A/N: Welcome to "The Herd", the first production of Epic Black Banshee Studios.

Original Idea: EpicFailFTW1528

Writers: Defeneing, EpicFailFTW1528, IntelligentScribbles

Chapter 1

“Everything looks fine.” Said Nate, climbing his way up a ladder to the cockpit. The inhabitants of the space ship had just woken up from cryogenic sleep.This space shuttle was en route to a planet that appeared as if it could support life. The crew of seven consisted of Bromley, the captain, Evan, the pilot, Nate, the engineer, Josh, the navigator, Henrick and Hans, in charge of engine stability, and Fabio, in charge of weapons. The shuttle still had about a week to travel.

Their ship was approximately fifty meters long, including the fuel tank. It was all inclusive, meaning that instead of space shuttles in the late 20th century, where the fuel tank and thrusters fell off, this didn’t. It reduced fuel consumption slightly, as the total number of thrusters was reduced to three, as opposed to five. It was flying in a cyclonic pattern, imitating gravity on the inside.

The only reason they were out here was because of their determined captain. Over the years Bromley had seemed to grow more and more distant between his three life time friends; Evan, Nathaniel, and Josh. It took awhile to get him out of his stupor, but before long the entire group had him spilling his guts over why he was so angsty. He explained to them that the past few months had been rough on him, and that he had been taking secret training with the military. There was a secret operation currently being done that apparently he had become deeply involved in unintentionally. He digressed afterwards that he wanted out, badly, but the Military would track him no matter where he went. His speech had hinted that this mission was terrifying, and might result in the loss of his life in the end.

The friends were determined to help the angry, apparently military trained friend they had known for so long. They came to the conclusion that the only thing that would ever allow him to be free was to leave the planet. While sounding entirely impossible and perhaps even stupid at this point, Josh determined that “if there’s a will, there’s a way.” The friends ran though contacts, and Evan even tapped into his own bank account, which was entirely comprised of his own success as a CEO. Bromley headed into hiding, living off in the woods for a few years as his friends compiled supplies to build some sort of transportation.

One day, about a year after Bromley had headed into hiding. Nathaniel was in a massive supply store (Home Depot to be precise) and saw two brothers, twins to be precise, looking over a physics book while pointing at different metals. He approached them and asked about what they were doing. They grinned at him and told him about their dream to go past the sky without a major corporation shoving a stick up their butt in the process. He hid a massive smile threatening to appear and explained his own friend’s current predicament and they readily agreed to team up. The two brothers introduced themselves as Henrick and Hans. Soon the two boys headed out into the wilderness with a bewildered Bromley. He had in no way suspected even more help. They became amiable friends at a remarkable speed, and together, the three of them began working on the rocket, writing up blue prints, and even beginning base construction.

Quickly the soon to be space explorers made lists of things needed for the travel to be a successful flight. Light clothing was necessary, as was some sort of rationing. Dehydrated food stuffs and nutritional bars were packed in excess, and were placed inside crates which were packaged in the storage compartment. Evan did some math, and gave everyone a mass limit. Only so much could be packed.

As supplies slowly stacked up, and the gang got more involved in the construction of the rocket, they began to gather attention. Thankfully Bromley knew someone who could cover their asses. Fabio filled the position nicely, keeping the media shut down and the government mostly uninformed. Despite this, just before the launch, they made a public appearance. A very upset and obviously physically drained Bromley had stood before his friends and explained with fervency that the war was going to get worse, much worse, and he wanted no part of it. Bromley had grabbed a rifle that he had taken with him when he left the military and shot a bullet straight through a man’s chest with those words. The man turned out to be the head of black ops, and they left that night, hoping to dear god that the ship they had worked on for about 8 years would take off. Thankfully it did, but the motley crew didn’t prepare as much as they could have because of the rushed take off. They were left with their normal attire, instead of anything really space worthy before they took off. Then again, their normal attire wasn’t exactly... normal.

