Vinyl slowly reached towards the doorknob, unsure of what she will find behind the door. She turned it hesitantly, her heart beating so hard that she could feel it in her throat. She was thrown back and onto the ground by the swinging door. She quickly looked to see the pale grey flesh of the desiccated man who lunged at the door and knocked her down. It looked straight at her and pounced for her receiving a swift kick to the face as she scrambled away from it. The shell of what remained of the man grabbed her leg, pulling her towards him. Vinyl grabbed the edge and pulled away from it for her life. It let go of her leg and attacked her again. Vinyl grabbed its wrists, wrestling with it to keep it away from her. She looked under the counter to see a heavy glass bottle filled with a liquid that looked like water. The creature was pushing down on Vinyl, almost close enough to her to take a bite. Vinyl, in a last act of desperation, pushed it away with all her strength. She quickly grabbed the glass bottle and swung it into the monster’s face, breaking bones and glass on contact. It was severely disoriented and seemed to writhe and grip its face in pain. Vinyl didn’t think twice before plunging the broken bottle she held into the creature over and over again. She kept stabbing at it frantically, fearing it may rise up and attack her again. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder, she quickly turned to see Riff with his usual content expression. She looked down at the mess she made of the thing that used to be a man, and then to the black-stained bottle in her hand. She put it down and stood up quickly and took a step away from it. She felt so afraid that just one of those things attacked her and nearly finished her off. She began to tremble at the thought of being swarmed and alone.

Riff gently took her hand, “It’s okay, Vi, You’re safe now.”, he kept his composure and put his arms around her for a hug.

Vinyl hugged back tightly, Riff always knew how to calm her down. Whether it being his ability to read minds or just his nature, she didn’t care; she knew she could count on him.

Almost everyone else was in the front of the store trying to move the shelves of stuff they used to barricade the front door. Poltergeist and Cura stood aside, mainly because Cura was curious about what was happening with Vinyl and Riff.

Cura whispered to Poltergeist, “So what is the story between those two?”, she rubbed her chin in thought trying to imagine what case could be.

Poltergeist stood there with his arms crossed, “They were friends for the longest time… I don’t know much more than that I’m afraid… You’ll have to ask Vinyl or Riff… By which I mean: Ask Vinyl…”, he walked away from Cura to help with the others moving the barricade to let the fighters back inside.

Cura quickly moved over to Riff and Vinyl with her medical bag in hand, “Are you hurt, Miss Scratch?”

Vinyl was startled by Cura’s voice, “No… I’m fine… Just scared me.”, she said with a false smile that made a poor attempt to hide her fear.

Cura nodded at her, although in her head she wished she could get a moment alone with her to ask her questions about Riff. She walked away and put down her bag, her stomach grumbled from hunger, realizing that they all hadn’t eaten all day. Luckily, being in a convenience store, they had plenty of food. She walked over to one of the nearby aisles, looking around for any sort of half decent food, due to her personal dislike of junk food. She searched with no avail of a slightly healthy food to feast upon. She sighed and walked over to the nearest freezer to find many ice cream treats. She opened the freezer and pulled out something with the largest amount of fudge. A small tub of the expensive brand name ice cream that came with a tiny plastic spoon. She opened it up and slowly started eating with an expression of deep thought.

The others had finished moving the barricade, letting the fighters inside, and replacing it. The Crusaders celebrated their victory, talking to each other about how they disposed of the monsters. War Heart walked over to Cura, looking at her curiously to find her eating ice cream in the corner.

He stood in front of her and looked down at her, “So who screamed?”, he asked, assuming it was her.

Cura looked up at War Heart, a spoon of ice cream in her mouth still. She nudged her head over in the direction of Vinyl and Riff.

War Heart turned and looked at them, then back to Cura, “Didn’t think his voice could go that high.”, he commented with a smirk.

Cura smiled slightly and rolled her eyes at War Heart’s joke, “She was attacked by one of those… things. Seems to have scared her pretty badly. I think Riff is just trying to calm her down now.”

War Heart scratched his head in thought, “I guess we’ll have to find everyone weapons… We can’t go around in such large groups with so many vulnerable…”

Cura nodded, “But perhaps that will be our priority for tomorrow.”, she said as she yawned.

War Heart sat down next to Cura. He took a deep breath and sighed.

Cura looked at him quizzically, “Something wrong?”

