Pinkie Pie flashed into her mind, making her wince. She saw her staring back at her, eyes bloodshot with a chunk of her torn from her neck. No. Not again. she thought. "We're leaving." she said.

"What?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "You can't be serious?"

"Rainbow Dash, I am. We can't risk our lives for them. Princess Celestia needs us to stop the virus from spreading. If we fail, then these ponies would die anyway." Twilight explained. "And...I can't lose any of you again..."

"Twilight, don't do this because Ah'm impaired. We need to help them." Applejack said.

"No. We can't. I've made up my mind and we're leaving as soon as Luna gets back." Twilight said, firmly. "Spike, help the girls get their things put away."

"Right." he said, getting up from his spot next to Sweetie Belle. He began packing up the blankets and books that they had with them.

"Are we leaving?" Scootaloo asked.

"I guess so." Rainbow said with a grimace. "Fluttershy, stick with me. Scoots, you too." They walked over to her, Fluttershy holding herself close to Rainbow.

"Alright. The guards are starting evacuations." Luna said.

"Good. We're leaving." Twilight said.

"Decided that quickly have you?"

"It wasn't a hard choice. she said quickly, turning to the hole in the wall. "The Princess needs us safe and sound. Without us she may not be able to find a way to fix this."

"You're right. Let's get going. We need to move and get to Canterlot. My guards will handle the evacuation." Luna said.

"Come on, girls. Let's head on through here. Be careful though. The cave isn't very wide, so we'll have to be on guard." Twilight said. "Luna, Rainbow Dash, can you take the lead? You two will have to warn us if there are any of them ahead of us. I heard moaning, so I want to make sure we don't run into them while we try to escape. Rarity, you and the others will follow and I'll take the rear in case we get flanked."

"On it." Rainbow said. She walked through the crevice with Luna behind her and Fluttershy and the kids following suit. Rarity helped Applejack carry herself through, nodding a look of thanks to Twilight.

She sighed. "Are you okay Twilight?" Spike asked, worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just hope that when we get to Canterlot we can figure out what to do about this nano virus." she replied.

"Okay. I just want you to know I'll support you, 100%." he said, jumping on her back.

She smiled. "Thanks, Spike." She took one last look at the cave they were leaving, saw a little filly stare at her, confused, before bolting through the crevice.

"How long does this crevice go?" Rainbow Dash asked Luna.

"About a mile. We wanted to make it larger so more ponies could get out, but with the surprise guest we had, they'll have to make due with what they have." she said.

"Is there any way you could make the pass any wider behind us, Twi? Just so that way ponies are able to get out easier?" Applejack asked.

"I would, but these rocks aren't stable. If I were to do it, I could cause a rockslide and block off the exit or crush us." Twilight explained.

"Don't worry about them. My guards will handle it and get as many ponies out as they can." she said.

"I still don't think we should have left them." Rainbow said.

"We are in no condition to fight, deary. Applejack is limping and Twilight cast some spell that I'm sure has left her very tired." Rarity said as Applejack leaned against her for support through the rocky terrain around them.

"But there's still-" Rainbow started but was cut off.

"She's right." Twilight said. "Applejack's hoof may get injuured worse if she were to get into any unnessary skirmishes."

"Twilight, Ah told ya', Ah'm fine." Applejack said. "A few zombies ain't gonna bring me down."

"Maybe. But I'm not risking it." Twilight said. She kept looking behind her, making sure nothing was following them.

They continued to walk in silence. Nopony was too talkative after the decision she made, but they didn't know what she had to consider. She had lost one friend due to inaction, she didn't want to lose any others. She felt Spike tap her shoulder. "Is something bothering you?"

"I was just thinking on if I made the right choice." she replied.

"Of course you did. You're looking out for your friends to help save more lives than the ones in the cave. You saved Applejack from the attack that would have come, not to mention Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle." he said.

"Oh yeah, how are you and Sweetie Belle doing?" she said, with a coy smile.

"Uh..what do you mean?" he said blushing.

"Oh come on Spike. I saw you two together back at the library. You two slept next to each other and you had your tail wrapped around her hoof."

"It's nothing. She was just scared and wanted me to help protect her." he countered quickly.

Twilight giggled. "Okay, Spike."

"Umm...can I ask you something?" he asked.

"What is it?"

"Well...I know it's not like the comic books, but...what's it like when you kill one of them?" he asked, carefully. She didn't reply right away. "Is it easy?"

"...no..." she said quietly. "No, it's not easy. They don't leave Spike. I still have nightmares about Pinkie Pie and Bon Bon. They're the only ones that I knew died because of me."

"But you didn't kill Pinkie Pie." Spike pointed out.

"Well, not directly, but I didn't act. I just stood there, not moving." she explained. "I didn't make an effort to help her."

"But you can't blame yourself for that. It was unexpected and you didn't know what to do." he said.

"Still..." she said quietly. She lowered her head as they walked on.