Nate had been shoved into space wearing a slim white T-Shirt, blue skinny jeans (with a few chains, of course), and green and purple Converse. He had thankfully had his spiked lip piercings in, and fortunately had to leave his hair long. He had a pack of cigarettes and a few cigars in his pants’ pockets. His appearance just didn’t really match his personality though. Most people would expect some sort of Gothic little freak. But Nate was fairly positive, somewhat easygoing, and rarely got caught up in anything that would cause him problems. Sure, he had depression. And sure he had just left Earth with his friends. He didn’t let that hold him down. He was loyal to his friend most of the time, and almost always loyal to his captain all of the time.. The only exception was when he was feeling slightly rebellious, in which case he’d just basically say “fuck the world” and only do what he wanted. After all, he was just a person. He couldn’t do anything too important anyways. That’s what Evan and the Captain were for.

Evan hated the world though, despite being a part of it. It was so full of boring stuff. Like bland colors. He tried to make the best of it by putting on a happy face in hopes that some of the smile would seep into his body. He constantly cracked jokes in a futile attempt to help himself feel better. He also wore brighter colors, sticking with interesting blues and greys that people hardly saw. In an effort to entertain himself he took up classes for everything that he could possibly learn. He started to get to know people and fell into a very fulfilling position in a company, CEO. He made as much money as he wanted, but it still didn’t make him happy.

Bromley was a different story. He wore dark clothing, boots or converse most of the time, and black leather fingerless gloves. They had been given to him in high school, by Evan no less. His clothing didn’t quite contradict his brown hair, or constantly color changing eyes. He wasn’t an obvious fit to any stereotype. He kept his life mostly secret. He had money and power. Sure, getting there isn’t any happily ever after story. Killing, stealing, threatening... It happens. He never really went into detail about any of it, though. At least not to his crew (with the exception of maybe Evan). He probably would never have gotten into that line of business if he hadn’t been so thoroughly destroyed at a young age. Oh well, you can’t change the past.

“That’s good. Josh set out coordinates please, and we’ll head towards our destination.” Bromley replied to Nathaniel in an even tone. Josh meanwhile thoughtfully brought a pen to his chin, tapping on it.

“Sir, we are already headed in the correct direction. No need to change our points.” With a nod, Bromley patted Josh’s shoulder. With a loud groan the captain continued his stretching, joints popping noisily in stiffness. He glared down at his body, noticing some of his muscles mass had decreased.

“God dammit...”

“A nail there, a lever there... Another sheet of metal there, some piping there... That should do it!” Twilight Sparkle said, applying the finishing touches to the interior of her spaceship. The robust craft was tall and goofy looking, painted pink and purple according to Twilight’s color choice. She had been working on the craft for approximately a week, her magic speeding up the process greatly. So far nopony had seen the ship besides her.

“Ooooooh... What's that? Is it an awesomely fantastical partytasmic party machine? I have one of those, you should make one. By the way what is this?” Pinkie Pie said excitedly, bouncing around the ship as Twilight stepped out of it. Pinkie Pie was an easily excited pony. She had thrown parties every day of her life. Although she began as a sad pony, she evolved into the queen of good times.

“You simply cannot mix purple and red! It just does not work,” exclaimed Rarity. She was one of the ponies who needed to make everything perfect and beautiful. She rushed off to get a paint can.

“Rarity we don’t have time. We should all launch before the moon is all they way in the sky,” Twilight motioned for her to come in. She left the paint can and came in, but not without looking back and lamenting her unfinished project. Twilight made Applejack and Pinkie Pie sit in the passenger seats, mainly because this technology was past their grasp. The rest of Twilight’s friends came in. Applejack was a hardworking pony who kicked trees for their apples. She was strong an courageous, she was candid, always straight to the point and honest, not hiding anything. She wasn’t afraid to get her hooves dirty either. She turned her head to view Rainbow Dash who had dashed in at some point. (see what I did there?) Rainbow Dash looked out of the navigation window, excited to go on another adventure.

Rainbow Dash had a mane and tail of rainbow colors. Her pegasus form and light bone structure allowed her to fly faster than anypony else. She had created the sonic rainboom  which was literally a sonic boom that shot out a rainbow in a ring from where it happened. Literally created it. It made her a legend among the pegasus community, and in doing so made her even more cocky than before. Fluttershy had shyly stepped in when everypony else was getting on board, and she was listening to the quiet beeping of the crude radar device Twilight had constructed. Fluttershy was also a pegasus but she didn’t have much of a knack for flying. She instead concerned herself in the woodland creatures of the ground and stayed quite almost all of the time.