War Heart shook his head, “I don’t know… I can just… feel the gaps in my memory. I see images but I don’t know what they mean… Then again… I don’t know if I want to know what happened…”

Cura started to hear a faint tune. It was soft and slow tempo. It was a peaceful piece of music. She couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but it made her eyes feel heavy suddenly, though that was in addition to already being tired and just finishing a small tub of ice cream. She quickly looked around the room.

War Heart looked at Cura curiously, seeing her quickly scan over the room, “Are you okay?”

Cura looked at War Heart oddly, “You don’t hear that?”

War Heart raised an eyebrow at Cura, “I hear people talking… What of it?”

Cura shook her head for a second, “I mean that music…”, she whispered to him.

War Heart leaned in as if to tell her a secret, “I think this adventure is really getting to you…”

Cura showed a look of irritation, “I’m not crazy… Someone is playing musi-”, she looked over at Vinyl and Riff to see Riff’s veins were glowing with magic and Vinyl was smiling with her eyes closed. She calmed down and leaned back against the wall, “Nevermind…”

War Heart shrugged, “Okay then…”

Cura closed her eyes and kept listening to the music in her head. She let it drift her off into sleep. She leaned her head against War Heart, who didn’t mind in the least since he saw her as a good friend. He smiled and wrapped his wing around her to keep her warm.

Soon Vinyl and Riff leaned against the wall themselves, getting away from the counter that made Vinyl uneasy. As time went on Vinyl fell asleep against Riff, allowing him to stop using his magic. He laid her head on his lap and leaned his head against the wall, letting her sleep in comfort.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo slept back to back laying on their sides, keeping whatever warmth they could.

Sweetie Belle sat cross legged on the counter, her eyes closed and her body motionless.

Poltergeist and Spectre slept leaning against the front window, using his jacket as a makeshift blanket between them.

Octavia had fallen asleep on her own, leaning against the counter and facing the front entrance.

Lullaby, the quiet one who had not spoken at all today, sat against one of the walls. She was awake and obviously cold, she had a look of despair in her eyes. She heard a voice call to her, “Psst!”, she looked around for the source of the noise. She turned to see War Heart beckoning her. She moved over to him, curious about what he wanted.

War Heart waited until she was close before whispering, “Are you okay? You look cold…”

Lullaby just looked at the ground in shame and nodded slowly.

War Heart looked at her curiously, “Can you talk?”

Lullaby nodded again, this time looking at him.

“Then why don’t you?”, he asked.

Lullaby tried to clear her throat before speaking, “I lost my voice from our last concert…”, she struggled out her voice in a hoarse tone that screamed of pain. She winced and rubbed her throat.

War Heart pat the ground next to him, signalling for her to sit there, “Here, I can’t have anyone here getting a cold from being cold overnight…”

Lullaby hesitantly crawled over next to War Heart, kind of expecting that he was coming on to her. She sat next to him with some space between them, suddenly feeling something move behind her and pull her toward him. She was startled at first and then realized it was his wing. She felt comforted by its warmth and found herself drifting off into sleep.

War Heart was still awake. He sat there for a long time not wanting to return to sleep and fall back into one of those terrifying dreams. He had never felt so alone before even though he was surrounded by people. He wasn’t tired, if anything he was restless. He didn’t want to sit there doing nothing, he wanted to keep moving. He looked forward to see a familiar yet unwelcome face. He saw DeadBeast standing in front of him, staring at him with that usual judging stare. War Heart glared at him, hoping to frighten the image away. DeadBeast stood there and reached into his pocket, pulling out a playing card. War Heart’s expression turned from fury to confusion. DeadBeast turned the card around to show the letter “D” on the card, then flick the card over in front of War Heart so he could clearly see it. War Heart examined the card, “’D‘?”, he asked himself before looking back to DeadBeast to find he was gone. War Heart then looked back to the card to find that it also disappeared. War Heart inhaled deeply and lightly tapped his head against the wall, “What is going on…?”, he whispered to himself. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off, being tired mentally and all that was happening. He opened his eyes again to see a very angry Red head glaring at him.

“You think you’re such a big shot? Making a move on Lullaby like that?”, she whispered in a hostile tone.

“What…?”, War Heart whispered in response, rather confused.

“I see you getting all smooth on her, getting to cuddle with her and another girl at once…”, Spectre kept glaring at him.

“Listen, I’m just looking out for everyone, she was cold and I can’t have anyone getting sick while we’re out here…”, War Heart explained to her.

“Heh, nice excuse.”, she sarcastically remarked.

