A/N Defeneing: Hey guys! Here to bring you a REALLY short chapter this time around. Sorry about this. On the bright side chapter 13 is just above 25 pages BEFORE editing, so you guys might get a massive like... 20k word chapter vs. this eeny little 3k one. BUT, there is a story in here, and some more fluffy shit, as always. Which is what we seem to SUCK at writing. Takes us hours. Anyway, as always it’s great if you guys would leave reviews.

I would also like to announce that our video editing department has just started, and a youtube channel should be up fairly soon. Development on a website has also been continuously going! ALSO. Have you guys possibly seen...

MINDLESSGONZO?!?! That dude/chick/guy/lady? Yeah, well... We are probably going to start a Tumblr featuring the OCS and the ponies (Aka the Mane Six) from The Herd. It would be fantastic to get some amazing support from you guys in this project. Anyway, enjoy reading!

Chapter 12

“Git back here you slippery snake!” Applejack shouted, muffled barely by the wall. She and Evan had been at war for most of the night.

“Ugh.” Fluttershy complained, burying her head in the pillows. The noise from the neighboring quarters had kept her up all night. There was a loud slam and a strangled cry of pain. Dusk nuzzled her neck.

“Are you trying to, I mean, I’m not accusing you of anything, I’m just not in the mood...” Fluttershy started.

“What? No! I’m just trying to cheer you up is all.” Dusk said, mildly defensive.

“Oh... okay” She said, warming up to him. She was still worried about him. Had the transformation healed his internal injuries? She had no way of knowing.

“What’s worrying you?” Dusk asked, seeing the look of concern on Fluttershy’s face.

“What? Oh... Uhm... Nothing... I just... No, never mind.” she said, closing her eyes and leaning against him, trying to avoid the inevitable conversation.

“Am I ugly?” he asked, hoping that wasn’t the problem the problem.

“Huh? No! Absolutely not! I find you quite attractive.”

“Is it about the transformation?” He asked now, his intuition kicking in.

“Oh... Uhm... Yes, but don’t worry about it...” She squeaked out.

“I’m fine... I promise you.” he said, nuzzling her neck once more. She cuddled into him deeper and they pushed closer together for warmth. Fluttershy opened her mouth to talk but close it immediately.

“What were you going to say?” Dusk asked after sensing her movement..

“I-I.. Actually, I don’t want to say it... I don’t want to scare you off...” Fluttershy closed her eyes in embarrassment.

“I love you.” Dusk proclaimed, almost cutting her off.

“Eep~!” she was slightly startled, “I-I love you too...”

“You promise?” Dusk joked slightly.

“I promise.” She couldn’t help but smile. He was fantastically warm with her near. They both relaxed, despite the commotion coming from Applejack’s room.

“Ow! Fuck! Balls! My balls...” Evan’s voice rang out this time. Fluttershy ignored it. She felt as though everything would be okay when Dusk was near. He snuggled deep into his mare, loving her heat.

“H-Have you ever... thought about, maybe, at some time, I’m not rushing you or anything, that we could, maybe, have fillies? I mean, if you don’t want to, that’s fine, but I’ve been wanting them for as long as I can remember...” Fluttershy once again regretted what she was saying, but a little less this time.

“Someday. Soon maybe.” Dusk said, nuzzling her cheek. She blushed and smiled at him. He pulled the covers up and they laid there, looking at each other, neither wanting to sleep.

“Oh, I have something to show you!” he said suddenly, throwing the covers off and trotting to the lab. She followed slowly, for fear of the uncomfortable cold. They walked into his lab side by side though, and Dusk pointed to a covered object in a corner. He pulled the blanket off of a contraption she had only ever seen once.

“You made a DJ stand?” she inquired shyly, looking it over. He nodded excitedly while she giggled.

“So...” Dusk twitched in annoyance as he heard the captain’s slightly condescending tone. “You decide... That instead of building something useful, like perhaps... I don’t know, maybe a ship to get us off this hell hole of danger and to a safer place? You build a... Stereo. Great decision.” Bromley stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, while his eyes stared at Dusk blankly. He then straightened himself before Dusk could compose a response and lazily walked away. “Good job Nate. I mean ‘Dusk.’”

“... I...” Dusk sighed as the captain disappeared around a corner. He had just wanted to give everypony a gift for the work and hard times they had been going through. He should've known that Bromley wouldn’t approve. Actually, the captain was probably smart in what he had said, but he had succeeded in making Dusk feel like an idiot and at the same time a douchebag. Fluttershy gently nuzzled him.

“I like it.” She smiled at him, and he returned it half-heartedly to its place under the cover. They trotted back to their room, got under the covers, and cuddled the night away.

It was very, very, very early in Coffee’s opinion. And he was very, very, very tired. And he could have slept through all that banging, swearing, and pained cries without a problem, but unfortunately for him, his only source of warmth was curled up on the floor beside the bed he was laying on. This was deeply angering, for he was frigid. The damn, pink, master of torture was no better off, seeing as she was shivering like she was sleeping on a tub of ice cream. Enough was enough. He wanted his Pinkie Pie back, and by jove he was going to get her. Standing up he strutted over to the trembling ball of pink with authority and prodded her shoulder with his hoof.