Rarity was in charge of making sure everypony was doing their job, and that everything was in working order. It took off slowly, gaining speed and eventually going into orbit. Pinkie Pie was immersed joy when she began to float around. Fluttershy was tightly gripping the radar device, and Rainbow dash was slightly scared, unused to not being in control when her hooves were off the ground. Twilight was amazed, and constantly took notes of what she saw.

Evan was blasting some sick dubs. Right as the bass drop had come, there was a huge crash. The ship had made an abrupt movement, as suddenly Fabio flipped out of his seat into the ceiling, then back down into his seat slowly, suddenly levitating. “Bass drop?” questioned Evan as he was being flung weightlessly. His body was rigid and his arms to his head. He knew bass was powerful but this ship was being flung about. Noisia was such a boss.

“Well, apparently we stopped spinning.” Said Hans, attempting to cling to any surface possible.

Nate was derping about. He wasn’t doing very much. Then again, bugging Fabio was always fun.

“DO A BARREL ROLL!” Nate yelled constantly. He irritated Fabio to the point of Fabio backhanding him. Upon the backhand, there was a crash.

“GOD DAMN IT WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TURNING ON GOD MODE?” Nate yelled, being flung into the wall.

“What the hell was that!?” shouted Bromley, immediately swimming through the air, over to the engines. Between the three thrusters, the engines were on fire, off, or exploded. “Well shit. We’re in for a ride boys.” with that Bromley swam through the space in the shuttle and reached for Evan’s stereo, lifting it and putting it on his shoulder. “Wait for the drop... Have a seizure.”

“I made you a bass, but I DROPPED IT!” Nate yelled loudly, entirely caught up in the epicness of it all.

“BASS DROP?” Evan asked louder. He was still very confused.

“FUCK YEAH!” came the normally relaxed brothers (Henrick and Hans) reply.

Although outwardly everyone was partying it out, it was an obvious attempt to relieve pressure from the situation. There was nothing anyone could do, so they just flipped and twirled, spazzing out ridiculously as the “WUMP WUMP WUMP” of the Dubstep echoed through the seven man ship. Evan still floated around like a board. Nothing made sense anymore. Noisia was destroying worlds.

“Eep-!” Fluttershy started, but stopped as she was sent hurtling into the wall. A pole narrowly missed her head, spearing the wall behind her. Twilight was knocked down by a flying seat. Rarity watched in horror as a glass panel from the inside of a window nearly smashed her. Rainbow Dash pushed her out of the way as shards of glass sprayed everywhere. Nopony got cut, but it was terrifying nonetheless. Rainbow Dash flipped and avoided flying objects with ease, attempting to get to a window quickly. She looked outside just in time to see a strange creature on only two legs appearing to walk in place in mid air. The thing turned to face her and his expression changed to extreme confusion, then a deep frantic purple and finally a blank stare. Rainbow Dash went green at the sight.

“I’m gonna puke...”

The two crafts had crashed. Thankfully at an angle, but a collision nonetheless. The ships hurtled down towards a large red planet. Hans and Henrick attempted to get into an escape pod, but were immediately killed by a gigantic piece of metal slicing neatly through their heads. Josh was more successful, having not been in the way of the large scrap of metal. He leaped over another sharp piece of material. He slammed into an escape pod, the door flipping open to let him in and he closed it behind him. He panted loudly. Grief would come later, first survival. His escape pod was ejected into space quickly, sending him to hopefully a safe location. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him Fabio was attempting to get into another escape pod. Unfortunately for the large man though, his suit got stuck in the door as it closed. As the pod ejected, he was suctioned through the tiny crack in the door, crushing him and exploding his head, lungs, stomach, and bladder all over the inside of the pod. The only thing left of him were his torn shoes, covered in his intestines.

