Title:           Week27 - GreentextSavant
Author:          AlexanderGrey
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/kn7p6cgL
First Edit:      Saturday 24th of September 2016 03:03:15 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Saturday 24th of September 2016 03:03:15 PM CDT

FriENDship:
 
>Silver has to think more quickly than he’s able to act.
>Reaching up and out of the window isn’t going to do any good at all in shooting the zombie on the roof. A clear shot is clearly impossible.
>”It’s not gonna work, I gotta shake him off!” April tells him.
>She veers towards the next turn and holds the wheel as far as it can go.
>When everyone sees the figure of a body flying off of the roof of the SUV and landing into the street, their hearts get a brief moment of relief.
>”There we go!”
>The officer finally starts to slow down, starting to worry once again about how much gas is left in the tank. The need to learn directions to Applejack’s house once again resurfaces in her mind as the distractions are gone.
>”Do you know this part of town?” April asks as she herself is already starting to recognize certain buildings.
>Sunset regains her thoughts. “I… don’t think so.”
>”Don’t worry about it. We’re near the station. If you can remember her street name and number, I can be able to find a route based on where we are on one of the maps.” She turns to the other officer. “Silver, glove compartment.”
>”Okay, first of all, why didn’t we use maps before?” Trixie asks. “Couldn’t we pick out which street we were on?”
>”It would have been faster if Sunset just told us where to go. I’m not exactly comfortable with pulling over and scanning one of the maps for directions.”
>”Got it.” Silver unfolds a paper map of the town.
>”Well we don’t have to pull over right now either.” Trixie continues.
>”We don’t have as much to worry about anymore. So we can drive more casually.” April responds. “Just hold on, miss.”
>April does realize that all of the panic has caused her and everyone else to make rushed decisions.
>”Sunset, you told her you’re alone, right?”
>”Yes.”
>”I’m going to need you to get ready to get out first so we can drop you off first once we get just out of sight of the property. Just a heads up. Now, you got her address?”
>”Uhhh…”
>”Do you remember it?” April turns her head for a split second to ask Sunset before concentrating back to the road.
>”It was on… Homestead Lane, but I don’t remember the exact number.” Sunset groans as she struggles to bring the memory up in her head.
>Silver runs his finger along the map in search for Homestead Lane. The rest of the people in the car are silent for a short moment before April continues to talk.
>”As long as we know that it’s Homestead Lane, we’re covered.” She begins to explain. “I’ll drop you off somewhere on that street. Except I’ll get out first to make sure the coast is clear. Then you’ll go on ahead and make your way over to Applejack’s house without any of us being seen.”
>”F-fair enough.”
>April takes another glance at the people sitting in the back of the SUV, through the rear view mirror this time. She notices the… dead, lightless look in Pinkie’s eyes.
>”Hey, now.” She brings up. “Once Sunset talks everything over with your friend, things are going to get better.” She mainly focuses on Sweetie Belle, who is very clearly curling up in to a fetal position pretending to be… not here.
>The next turn April makes as a smooth and easy one. Something to help everyone else know that things are calming down for the moment.
>”Give it a rest.” Fluttershy huffs with her arms crossed. “Everyone we love is dead. Either on the inside or in real life.”
>April takes a few seconds to think up a response. “Come on, now. It’s not healthy to say things like that. We need to keep our hopes up if we’re gonna make it through this.”
>”We didn’t make it through this.” Fluttershy’s voice is droll and monotone. “We’re already dead. This is hell.”
>”I know everything seems hopeless right now. But you have to trust me; all is not lost. This is going to work.”
>Fluttershy would have said something back if she hadn’t gotten so choked up at the moment. She feels tears gathering in her eyes.
>Sunset stays close to the door as the SUV continues down the streets.
>"Don't go rushing out, now." April warns. "I'm gonna have to step out first. Don't want to lose you, now would we?" She gazes down the road. "You're the only one who's been talking with the ones who can save us."
>"What should I say to convince her?" Sunset questions. "I mean, I'm going to have to bring you guys up at some point."
>"Just ease your way into it. Explain how you've been having to fight your way through hordes of those damn things on your way over to the girl's house. Then bring everyone else up."
>"...Okay..."
>"And just ask them if there is a place on their premises where we can take cover without being in their way. Just waiting the thing out, you know?"
>"But wait." Trixie interjects. "We don't know how long this is going to last."
