looked like a frozen frame of a movie, to watch what the noise at the gate had been. Storm felt like deformed zoo animal that all of the colts and fillies were staring at in strange wonder.

The duo stepped inside, with Rainbow entering - a smile on her muzzle - immediately while Storm lingered for a moment before taking after his excited companion.

They walked for a bit with Rainbow waving at a few ponies. Some waved back, some smiled in addition. Others ignored her or whispered to one another.

“See?” Dash reminded. “They’re just ponies. Nothing more.”

Storm didn’t answer. He just kept walking and silently examining everypony that came into his view. He was thankful the suit concealed his face as his expression was probably one of distrust or hostility if he had to guess.

Ivory had coined a term for ‘the look’ he gave newcomers and ponies he didn’t trust or like. ‘The Storm Stare’ was what she called it while drunk off her flank one night. The playful mare had even tried her best to replicate it herself, but it only looked goofy and ended in Maverick having a laughing fit at her attempts.

In the time that he had remembered a brief bit of his friends, Storm had absently let his mind wander and lost track of Rainbow, who was now an entire street length ahead of him.

Rainbow had apparently found somepony she recognized, which was a grey pegasus mare who had a yellow mane and matching eyes, both of which weren’t properly centered. The other pegasus hugged her suddenly, causing Storm to subconsciously place a tethered appendage on his weapon out of reflex.

When it was clear the gesture had no ill intent, he removed the appendage and walked over to the duo. He stopped a couple steps away so as to not interrupt their conversation or maybe it was because he wanted to avoid others. Whatever made him feel better.

After hugging the mare goodbye, Rainbow returned to his side. Any traces of her irritated and scared side completely absent now.

Rainbow was about to say something when a voice from behind them beat her to it.

“Welcome to Ponyville!” A sophisticated mare’s voice greeted. “Anything you-”

The voice stopped and Rainbow’s facial expression froze on the spot. Storm turned around and was met with a dirty white unicorn mare roughly the same age as Dash. Her mane and tail were a pristine purple and done up elegantly in curls with string. The unicorn had a shocked expression on her face that transformed into one of pure excitement and happiness.

“Rainbow?” She half asked, half identified.

“R-rares?” Rainbow stammered, making Storm unsure if she had meant to think that rather than say it aloud.

The unicorn giggled at her friend’s stunned expression and response.

“Welcome home, darling.”

Author's Notes:

Not much to say about this chapter. It just bridges the gap between the lighthouse and the big Ponyville chapter, which will be around 10,000 words coming up sometime next month.
Any guesses as how the time spent with Rarity for both Storm and Rainbow will go down for chapter 12?