For Bromley, the crash was entirely different. While most would of panicked and immediately rushed to an escape pod, he took in all the angles for about two seconds, timing himself. The explosions, the shards of glass and materials flying everywhere, were all in slow motion to him as he judged the trajectory of the pieces. He watched as Josh ran to one pod, Fabio to another, and quickly set his sight on the last one. Nate was using his expert hands to push himself along the wall towards the door. With one last look at the chaos, Bromley shoved himself off the wall and slammed his foot into Nate’s butt, sending him careening ten times faster into the door. Regaining composure speedily, Nate held the door open for his captain and pilot with shaking arms, teeth jarring at the effort as the door attempted to close automatically. Bromley flipped through the space in the shuttle after kicking Nate away, and positioned himself to kick off the ceiling, straight through the door. Meanwhile Evan used an explosion as momentum, laughing psychotically as he was force pushed by the blast through the door into his two team members.

Bromley grabbed the doors and tugged them in, just in time, as Fabio’s pod took off, ripping another hole through the already destroyed shuttle. He turned and blinked at a pale looking Evan and raised a brow.

“I didn’t think you even liked those guys that mu-” Evan kicked the side of the pod in anger and shouted back at Bromley;

“MY FUCKING STEREO WAS IN THERE!” Bromley face-palmed.

“We have bigger problems...” Came a solemn Nate’s voice. “The pod is broken, it won’t eject. Either the back up motors exploded, or the hatch won’t open for this pod.” The captain sighed, annoyed that all his efforts were probably for nothing.

“Oh well, we can just hope we survive the landing.”

No trench was torn in the ground. They had come at too steep an angle for that. There was no nice clean happy landing. The two ships, attached to each other by molten metal, had stuck into the ground. As the gravity increased so did the injuries. Even the skilled acrobats such as Bromley, Evan, and Rainbow Dash sustained wounds. Evan took most of them without really trying  to do anything about them, for he didn’t care. The injuries just made him happy and joyous. The doors smashed off at reentry as did the windows and most of the paneling. Nate flew back into the ceiling of the pod, bouncing off and flipping onto his feet with a rush of adrenaline. Then he plonked down onto his butt, breathing heavily. Bromley on the other hand was slammed against one side of the pod, before jerking back into the other side, leaving a dent in the wall. Groaning loudly, he got to his feet, his back bruised.

“Well that fucking hur-” The pod ejected at just that moment, flying easily thirty feet into the air in a straight line. Bromley was suddenly pinned against the pod’s floor by the instant acceleration, Evan’s body crushing him while the said boy yelled in exhilaration. Nate, in another rush of adrenaline, leaped about the time the pod hit it’s peak. He smashed the door out as the pod started its descent. He jumped out (as his impaired judgement assumption was that was the best thing to do), falling outside of the pod. The small craft slammed into the ground ceiling first, sticking up like pillar with a deafening thump. Nate did as well, soon after.

“Uck I bith muh tun...” came an odd sounding voice. It was Bromley, his hand nursing his cheek.

“I can’t breathe... Where are my lungs...” Nate said, straining for breath. Evan walked calmly outside, as if nothing had happened, though already aware of what was coming. He dragged his fallen comrade to the shuttle just as Bromley was getting out, who was somehow still able to stand. He looked up in the air.

“Oh balls...” The ponies came out, all six of them. Before any words had been spoken, even introductions, Bromley shouted to anything still living, “Get back in!” Shards of paneling and metal rained down from the sky. Most of them burning in a horrendous blue flame. They had been traveling so fast that even the metal was burning. After the rain of death, the still living beings stepped out. They looked to the sky, expecting more of the blue flame. The fire was either dying fast or already snuffed. Embers still smoked and metal was twisted and groaning in ways that anyone with a memory would not forget. Bromley shot a glare at the figures near the other ship, already putting out fires to salvage supplies. He didn’t know what to say. They were ponies! Fluttershy spoke first.

“Wh-what are... eep-!” Fluttershy attempted, nearly fainting.

“What she meant to say is, what are you?” Twilight finished, observing the three humans

closely.

“People.” Evan answered simply.