>"That's not what we're going to tell them, we're just going to convince them that things are starting to look better, but we're tired and need to lay low until it's over for good."
>"And we can tell them we have Sweetie Belle with us." Rarity adds with her arms around sister still covering her face.
>"They're not going to let us in." Says Fluttershy. "They would have at least let Applejack talk to her friends when this went down if they weren't focused on living and nothing else."
>"Sunset can convince them by getting through to Applejack." April tells Fluttershy, who now stares back out the window.
>"Where are we going after we drop Sunset off?" Celestia asks.
>"Silver will wait with you here for as long as it takes. I'll part somewhere far from out in the open." April replies, getting a nod out of Silver in the passenger seat.
>"Oh hey, I recognize this corner." Sunset brings up. "Turn left here."
>Everyone at the windows stares at the burnt brick buildings lining the scorched road, now aware of the things that lurk within them.
>Waiting for someone to step out.
>…
>”It’s over there.” Sunset points to the house she recognizes on the other end of the block. “The one with the barn behind it.”
>The SUV pulls to a stop around a corner so it’s not seen by anyone in the house.
>”Alright, then.” April pulls her gun out ahead of time. “Come on, let’s hurry.” She swings the door open.
>Luna leans her head on Celestia’s shoulder and begins to drift off to sleep as she feels the motor shut off. Almost everyone else just sort of stares at the floor.
>Fluttershy’s weeping is revealed by the growing silence.
>Cadence lightly pats the girl on the shoulder. But Fluttershy only pushes the dean’s hand away and sinks further into the seat she sits in.
>”This way, Sunset.” April gestures for the girl to follow her outside onto the street.
>Sunset and April listen closely for any movements behind a few nearby bushes. They step lightly across the asphalt and concrete until they reach the grass.
>After several seconds of standing in place, the two continue across a front lawn in the direction of the house as it comes into view. There don’t appear to be any zombies in this area; which would make sense since this neighborhood isn’t very close to town.
>This becomes more and more clear as April and Sunset pass by more houses on the block without any confrontations.
>”Everything will be alright soon.” Cadence still tries to comfort Fluttershy through words.
>”Those things got Derpy. And… so many other of my friends.” Fluttershy shudders as her voice begins to break again. “I j-just…”
>She snarls at Cadence as she tries to place a hand on her shoulder again.
>Trixie groans and looks away in attempt to get herself to fall asleep as well.
>April leads Sunset across a few more front lawns. She soon stops in her tracks and looks right over to one of the second floor windows of Applejack’s house. “See that?” She points out to Sunset that the curtains moved.
>”See what?”
>”In the window. Someone was just looking out at us. They know we’re here.” April is hesitant to put her gun back into its holster. “If they have guns, we have to make sure that we don’t pose a threat to them.”
>”But…” Sunset argues. “You’re a cop.”
>April solemnly shakes her head. “That doesn’t mean anything in times like these.” She pauses. “At least not until we get word on the radio that laws and stuff count again.”
>The radio in her SUV was nothing but static and dead air each time Silver turned it on every twenty minutes.
>Sunset and April walk over with their hands up in the air, watching the curtains in the windows shift around every few seconds.
>After the two reach the front lawn of the house, Sunset can faintly hear a strangely familiar voice coming from inside the house; and it’s not that of Applejack.
>”I know her! I swear I know her!” The voice insists, hardly audible.
>April hears it too. “Remember, we have been running around looking for shelter. All we’re looking for is somewhere to hide from public view so we can lay low. Just go along with the story from there.”
>”But Applejack and I know eachother. She knows she can trust me.” Says Sunset before she notices the front door swing open.
>And out leaps Rainbow Dash. “Sunset!”
>Sunset knew that voice sounded like her.
>”Rainbow?” Sunset watches her friend run up to her as Big Mac steps out the front door with two other people behind him.
>The two girls clash into an embrace, and April looks back over to the house. At the front door, Braeburn lightly pushes his way past Big Mac with a look on his face that says nothing less than ‘pissed off’.
>He’s soon pushed to the side by Applejack, who races over to her two friends who begin to involuntarily tear up.
>”Sunset!” Applejack gasps and joins the group hug. “Ah thought you were dead!”
>”I’m so sorry!” Rainbow Dash croaks as she hugs Sunset more tightly. “I didn’t mean to l-leave you behind like that!” She breaks down into tears.
>”It’s okay…” Sunset responds. “I’m not mad at you. I’m just so happy you’re still alive too.”