"Hey...I'm sorry for bringing it up." Spike said, trying to comfort her.

"It's fine. I just hope you never have to do what I did. I care about you and want you to stay safe." she said, nudging his arm with her muzzle.

"Shhh." Luna said, stopping and listening. Everyone else followed suit, paying close attention to what she had noticed.

"What's going on?" Sweetie Belle asked quietly.

"Shh!" Luna hushed again. The only sound was the rustling of the wind. "We must be close. The exit should be up ahead." she said.

"Wait..." Twilight said. She had heard something else among the wind rustling. "There's something else."

"What is it?" Fluttershy asked, shakily.

Twilight cast a spell that helped resonate sound from a certain direction. She still had to listen very closely to hear it, but the sound was unmistakeable. "They're coming!" she exclaimed. "We have to keep going! If we don't, they'll cut us off at the exit."

"You heard her girls! Let's go!" Rainbow exclaimed and zoomed through the cave.

"How far is the exit?" Twilight asked Luna.

"About half a mile. The infected?"

"A mile. If we move faster then they do, we should be able to get out and away before they get here." Twilight replied.

"That'll be cutting it awful close." Applejack said, trying to keep up without injuring her hoof again.

"It's all we got." Twilight said. They ran down the crevice as fast as they could.

After a few minutes Rainbow was able to see the light from the exit. "It's right up ahead!" she exclaimed. A zombie crawled in front of her and she quickly kicked it's head in. "We have company!"

"Rainbow! Take the kids out of here! We'll meet by the river!" Luna ordered. She nodded her head and grabbed them, flying off over the few zombies that made it to the exit. "Rarity, help Applejack out of here. Twilight and I will cover you."

"Take Spike, too." Twilight said.

"What? I'm staying with you!" he protested.

"You're safer with them. Please Spike." she said. He sighed and walked over with Rarity.

"Let's go, darling." she said, pulling AJ through.

"How long do we have to hold out?" Twilight asked.

"As soon as Rarity is cleared we should be good. Let's draw their attention." she said, shooting a bolt to one of the infected.

"Hey!" Twilight shouted. "Scumbags, over here!" The infected started to make their way towards them, away from the others. "Okay. Now what?" she asked.

"Now we fight." Luna said, smiling. She ran up to the closest one and kicked it hard, knocking its head clean from it's body. She moved on to the next two and used her magic to implode both of their brains.

I guess now is as good of a time as any. Twilight thought. She built up the power to use one of the spells she made. She targeted the closest one and released the spell. The body exploded, sending bits of flesh everywhere. "It worked!" she exclaimed. The zombie's head was the only part that survived and was rolling toward her. It continued trying to bite her before she stomped on it, staining her coat with bits of brain tissue and blood.

"Twilight! More are coming over here!" Luna called, battling a number of them herself. Twilight ran over to her, kicking another one that got in her way. She sent a shockwave into a group of infected that were closing in on Luna. "They're getting real close. The horde is twice the size we met when we saved AJ and the group."

"Is Rarity and the others clear?" Twilight asked.

"Almost. But if we don't leave soon, we'll be overrun." she said.

"Right. Well, let's buy them some more time." Twilight said, charging into another group. She charged the other spell she made and released it on the group. They collapsed, telling her that their brains hemorrhaged. "It's good knowing these are working." Suddenly she collapsed, feeling exhausted. "What..." she said, short of breath.

"Twilight!" Luna exclaimed, rushing over to her. "You alright?"

"Yeah..." she said, slowly getting to her feet. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You're exhausted. Have you been using more spells you created?" she asked. Twilight nodded. "Damn it. You can't do that. You don't know the strain it could do to your body and energy. If you're not careful, you'll pass out, and now is not the time to let that happen." she explained, kicking the head off of another zombie that came close to them. "We have to move. You can't fight any longer."

"Luna, I'm fine. They need time to get out." Twilight tried to convince her.

"We don't have time to argue!" Luna shouted. "We need to go!"

"If I can buy them more time, I will!"

"But you'll die, and then all of Equestria will be lost!" Luna shouted back at her, shooting more bolts at the zombies closing in.

Twilight looked around and saw that the horde had surrounded them. All my other spells work... and maybe if I use that last spell I could save all of us. But what if even conjuring the spell knocks me unconscious? Luna would have to fight them all off and carry me away. I could just leave like she wants, but then Rarity and Applejack might be in some trouble. Could I stay and fight with what energy I have left and run when it's too unbearable to continue?

"Twilight!!" Luna exclaimed.

Shit. I have to do something... she thought.

Author's Notes:

Another choice. Should Twilight use her last spell from the previous chapter, leave and take the risk of Rarity and AJ barely making it out, or stay and fight with what energy she has left and make sure her friends escape. Leave your choice in the comments or PM me. The one with the most votes will be the course of action she takes. This will be open for 2 weeks and then I'll write the next chapter. Remember, each choice, comes with a consequence.