“Interesting...” Twilight said, taking down a note. The ponies were roughly one and a quarter meters tall, quite noticeably shorter than the men, who were all roughly two meters, but only just under.

“We could easily ask the same of you though.” Nate’s eyes narrowed and looked closer at the ponies. Twilight indicated towards her horn;

“I’m a unicorn, as is she.” She stuck a hoof out towards Rarity, to which Bromley nodded and huffed in annoyance.

“We already know this. Just like that one and that one...” He pointed at Rainbow Dash who was circling his crew cautiously, and Fluttershy who was hiding behind Apple Jack.. “.. Is a pegasus. And as far as I can tell blondie over their and... Pink.. Thing... are normal horses.” He shook his head at Pinkie Pie. “Do you think that we’re that stupid? But seriously, she’s pink. What the hell?” Everypony stood up straighter and gave him dirty looks at the words. Rainbow Dash flew down and stood at the head of her friends snorted and stomped her foot in place with one hoof, leaving hoof marks on the ground. She ran up to him, launched herself back into the air and flew up to his eye level, hovering there. She glared heatedly into his eyes, pushing her face closer and closer as she threatened him. “Watch it bub!” Bromley’s eye twitched and Nate indicated to the other ponies to make her stop, his finger running across his neck as he put on a panicked expression.

“It’s OK Dashie, calm the hay down,” Applejack said, trying to calm her down. She strode forward, and stood on her hind legs before pulling down on Rainbow’s wing with her teeth, knocking the flying pony off balance. Bromley shot a withering look at the blue and rainbow pony before going walking off, presumably to either scout the area or salvage anything he could. He stayed in hearing range though, making sure to catch every word said.

“Do you have names...?” Nate said, looking between them all.

“Rainbow Dash.” said the blue pony said with obvious animosity as she went back to her friends.

“F-F-Fluttershy-eep!” A nervous Fluttershy peeked out then quickly ducked back behind AppleJack who calmly took the cue.

“Applejack.” Her accent amused Evan greatly, and he smirked even more at how her name sounded.

“Twilight Sparkle.” Her eloquent voice cut through, and she was about to say more when an irritatingly loud and happy voice shout of the pink pony next to her.

“Pinkie Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie” Thankfully the call was short lived, as Rarity spoke with her posh accent.

“And Rarity.” They all responded with their names.

“Do you have names?” Twilight asked the three people.

“Nate.”

“Evan. You’re talking...” he was cut off by the captain.

“And Bromley.”

“Your talking ponies! Holy crap that’s awesome!” Evan burst out laughing. The ponies just looked at him like he was weird before Twilight brought up an interesting question.

“I know that right now we aren’t on the best of terms, but I believe we need to acquiesce for a moment to figure out who we can confide in as our leader...” Everypony began whispering among themselves, but the humans kept a straight face. Finally Evan spoke up after about a minute.

“The answer is fairly obvious. Cappin’!” He dramatically bowed to Bromley, who raised a brow at the odd look before turning back to the ponies, not saying anything.

“What the hay?! No way!” Shouted an enraged Rainbow Dash, fluttering up into the air in indignity. “I am not taking order from that foal!” Bromley’s eye twitched in irritation and he just shook his head.

“Twilight was it? In my opinion it’s you or me. You seem level headed enough. I really wouldn’t mind taking a break from being in control, but if you don’t think you can handle the pressure of seven people and duties under your command then ill take the job.” he was applying pressure hoping she would back down. He knew he fit the job better than most, he had been appointed as captain on their shuttle for that sole reason only. “Leadership Qualities” were apparently something he had in him.

“Well, although I am used to leading The Elements of Harmony, I think I’ll back down on this one. You seem professional.” Applejack smiled at the pink pony, showing that she agreed, meanwhile Rarity seemed pretty indifferent about it, though Pinkie Pie seemed to be pouting.

“TWILIGHT?! WHY?! I’m out of here if I have to obey that guy!” With an irritated groan Bromley clenched his fists before savagely, yet still calmly replying to the damn Rainbitch.