>Not much can be said. The three reunited friends hold one another for a half a minute until Big Mac and Braeburn approach them side by side.
>”It’s alright, officer. You can put your hands down.” Applejack says as she gently pulls away from the group hug and then stands next to her brother.
>April lets out a sigh of relief and lets her arms relax. “Sunset here told me that there were other people alive here. We’ve been running for our lives ever since yesterday.” She keeps her shoulders relaxed as she reacher her hand out to Braeburn. “My name is April Snow. Officer of the law.”
>Braeburn swallows all of the things he wanted to say and shakes her hand. “Howdy, Officer Snow. Mah name’s Braeburn. And this here is mah cousins Applejack and Big Mac.”
>”Nice to meet you all.” April knows that she can’t contact Silver over her walkie talkie without it being heard. She might as well make her case clear to the family first. Help them ease into the fact that she and Sunset aren’t alone.
>”We should go inside. It ain’t safe to linger out here for too long.” Braeburn brings up.
>”It’s not?” April asks. “There didn’t seem to be any of them in this area when we walked by.”
>”Course not.” Braeburn answers. “Those damn things learned to roam around in huge crowds, sticking together and whatnot. We see like… over forty of ‘em come by our place in a group every hour or so.” He’s already heading back to the door. “And it’s been about that long since the last time they came by. C’mon, we’ll continue this inside.”
>”Eyup.” Big Mac follows Braeburn to the house with Applejack leading her two friends behind him.
>April’s stomach sinks. She slowly paces across the front lawn towards the door, waiting for the others to be completely out of earshot so she can warn Silver without anyone getting suspicious.
>Braeburn re-emerges from the front entrance before Applejack is inside, gesturing for April to come inside. “Better hurry so they can’t tell any of us are in here.”
>The officer steps onto the front porch and through the entrance, letting Braeburn quietly close the door behind her.
>…
>”It’s no use. We’re all going to die.” Fluttershy insists as she stares out the window.
>”Please… you have to try and have faith.” Cadence tells her.
>”Faith was the first casualty of this disaster. Faith and hope. They both fell right when people could do nothing to hold on to the ones they loved most.”
>”Let’s just leave this alone, alright?” Officer Silver scoots over to the driver’s seat so he can put the keys back into the ignition if need be. “We need to focus on staying on out toes until we get an answer from Officer Snow.”
>”They’ll be turned away once they make it to the door.” Fluttershy resumes. “Applejack is not one to pretend to welcome everyone with open arms if it risks her dying. Dying like so many others already have. Why would ANYONE have faith in anyone else in a time like this?”
>Bulk silently gazes at his hands while he tries not to listen to Fluttershy. He only wants to find a way to bring Derpy back – the girl did not deserve what she got.
>”I don’t want to go through this anymore!” Fluttershy gradually raises her voice.
>”Flutters… calm down…” Cadence tries to place a hand on the girl’s shoulder again.
>Fluttershy pulls away with a startling grimace. Her eyes filled with something between fear and hatred.
>”We can’t give up now, Fluttershy!” Rarity tries to talk some sense into her. “We’re almost there.”
>”I don’t care anymore! There’s no way things are going to go back to normal! This world is no longer a world I wish to live in!” Fluttershy does nothing to wipe away the tears rolling down her cheeks.
>”Don’t say that, darling. Not everything is lost.”
>”I don’t care what you think!” Fluttershy’s voice shatters just like her heart had. “I’m not meant for this! I can’t… I-I can’t handle it anymore! I don’t want it to last!”
>Rarity grabs Fluttershy by the wrists and holds tight against her arms’ resistance. Fluttershy curses at the girl to let go before becoming to weak with her crying to do anything else.
>She lets Rarity put her arms around her as she hides her head in her quiet sobs.
>Having been woken up from all this, Luna figures that it makes more sense to sleep after everyone makes it into the house… if they do.
>”I know this is going to take a… lot… of adjusting. But there’s no way around it. We have to pull ourselves together and stick together until the end.” Rarity tells Fluttershy, who gradually falls silent.
>There is a long pause before Pinkie answers her: “This is the end.”
>”…Not if we don’t let it be the end.” Rarity pushes herself to believe what she’s saying to Pinkie. “Why do you think we came all the way over here in the first place? It’s not like we were going to just sit there and let ourselves and eachother get eaten alive out there.”