War Heart sighed, “Listen, I’m not even interested in her, especially with the fact I already have a partner and two kids at home…”, he explained, now beginning to glare back at her.

“So you’re looking for some tail on the side to chase while you’re off on an adventure without your wife?”, Spectre’s tone became more hostile.

“I don’t need to be married for anyone to know I love her, and that I would never betray her. Just go away before you wake these two up…”

“Hmph, fine, jerk…”, she whispered before going back over to Poltergeist and getting under their coat blanket.

War Heart sighed and closed his eyes again. His thought drifted towards Dash and how he wouldn’t see her for a while. War Heart also thought about the apparition that appears to him every so often. He opened his eyes to see light outside. It looked warm and inviting until you stepped outside to feel the cold indifference of the frost and snow. He looked around to see everyone still asleep. He nudged Cura and Lullaby gently to awaken them, “Hey, it’s morning, we have to get ready to go.”, he informed them, slowly pulling his wings back towards him.

Cura yawned as she awoke, “Okay… Let’s get moving…”, she said as she stood up and stretched.

Lullaby stretched and stood, not saying a word on account of her throat.

War Heart stood up as well, walking over to one of the aisles where he left his axe and picked it up. He looked over to the Crusaders, “Hey, Crusaders, time to get up.”, he spoke to them from across the room.

Sweetie Belle’s eyes shot open, “Reinitializing systems…”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom woke slowly and looked at War Heart. They nodded sluggishly before standing up and stretching themselves.

Soon everyone was up and ready to go, they moved the barricade after eating whatever breakfast they decided and left the store in a state of disrepair. They all trudged through the snow covered streets of Manehattan.

Spectre was walking alongside Riff and Vinyl. She whispered to Riff, “Hey, Riff, I saw that big guy making a move on your sister last night. Got her snuggling up against him and everything.”

Riff and Vinyl looked at Spectre with an eyebrow raised. They both looked at each other before Riff spoke, “So? He seems cool.”, Riff commented in his casual tone.

Vinyl commented next, “He’s got kids, he wouldn’t do something like that without some kind of reason.”

“Even ask Lullaby, she totally slept next to him last night!”, Spectre whispered in a more serious tone.

Vinyl rolled her eyes, “Listen, Spectre, you’re going to have to let go of the idea of you and her being together. She doesn’t swing that way, deal with it and stop getting hostile all the time.”

Spectre crossed her arms with an irritated expression on her face, keeping silent.

Poltergeist and Octavia walked next to each other. Both of them conversing.

“So what is your view on the situation?”, Octavia asked the tall blue-haired man.

“Well, in my honest opinion, I don’t know what is going on, so I can’t make a decision. Although, I am sure that staying alive is number one at the moment.”, Poltergeist replied in his German accent.

Octavia sighed, “I guess I am lucky that my neighbour Vinyl invited me to come along… I’m not sure I would have survived on my own…”

Poltergeist nodded, “Nobody knows what is going to happen… You might have discovered something else or found others, best not to worry about then and concentrate on now.”

“I suppose you are correct…”, Octavia sighed at the predicament she was in.

War Heart constantly scanned around for somewhere they could get some weapons for everybody. He spotted another store that seemed to sell camping equipment. He nudged Cura, who was walking next to him, and pointed to the store as he walked towards it.

Cura grabbed his arm quickly, “Oh no, you are NOT breaking into a store like that again!”, she exclaimed.

War Heart looked back at her and rolled his eyes, “Then how do you suggest we get inside?”

“I don’t know but we can’t keep smashing open doors with alarms on them.”, Cura argued.

War Heart sighed, “Fine… Does anybody here know how to break into a building without setting off an alarm?”, he called out to the rest of the group.

Spectre hesitantly raised her hand. Everyone looked at her oddly. She put on an expression of anger, “What? My father was a locksmith…”, she grumbled while walking over to the door and picking it open with some paper clips.

Vinyl quickly ran towards the door and over to the alarm system panel. She pulled off the cover and looked through the wiring, pulling out one of the wires and closing the panel to see the power to it disconnected, “Alarms are off!”, she shouted from inside the store.

War Heart looked at the crusaders for a second, “Clear out the building…”, he ordered. He watched them sprint into the building without hesitation and search the area ahead of everyone. They all reported back with nothing found in the store, meaning that it was safe for everyone to explore.