“Pinkie. Get up.” His angry voice was much too loud for Pinkie Pie to ignore.

“Go away! I don’t want to do anything...” she whined.

“No. Get up. Get into bed.” His hoof nudged her, forcing her onto her belly.

“What? No... I’m fine...” She attempted to lay back down, but his nose stopped her, his frustrated eyes boring into hers.

“Pinkie... You’re not fine.” His voice had lost a bit of the anger, but it  was still firm, and consoling. Almost parental.

“I don’t want to...” His nostrils flared slightly, and he shook his head for a second before closing his eyes. He seemed to come to terms with himself and opened them again, speaking gently to Pinkie Pie.

“Look, I know you and Rarity were friends. Close friends. I haven’t had any close friends to lose. I really don’t understand how you feel. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to try to help.” Coffee gently rubbed his snout down her mane, trying to reassure her.

“But you can’t! You’ll never know how I feel...” Coffee grew irritated at this and suddenly Pinkie found the larger pony glaring daggers above her, somehow flipped onto her back.

“I’m starting to! You know why? You’re disappearing. The Pinkie Pie I know and love is receding into a tight little shell, and I can’t do anything about it! It’s like you’re dying. My closest friend is dying right in front of me! I’m pretty sure I’m starting to know how you feel. While in the daytime you act happy around everypony else... At night you leave me cold and alone on the bed. Do I deserve that Pinkie Pie?” At that he stomped his hoofs into the ground besides her head and stepped off of her. Pinkie slowly mulled over his words, and realized that her colt friend was probably right. How could she abandon the person she loved to the same fate she went through? Sighing she stood and silently joined him on the bed. He had his back turned to her, but she just curled up against his spine, showing that she was ready for things to go back to the way they were before. Coffee smiled to himself in acknowledgement of the warmth not only on his back, but in his heart.

“Applejack... Applejack! Just stop... stop beating up on me! Stop! For like two seconds.” Evan told his mare in between hooves to the face. She stopped, and Evan dared to look at her.

“Yall got three seconds.” Applejack said testily. Evan only pointed behind her. She turned and saw something amazing. The sunrise. “You mean to say, that Ah been beating up on y'all fer the whole night?”

“Yeah. Yeah you have. And I can’t even remember why...” Evan’s head shot back down to the floor as he took another hoof to the face.

“Because right as I was coming to terms with you running after Bromley, y’all have to go an make a comment about me being fat.”

“Right. Well, throughout the past seven or eight hours, you have most definitely proven to me that all that extra is really muscle. DON’T HIT ME!” Applejack forced another hoof into his bleeding face.

“Y’all really don’t know when to stop do you?” Applejack said while getting in his face.

“The same whole reason I failed my drivers test the first time.” Evan said while pushing the orange pony off of him. He looked out the window at the sunrise. “I used to wake up at this time every day and go for a walk. Just to see what the rest of the city’s mornings were like.” Evan turned away from the natural beauty, wiping off some of the blood from his bleeding nose. “But now I have to wake up to zombies and hardships. I’m willing to bet all the money I ever owned that everyone and everypony here is pissed at me.”

“Now cheer up sugarcube. They can all go the hay if their mad at you fer doing the right thing.” Applejack said. She strode up to Evan’s leg and brushed against it.

“Calling you fat was the right thing to do?” He found himself on his back with another hoof in his face. “Right! It’s not fat, it’s muscle!” Evan bled just a little more.

“Ah ain’t got nothing extra back there alright? Jus’ get up and make me some breakfast so Ah can go to sleep.” Evan once more pushed his mare off of him and got up. He ripped off part of a shirt that he wasn’t using and soaked it in a bit of water before wiping his face of the blood. Feeling slightly dizzy, he still made his way to the kitchen area of the establishment. He instantly regretted doing so though, as the captain was calmly eating on the table there.

“Hey Bromley... Uh... Sleep well?”

“No. No I didn’t. You fucking your pony traumatized my brain for the rest of my life.” Bromley replied monotonously.

“Sorry? I’m not exactly sure that we was havin’ a party but whatever.” Evan said, accidentally trailing off into an accent.

“Why are you suddenly black?”

“Look I don’t know. I’m just trying to avoid the imminent conversation that we’re going to have.” Bromley looked on expectantly. “Just let me feed AJ and get her back to bed. She needs sleep.” Evan motioned to the mare that had followed him to the kitchen.

“If yall have something to say to each other, I’m sure you can say it in front of me.” Applejack spoke her mind, not wanting to leave Evan in the hands of the beast, but instead of saying anything, Evan went and began preparing a simple meal, soup. Applejack just looked at Bromley for an explanation. He remained stoic staring ahead at the wall behind her and ignoring both her and Applejack. Evan brought the breakfast soup to his mare.

“You really don’t want to be here for this. I don’t care what kind of promises you can make to say that no matter what, you won’t think of us different. You will gain a new perspective if you stay, but its not one you want to have. I really love you AJ but right now, you can’t be here.” Evan was dead serious and Applejack noticed. She nodded and left with bowl in her mouth.