“Do you know what would happen if you went out there alone? First of all, you couldn’t eat anything, because you don’t know what’s edible here. Second of all, if their were any creatures eager for a bite, I’m sure you would be plenty for a mouthful. Oh, I also forgot to mention you’ll probably die of thirst, because, oh look, guess what? There isn’t any visible water. I didn’t even see any when I looked down at this planet while flying over it before I was so rudely slammed into by some talking animals! There is also a strong chance that something lives here that isn’t as primitive as a basic beasts. You could get killed. Blasted out of the sky. Do you really wanna risk that? I have no complaints, cus you’re a fucking pain in the ass, but really, do you want that?” He finished coldly and growled lowly. “Now... Everyone go gather whatever is left of our ships. Make a supply pile.” He winced to himself because of Rainbow Dash’s crushed expression, but tried to ignore the guilt he was feeling. He watched her walk off instead of flying and sighed. He would have to make amends at some point in time. That was going to be a hard task. He put it on his to do list.

Not much was salvageable. The earth ponies hauled the material into a pile while the humans and the unicorns ripped off parts. The pegasuses tried to find a relatively flat area to start building that was still nearby. The metal was hauled off and away from the crater the crash had created. Small outlines were drawn in the surface of the earth for the parameters of the shelter. metal sheets were first hoisted in to position and then hammered in by the pegasi. Eventually however the metal would run short, and walls would still need to be put up. No one wanted to sleep right next to an alien life form. Evan began constructing a pick axe. The ground seemed to hold its form unless broken, which was not easy to do.

“Dashie, please grab me the hammer. Nate, grab the wrench.” Bromley directed. Rainbow Dash's wings stuck straight out, her face coloring. Bromley saw the blush out of the corner of his eye. This was going to be the easiest thing on his to do list. If he could keep her blushing, he might be able to gain a new friend. Her face remained red, as she dropped the hammer in Bromley's hand. No one besides her friends had called her Dashie for a long time and it struck her heart in an interesting way. But no, this man had been brash and mean the first time they had ever met. He had even blatantly said he didn’t want her around! Even dead... She could not like someone like that. He must be making fun of her, using the name that was supposed to be used by good friends. She replayed the voice in her head. He was definitely being sarcastic, or so she thought.

“What was that about...?” Nate whispered to Fluttershy.

“It's an expression of extreme excitement or joy. But that makes no sense. Maybe she was just stretching,” she whispered back.

After about an hour, they had started a foundation of a rather large shelter. The planet’s material was composed of a red material that functioned as rock but was as light as and as easy to carve as wood. Nate used the makeshift metal pick, and began taking large pieces of the material away, to the building site. Applejack was helping him. Evan was putting the pieces into place with the help of Rarity, and Bromley was hammering them in place, accompanied by Rainbow Dash.

“Did anyone see how big this planet was?” Nate asked, carrying one of the beams over to Evan. He had used the tip of the pick to shave it until it was straight. He tossed the hunk of “wood” at Evan, who caught it in midair, inches from his face.

“It was HUGE!” Pinkie Pie started, “at least a million times as big as Equestria!” All the humans chuckled at this, except for Evan who fell down laughing with the huge beam in his hands, letting it land on him. It was light enough to avoid injury but it still gave worry to those watching. He still continued to laugh however. The ponies blinked confusedly at the words before Twilight continued.

“That's actually accurate.” Twilight said, looking up from her plans for the house, “And

Equestria is at least two hundred million hoof-breadths wide.” Evan shoved the pillar off him without much trouble and flung himself up. He then measured her hoof, then did the math, and judged that the planet was roughly three times Earth's size, meaning it was probably one third the density. When night cycled, they pulled together some beds, and slept.

In the middle of the night, Fluttershy got up and nuzzled Nate.

“Wh-” Nate started, getting interrupted.

“I'm sorry for waking you, but will we ever get back home? I mean, I don't mean to bother you, and if you don't know that's fine..” Fluttershy whispered. She was about to turn away until Nate put his hand on her snout and moved it back and forth in a petting motion,

“We're gonna get back home.” He smile reassuringly. She walked back over to where she slept and curled up. Nate, being an insomniac, laid there, staring upward. He got up and looked out of the window. He could have been glad that they were lucky enough to find a planet with oxygen, that they had more than just them three to survive, and that there were large underground tunnels that they could build into and hopefully find more food in. But for now he was just glad he was surviving.