Everyone gathered inside, War Heart informing them to pack some essentials for travelling in the cold. He ordered them to grab blankets, weapons, non-spoiling food, and something to carry it all in. They all nodded and spread out through the store, gathering what they could. They ended up with a few days worth of food (Mostly things like trail mix and energy bars), some canteens for water, a bunch of blankets, some tarps and sleds to drag the stuff along.

While everyone was inside the store gathering supplies, War Heart was standing outside keeping watch. He constantly looked back and forth along the road. He heard a faint noise that he couldn’t really describe. It was like the crunching of snow, but much more numerous than his party ever made. He turned to see a pack of the grey-skinned people on all fours, sniffing about as if trying to track something, or someone. He looked back into the store to see everyone was still trying to pack up the supplies, “We’ll need that stuff if we’re going to get out of here… They’ll never make it if these creeps spot them…”, he said to himself as he turned back to the grey-skinned creatures. He glared at them for a second before sprinting at them.

The creatures heard the incoming footsteps, all looking over to see a tall man with an axe running towards them. They all screeched and screamed at him as they rose up to run at him on two legs.

As War Heart closed in on them he spread his wings and leapt into the air, gliding over them and keeping their attention. He landed on the other side of the pack and kept running, those monsters hot on his tail. As he ran through the streets with those things howling after him, he noticed more and more of them starting to gather behind him, crawling out of the buildings and joining the horde now following him. He looked back while running, “Maybe this wasn’t the best plan…”, he said to himself while sprinting away from the horde that would surely overtake him if he were to fight them.

Cura took note that they were finished packing up their things and walked over to the door to find he was gone. She looked at the empty doorway curiously, wondering where he could have run off to. She stepped outside to see his footprints leading away from the store. Her expression was that of pondering, “Why did you leave us…?”, she whispered to herself.

Sweetie Belle walked over next to her, “What seems to be the problem?”, she asked in her digital monotone.

Cura looked towards Sweetie, then pointed to the footprints in the snow, “I think he left us… I don’t know why…”

Sweetie walked over to one of the footprints and examined it, “The pattern indicates he was running…”, she looked over in the direction War Heart was running, “I have detected that there were approximately fifteen or more life forms in that direction.”, she declared as she pointed to the street corner.

Cura looked at the corner curiously, “But there is nobody there…”

“Examination dictates that there is a 86.4% probability that War Heart led them away from the group.”

Cura crossed her arms while shaking her head, “That guy… He’s going to get himself killed someday…”

Sweetie Belle turned around to the rest of the group, “Scootaloo, Your talents are required.”, she called out to Scoot.

Scootaloo walked over to Sweetie, “What’s going on?”

Sweetie pointed over to the corner, “Our leader has led a pack of creatures away from us, we need you to climb over and find him.”

Scoot flipped out her knives and smirked, “No problem.”, she said as she sprinted towards the building across the street. As she arrived at the wall she ran up a step and jammed one of her knives into the wall, using it to pull herself farther up the wall. Soon she found herself on the rooftops, Cura was watching from below in wonder. Scoot sprinted along the rooftops, jumping between each roof with her wings which allowing her to jump farther and higher. She soon spotted a horde of the grey-skinned creatures chasing War Heart. She followed alongside them from the rooftops, “Oh wow, he looks like he has his hands full…”

War Heart was down below, getting ready to take off and leave the creatures behind. He looked behind him to see they were not gaining any ground. He then noticed Scootaloo was following from above, “Oh no… She can’t fly, they’ll catch her if I leave…”, he stopped suddenly, skidding a few feet to a halt. He turned to face the creatures to see them all stop when he saw them. They just stood there for a few seconds, nobody moved an inch. War Heart thought to himself, ‘Why aren’t they attacking me…? They could easily overtake me…’

Scootaloo stood at the edge of the roof, “Why is he just standing there? Why are they just watching him?”, she whispered to herself.

All the creatures stood there, waiting for something. Their eyes watched War Heart in a non-hostile way.

War Heart slowly moved to the side, the creatures watching his every step. He began moving around them. He started backing away at a sluggish pace, the creatures still showing no hostility. He kept stepping back, ‘Maybe I can lose them…’, he thought to himself. He backtracked away from where Scootaloo was, soon getting to the corner of the street. Upon reaching the corner, he ran a few feet before flying up to the roof of the building next to him. He looked down below to see the creatures all searching for him. War Heart smirked at how clever he was. He looked over to Scoot and flew over to her, “What are you doing here?”

“I came looking for you, since you booked it.”, she replied.