“What could be so bad about them talking? They ain’t gonna fight ag’in are they?” Applejack wondered while going back to her room.

Evan sat down at the table across from his friend. “How do I start this...” he thought.

“Do you remember the time I hit you with a stop sign?” Evan asked. Bromley’s face twitched a little, almost as if it was refusing to smile, which was probably the case. “That was the first day we really talked, and you tripped my trigger so hard. I couldn't rip a stop sign ever out of the ground again like that day, even now. You made me so damn mad, that I think I lost all of my anger. I’m never mad anymore. Just... frustrated or confused. I may yell but I’m never angry.” Bromley picked up on where Evan was going.

“So you’re saying that you were trying to replicate that day? That you were trying to rid me of my anger? You wanted to replicate the day before we were best friends?” Bromley asked as he calmly placed his spoon in his bowl and pushed it to the side.

“I don’t mean to completely kill your anger, or your rage. That’s what makes you who you are. But you do need to control it a little better. All I wanted to do was show you that no matter how angry you get, there is a limit.” Bromley said nothing, and remained indifferent. “You get angry like little kid who doesn’t get what he wants. You build and build and build until finally all comes to, is a temper tantrum.”

“You’re treading in a minefield.” Bromley’s eyes narrowed.

“Oh, the nostalgia. Except this time,” Evan spread his arms. “they aren’t actual mines. What I mean to say is this. Kill zombies for the first time. Get pissed. Kill again. Get more pissed. Get backed into the home because of zombies. Rage. Get asked to kill your friend, and break. Tantrum in the form of running away instead of just manning up and turning 18 for real. You don’t want to kill Rainbow Dash? Don’t.”

“It isn’t that simple...” Bromley was about to explain but Evan cut in.

“So why can I do it? I’m easily the dumbest live person on the planet, but I can resist killing Applejack when she beats on me. Maybe I’m better.” Evan stood up.

“But that’s you. You have no idea what it’s like to have all this rage build up inside you.” Bromley was growing frustrated at getting cut off.

“I hit you with a stop sign that I pulled out of the ground. I spend more time unconscious than all of you combined. Would I really just not care? My own pony beats up on me because shes mad and I have to let her or I could seriously injure her. I can control my anger Bromley. What about you?”

“I can, and I can’t. As you saw, I left as soon as it threatened to bubble over. Every time I’m angry I just shove it down, but then assholes like you come and dig it up again. Why did you do that? Its stupid and unnecessary.” Bromley was frustrated and confused at his copilot, but didn’t show it in the slightest.

“Because I needed to teach you that even when you get super angry, you will have a limit. As for how do you control the anger, just put everything you care about above the limit. Or, start caring more.” Evan walked over to his still sitting friend. “You care enough about me to not kill me, and for that I thank you. Start caring more about Rainbow Dash and maybe you won’t be afraid of killing her.” Bromley gripped the edge of the rock table to keep himself sitting.

“Everything you just said was a complete pile of shit. I care just as much about Rainbow Dash as I do about you. I know you feel like you did something for me, but you did nothing. I do not have ‘temper tantrums’ as you call them. Well... I do. But they are never inflicted on my friends. Until they are idiots and start shit up like you did.”

“But that just proves that you’re going to snap someday. In front of all of us. And maybe kill all of us.” Bromley smirked a bit and just shook his head.

“You don’t think I know that? I’ve known that for the longest time Evan.” Bromley stood up and Evan tensed as he neared him. “You have had a hard life, just as I have... But your parents died of natural causes. Mine? They were tortured to death. In front of me.” Bromley whispered in Evan’s ear, before heading towards the door. “Besides. You and I both know that you’ll snap some day too.” Bromley turned one last time to fix Evan with a hard glare. “You did both good and bad. While I would've preferred you hadn’t done something that idiotic, you showed Rainbow Dash the insanity inside of me. I thank you for that. I don’t thank you for almost killing yourself to do it.”

“All is fair in love and war.” Bromley turned once more to leave and Evan called after him. “God will have a hard time stopping us if we crack at the same time.”

“God forbid it ever happens Evan.” Bromley replied without turning, opening the door and leaving Evan alone to his thoughts. Evan’s face returned to the rock table that was before him. Just the thoughts streaming through his head had darkened his mood. What would happen when he broke? Would he go on a rampage, or just sort of fade away?

“Have the Captain and you... Acquiesced?” Evan spun to face Josh, currently leaning against the door frame. “Or have you perhaps... Discovered an even deeper facet of your friendship?” Josh asked.

“If you want gay porn from us, it’s not happening.” Evan stood up and walked towards him slowly, trying hard to give the impression of apathy.

“I’m fairly sure you know the real meaning in my words sir.” Josh said, staring at his coworker. “I suggest you don’t evade thinking of what has been brought to mind.”

“I don’t really want to think about what I just discovered.”

“There is no reason not to. Trust yourself and trust The Captain, and everything will turn out okay.” Josh put a hand on Evan’s shoulder.

“Man... Feels like I had this talk with Nate awhile ago.” Evan said cynically.