Rainbow Dash woke up well before the sun rose. She glared over at “the captain” and thought about him again. Suddenly he spoke up though. She had been sure he was asleep!

“Good morning Dashie...” he didn’t move at all. His back was facing her, so she wondered how he could of possibly known she was awake. “Those words I said back there... I was a a bit of a dick hm?” She said nothing, but she looked down sadly, going over the fact that someone would prefer her dead. “I... I don’t want you dead.” She was shocked. He had apologized to her! Well, probably as close as he’d ever get to apologizing to her. She silently walked over and nudged Bromley softly.

“Alright. Maybe you aren’t as mean as I thought you were.” She looked up at Nate, who was still poised over the window. She walked silently over to him. His sharp lip piercings glistened in the starlight. She looked out the window as well.

“It’s pretty out there. ” his voice reached her ears, and she looked out at the still clear night sky.

“Yeah, but there aren’t any clouds.. Anywhere.” She decided to go lay down again, feeling sleepy again.

“Hey Dashie.” That deep voice woke her slowly, and she felt a warmth on her snout. She leaned into it, that comforting touch lulling her back to sleep. That was until the person rubbing her face spoke again, in a slightly teasing tone. “Well you warm up fast.” With a flap of wings she was on her feet, glaring at her leader. He raised a brow, a smirk stretching into shape on his (she thought as) emotionless face. Her face lit up red and her wings strained at the unexpected expression, and the fact that she had rubbed herself all over his hand a few seconds earlier. Nate looked back at the two and laughed. “If I didn't know any better, I'd think you have a crush.” Nate said jokingly at Rainbow Dash. Bromley ignored the rude comment to the only pony who seemed to have any real bravery, and got back up onto his feet.

“Be quiet!” the pegasus shouted defensively. Nate simply shrugged and returned his gaze to window. While it was breathtaking to look up into the sky, the ground was a dismal scene. Nothing was living or moving, it was as if everything was dead. Except for something shambling in the distance. It disappeared into a mirage that looked like liquid when the sun rose. he shrugged it off, knowing that the combination of no sleep and being on a foreign planet probably did not help ones imagination. Evan immediately made another pickaxe and helped Nate get more supplies. Nate attempted to boil the substance of which the ground was made of, and it proved both pleasing to the stomach and tongue.

“You think there's going to be any water?” Evan said, taking another swing at the ground.

“I hope so.” Nate said, pounding through the strange substance. They broke into an

underground stream. The water was unstained by the red surface. “Oh thank god...” Nate said, immediately taking up a handful. It actually had a crisp flavor. Evan grabbed a few swallows himself, and they went back up after Nate carved the word “water” into the ground with his foot. They had also brought up all the pieces of ground back up and built onto their house, storing their new found rescource there. Pinkie jumped off, her constant bouncing speeding her across the ground. She had decided to go exploring. Rarity took care of spiffing up the house, and Twilight was looking up at the yellow sky, taking notes as to possibly why. Rainbow Dash was reclining above the new room, enjoying being lazy. Unfortunately for her Bromley spotted her.

“Are you going to do anything?” Bromley asked her, pausing from hammering the finishing touches into the roof.

“Wha-?” She said, looking over at him.

“Are you?” He repeated, his eyes hardening in warning. It astounded her how he could get things across so easily without making any facial expressions.

“Oh, sure, uh, what can I do?” She said, standing up, not wanting to anger him yet again.

“Help me get this giant freaking piece of... stuff onto the roof?”He motioned down to some material Evan had dug out earlier. He decided that some extra rock would keep the heat and cold out if they put it up on the roof in thin layers.

“Oh, yeah, sure. No problem.” She flew down and pushed the rock up with her back while Bromley pushed it up over the lip of the roof.

“So, Dashie, where do you hail from and what do you do?” Bromley requested, hoisting the last of the material onto his shoulder. Rainbow Dash could feel her cheeks heat up again by the nickname, and the almost sultry way he spoke it.