>”Exactly.” Cadence backs Rarity up. “We’re going to stay at Applejack’s farm for as long as we need to.”
>”I don’t want to go there even for a second.” Fluttershy starts to somberly speak once more.
>”But… don’t you want to see Applejack again? She’s your friend, let alone your friend AND someone who can help us stay alive.”
>”NO!” Fluttershy’s eyes nearly light up with a glow of self-destructiveness. “The world I know is dead! The life I had is dead!”
>”No, it’s n-”
>”I don’t have friends anymore! I don’t want to stay alive. Not in… this!” Fluttershy turns her gaze over to Silver. “Give me your gun.”
>Silver perks up in the driver’s seat. “Wh-wha… no.”
>”YES! Give me your fucking gun!” Fluttershy violently lurches forward towards the officer.
>Bulk and Cadence hold Fluttershy back as Silver only slightly flinches.
>”No! I don’t want to live! I have the right to end my life if I can’t take it anymore!”
>”I can’t let you do that, Fluttershy.” Silver tells her. “We’re in this together!”
>”I DON’T WANT TO SUFFER WITH YOU! I WANT OUT!”
>”Flutters, please!” Bulk says to her. “What about me? And everyone else who cares about you? We were by eachother’s side for so long! We’ve already lost enough friends, I don’t want to lose another! We care about, you, Fluttershy! I care about you!”
>”I don’t care about you!” Fluttershy answers.
>The girl begins to scream at the top of her lungs before anyone can answer her. Sweetie Belle covers her ears and crouches away from the noise.
>”Stop that!” Silver turns around to face Fluttershy. “We have to keep quiet!”
>Fluttershy apathetically refuses to listen, aggressively climbing over the others to get to the door. She manages to get it open and slip out before Bulk can grab her.
>Everyone still in the car finds themselves hesitant to go out there and follow her. They beg for Fluttershy to come back as she falls to the sidewalk in loud sobs.
>Fluttershy feels all of the memories of the people she loved flood into her mind. The ones whom she loved so nearly and dearly before their lives were taken from them.
>Roseluck, Derpy, so many more… the list feels like it could go on forever.
>As her knees rest on the asphalt below, Fluttershy feels her hands begin to shake as she begins to think about Angel. He was at home the last time she saw him; she never even got a chance to feed him before rushing out of the house in a panic.
>It’s been well over a day now… and there’s no way her house had not been overrun.
>Just thinking about the poor thing being backed into a corner and… and…
>Fluttershy’s sobbing grows louder.
>Bulk places his hand on her shoulder, and Fluttershy is far too weak to push him away. She falls to her side with her tears now running across her face and onto the asphalt.
>All of those times Angel would play in the grass with her and all of the other animals. How happy they all were to be around someone like Fluttershy. How eager they had been to get up every morning to see her.
>How eager Fluttershy was to get up every morning to see them. To see Derpy. To see Twilight, to see Lyra and BonBon, to see Roseluck, to see… happiness.
>This is the same world in which she was so happy in. Those arms that used to be around Fluttershy must have been torn out of their sockets at some point.
>And Angel must have been wondering where she was during his final moments. Fluttershy doesn’t want to imagine, but she knows it must be true. The end of the world has no mercy for the ones she loves.
>There’s nothing left but narrowly escaping death so one can live in growing loneliness and emotional shambles for a little bit longer. Only the dark ages of mourning and living off of little food lie ahead.
>It’s… too much for the girl to take.
>”Is she alright?” Silver steps in front of Fluttershy as Bulk kneels down beside her.
>She’s hyperventilating in between wails of despair.
>Silver looks off to the horizon to check for any company. He can barely see something behind a few bushes in the distance, but Fluttershy’s crying is loud enough to be distracting to him.
>”I think she just needs some time.” Bulk sighs partially to himself before he feels Fluttershy suddenly lunge forward away from his hand.
>In one swift motion, she swipes Silver’s gun out of his hand; it had already been out of his holster.
>”Whoa, hey!” Silver gasps, having been surprisingly caught off guard.
>Fluttershy stands straight up with the barrel pointed to her head. “I’m not sorry!”
>There is a single click.
>”Fluttershy, give me that thing back now!” Silver carefully approached the girl just in case she figures out how to turn the safety off before he reaches her.
>Her head is spinning. “Stay back!” Fluttershy backs away from the other two before stumbling backwards onto the lawn.