War Heart sighed, “Lets just get back to the group…”

“Alright.”, she said before sprinting along the rooftops as War Heart flew overhead.

They came back to see the group was outside with a couple sleds covered with tarps. War Heart flew down to them while Scoot jumped off the building, using her wings to glide down to the ground.

War Heart walked down the street, signalling them to follow him.

Scoot pulled one of the sleds full of equipment while walking alongside Cura, “I went after War Heart, he was being chased by a whole bunch of those things…”

Cura kept looking ahead, but still paying attention to Scootaloo, “Alright…”

“He stopped and turned around at one point, and they didn’t attack him.”

Cura looked over to Scootaloo, “What happened?”

“I don’t know, they just stood there and watched him. He backed away from them and lost them around a corner by flying over a building.”

Cura crossed her arms in thought, “Maybe I should check War Heart for any abnor-… Any MORE abnormalities in him.”

Scoot gave Cura a surprised look, “What? What’s so ‘abnormal’ about him?”

“You haven’t noticed? His massive size, the fact he never gets cold, the idea he was dead not even a year ago?”

Scoot looked ahead towards War Heart, “That’s… pretty… Wow…”

“He’s been through a lot I believe… He has all the reasons anyone would need to stop and settle down but he presses on. I don’t know whether he is stubborn or determined but it is admirable.”

Scoot sighed and looked at the ground, “I work for the government of Ponyville, I get paid for this. He just does this on a whim.”

Cura looked back at Scoot, “I was curious about your situation. How exactly does Ponyville’s military work?”

“Well, we technically are just working for the government. They use a militia, almost all the men in town are asked to learn how to use weapons in the case we were attacked. The women are allowed to volunteer too. Then there are the Claw, those weird guys who sound like they’re wild animals or something. They scout out the area around Ponyville and hunt for food. Me, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle deal with stuff that requires a bit of… Finesse. We went into an intensive training week being forced into a jungle that we’d never seen before, it was filled with something that looked like dragons but they were… wild. I’ve only ever seen Spike and that big dragon that attacked Ponyville a long time ago and they both were able to speak. We were dropped in there for a week and were forced to survive on our own. Lucky for us, Sweetie Belle was able to fight pretty well until me and Apple Bloom got the hang of it. We all got out fine, then got ambushed by Claw members a few times on the way back. Most of the time they fought us and went for a killing strike then froze right before it hit, showing us we lost. It was tough, but we got through it all, and now we work privately for Ponyville.”

“So you’re doing this for the money?”, Cura asked.

Scootaloo shook her head, “It isn’t like that… Me, Apple Bloom, And Sweetie Belle have a clubhouse in Ponyville, we house over a dozen orphans who lost their parents in that civil war that I guess is now over. We were having trouble feeding them all and I taught them what I could but it wasn’t enough to just steal scraps of food. Sweetie suggested that we work as ‘Private Military Contractors’ and fight for our money. Now we’re here, making sure those kids can live to grow up and get off the streets when they can.”

“It’s very noble of you three to be so young and devote yourselves to helping the unfortunate…”

Scootaloo looked up to the sky, “I guess so…”

Octavia walked next to War Heart up at the front of the group, “From where do you hail from, War Heart?”, she asked.

War Heart kept looking straight ahead, “I wish I knew… I don’t remember a lot ever since… Well… My death.”

Octavia looked at him as if he told a terrible joke.

War Heart looked to his side to see the expression on her face, “You can ask Cura about it, I don’t know much myself… Why do you want to know?”

“I enjoy knowing things about people who save the life of me and my friends. Lately, people have become less than civil with each other…”

“I couldn’t just watch as those things chased you two down… It would make me no better than the creatures…”

“That’s quite a way to damn inaction. Those who decide to just watch someone suffer is just as bad as kicking them when they are down… Although there are some who do not do anything out of fear.”

“I don’t really apply my rules to anyone else… I know I’m bigger and stronger than almost everyone… So I wanted to put what I have to good use.”

“Admirable, but it seems reckless of you. Then again, perhaps that is your greatest trait. A disregard for your safety to ensure another’s could make anyone watching be inspired to do something as well.”

“I never really thought about it like that.”

As the party reached the center of an intersection, War Heart turned to his right. His eyes grew wide at what he saw. He stopped walking, “You guys… Run. I’ll catch up.”, he said as he readied his axe. He slowly walked down the street away from the group. He stood before the new threat that faced him.