“I control the weather in Equestria.” Bromley nodded and said simply,

“Cool.” He was going to say more but a pink form in the distance caught his

attention. Pinkie pie had come sprinting back, crying and screaming. Nate and Evan looked over to see a group of seven humanoid figures coming up behind her. Bromley nodded at them and Nate grabbed one of their rifles and tossed another to Evan, running out to see what they were. Fluttershy flew behind them, in hopes that they were just animals. The sight she saw was not one she would ever forget. Rotting flesh, torn jaws, and empty eye sockets greeted her, and she screamed, terrified. One of the forms didn’t even have legs, unlike the humans they were with now, and was crawling towards them with it’s guts trailing behind it like some freak snake. Flutter felt sick to her stomach.

Every human knew the tale though. Earth had been running out of space to bury the dead. The third world war, after all, had been taking many casualties. The first choice was the Atlantic, then the Pacific, then they turned skyward. launching the bodies into orbit sufficed until they began re-entering. They didn’t want to bloody up the moon, so they started building spaceships. BIG spaceships. They loaded the coffins and took off, . They found a distant planet that was three times the size of Earth. There were a few red spots on it anyway, so they ejected the bodies there. The government never spoke about what happened after that though, not even to the men working for them. The bodies reacted oddly to the red substance. They would just hop right back to life, except for some reason they had developed a new taste. After roaming for long enough, most of them went insane, craving human flesh.. At one point, a stowaway was among them. Despite that, the zombies were too populous for NASA to do anything about it. They were too involved with the war to pay much attention to alien worlds.

Fluttershy fainted, and Nate stopped near her and began aiming. Evan ran about fifty meters farther, just twenty five meters from the zombies, and began firing. He had taken one look, realized what they were and automatically aimed for the head. It turned out those old zombie survival guide books he read back in middle school were paying off. His aim was true, and brains splattered all over the ground while Evan grew excited at the violence. He chuckled inaudibly as he shot them each once again in the head. Double tap, just to make sure.

Nate shook Fluttershy until she woke, ignoring the zombies since he knew his insane friend would have no problems. She blinked at him dazedly before eeping at the blood in the distance.

“OH MY! W-w-w-w...” She passed out again, her tiny form collapsing again into the ground. Nathaniel just shook his head and picked the tiny pony up, carrying her back to base camp. Pinkie had been bluntly struck in the flank by one of them, but probably quite hard, due to her reaction.

“Come with me Pinkie Pie.” Came Nates gentle voice, and the scared, normally bouncy pony somberly approached him. He knelt down and examined her flank, carefully running his fingers over the bruise forming. There was no skin broken, so she seemed to be okay, just a bit shaken. “You’re fine, don’t worry Pinkie.”

“You’re a doctor?” That was Twilight’s voice, as she had been watching the man.

“I’m a lot of things Twilight.” He didn’t even turn to face her, still comforting the pink horse. “It’s something you need to learn. Evan, Bromley, and I... We are all a lot of things. Do not stereotype one of us for another.” He walked away from the Pinkie to go tend to other things.

“So yeah, we have zombies.” Evan said to Bromley, the rifle slung over his back now. The captain just shook his head murmuring about how nothing surprised him after talking ponies. Zombies were so typical.

“What are those?” Rainbow Dash asked, almost nervously.

“People who aren't dead anymore and want to kill everything. They’re pretty popular in books written back where we come from.” Nate said, stepping in. She backed up for a moment, but then puffed out her chest, looking brave. Meanwhile Twilight tried to not shrink back from the humans.

“This is crazy! These people act so calmly after just murdering something. But Nate did say they were already dead...” Twilight thought to herself. “I must learn more, in case the girls and I are actually in danger being with them...”

Nate remained awake on the roof to stand guard that night, who would eventually switch with Evan. Applejack had difficulty sleeping, and Pinkie just laid there, wide eyed. Fluttershy rested on the roof, and Rainbow Dash and Bromley were asleep. Twilight was taking notes by the corpses, and Rarity was cleaning. They had managed to salvage some lights from the cockpit. The things had enough juice to last quite awhile by Evan’s standard.