>”Just calm down.” Bulk tries to assure her. “Lower the gun.”
>”Everything’s gonna be alright, Fluttershy.” Silver joins in.
>It’s a little surprising how the cop is talking less like a cop than the person next to him in this situation.
>”Just relax… okay” Silver repeats a couple of times before he gets a number of clicks in response.
>Fluttershy never held a gun before; never thought she would. She has no idea what the safety even is.
>”Oh no…” Silver redirects his eyes back to those bushes he may have seen something moving behind.
>There is movement behind a lot more things than the bushes now.
>”We gotta go.” Silver turns back to Fluttershy as she continues trying to fire a bullet into the side of her head.
>After only another half second, the evident zombies begin emerging from behind the bushes and nearby houses. There are far more of them than Silver would have been able to handle even with a gun. The run across the lawns covering every square foot of them with their numbers.
>Bulk grabs Fluttershy and pulls her towards him, seeing she hasn’t turned the safety of the gun off.
>”Get away!” Fluttershy is lifted off the ground and carried by Bulk back to the car. “Let me die!”
>Silver seizes the opportunity and snatches the gun away. The zombies are already within jumping distance of the SUV, snarling and growling with spasmodic hands.
>Fluttershy violently kicks and screams as Bulk hauls her back over to the SUV. She plants her feet onto the sides of the open door; Cadence and Celestia grab the girl’s ankles.
>With clumsy fingers, Silver turns the safety off and gets a single headshot in just in time. The zombie that was in front falls flat on its face with three more just a few feet behind it.
>It’s a good thing the driver’s side of the SUV is facing away from the oncoming crowd; Silver leaps across the hood, back into the driver’s seat and slams the door shut.
>”Noooo!” Fluttershy struggles and shakes her head to the point where her hair flies into her face.
>”I’m not losing another one!” Bulk strains before he feels something grab him from behind. “Pull her in!” He grabs the nightstick he had hooked on the side of his jeans.
>No one even needed to pull Fluttershy in to get her away from the zombies up against Bulk. Silver has already slammed on the gad pedal... before the keys in the ignition were even turned.
>One wailing screech of the tires later and the SUV speeds away from Bulk and the zombies. On his own, the gym teacher spins around and swats one of the zombies in the side of the head before it gets a chance to bite him.
>It isn’t too hard to push two of them away from him, but a third latches onto his arm. Bulk gives it a swift punch in the nose, then the mouth to take care of whatever teeth the undead man has left.
>At this point, Bulk has to move fast. These zombies must not have been developing rigor mortis for very long yet; moving considerably quickly.
>”We have to go back!” Cadence tells Silver as the SUV speeds right past the intersection with Applejack’s street.
>”Nope. Not doing that shit again.” Silver sees the dozens of zombies in the side view mirror, still in pursuit.
>He knows that there’s no way he has a lot of ammunition left.
>Bulk watches the SUV disappear down the street, praying to himself that they will come back for him despite what happened to Derpy.
>A zombie comes up from behind, almost biting the man before he smacks it away with the nightstick. Bulk can feel the cracking of bones every time he takes a swing.
>He plants his feet onto a position on the road and starts beating back every zombie around him. They’ve been trying to crowd around him. One of them already managed to get its teeth around his shoulder, but it must have had a broken jaw on account that there was a very weak bite force.
>But it’s replaced by another attacker once Bulk swats it away.
>It’s not easy, but Bulk manages to get to the edge of the small crowd trying to overpower him. They’re literally trying to climb over eachother to get to him; the man has to do everything he can to put as much space possible between him and as many of them as possible.
>This quickly turns into more of an escape than a battle, lest it turn into a massacre.
>Bulk backs away into the space the SUV left before the zombies have a chance to flank him. He has to move pretty fast, even though quite a few of them have stiffened up a little bit.
>One of them makes it behind the man. He has to spin around with the nightstick straight out and beat it across the head, making it fall to the ground for the gym teacher to leap over it in escape.
>They’re grabbing at him over and over again, and bulk is beginning to run out of breath.
>That SUV better come back pretty soon. If anything, Bulk is luck he hasn’t been successfully bitten yet.
>He kicks down another zombie that made it to the front of the group, and thrashes the nightstick into another one right behind it.
>The weapon gets stuck inside the zombie lady’s mouth; and she bites down in response.
>Bulk backs away and pulls the nightstick out, using his bare fist to beat away yet another attacker trying to get behind him.