Friendship is Infectious Ch.22

Chapter 22
Seperation

Zecora crushed the skull of an infected earth pony beneath one hoof.
“WE ARE FAILING!” She roared at the crowd of unicorns that had gathered around the destroyed statue of Robin Hoof for a second attempt at gaining entrance to the elusive realm of Earth. Even with the assistance of Twilight Sparkle, they hadn’t managed to hold the portal open for more than a half second. Zecora now focused her wrath on the lilac unicorn that lay panting on the ground.

“You promised us entrance to this world,” she growled. “and yet we remain in Equestria. Do you wish to see your friends turned?”

Twilight shook her head, terrified that the unicorn might carry out this threat.
“Please!” she begged. “Give me another chance! It’s hard without all of the elements here, but I can-”

Zecora’s ear twitched as it received the words uttered by the unicorn. She stared at Twilight as a plan began to form in her mind. Finally she nodded.
“Very well. We shall bring you the elements, and the ponies to wield them. But be warned, any attempt to circumvent my will, and we shall enjoy quite a feast from your dismembered corpses.”

Twilight nodded. What other choice did she have? The zebra could see her mind, and would know if she tried anything.
Twilight...
She glanced around, but even Zecora gave no indication that she had heard the voice in Twilight’s mind.
I’m coming for ya, sis. Hold on...
Twilight whispered a name dearer to her than her own.
“Shining Armor...”
*****

Pinkie looked through the scope and yawned as she sipped at some coffee that Applejack had brewed. She had been awake for hours now, and still no movement came from the surrounding area. Apparently the meanie-headed zombies had taken enough plot-whooping to last the night. But she couldn’t risk sleeping. They might be watching, waiting for her head to nod. She eventually gave up on sipping the drink and instead used a spoon to scoop the sludge into her mouth. It was bitter, but she felt the energy course through her, and her vision tunneled then snapped back to normal. Sleep temporarily staved off, she looked once more through her sniper scope. Still quiet. Something was off. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but it was definitely there.

She raised a hoof to cover the glare of the flames as she pondered. The light hurt her eyes. Suddenly it hit her. Flames! She turned towards the source of the glow as three infected appeared, pushing a large flaming barrel towards Sugarcube Corner. She fired wildly, but even with all three ponies dead, the barrel continued under it’s own momentum, smashing into the front door. The fire began to creep up the wall, and Pinkie knew they only had minutes.

She raced down the stairs and called to the other survivors.
“Fire guys! We gotta go!”
They ran around gathering supplies. Vinyl shot towards the cellar door. “My sis is down there! I gotta get her and Cam out!” But already flames were happily feeding on the dried wood. She charged the door, but the bolts and hinges had been melted into solid lumps of metal.

The wooden door didn’t give either, and eventually Applejack and Pinkie helped guide a shaking Vinyl outside. It took some time to calm Vinyl, telling her that Cam and Octavia were safe in the stone cellar, but once Pinkie explained that they could sneak back once the fire had died out and dig the two ponies out, Vinyl reluctantly agreed to wait. All seven of them took shelter in Lyra’s house where they could watch the fire and wait for it to die down.
*****

Macintosh was baffled. The plan had gone perfectly, but despite all sides being guarded, somehow the survivors had slipped through his hooves, again.
He howled at the sky and considered crushing a few of his followers to make an example of them when a voice in his head stopped him.
All forces, return to Trottingham. NOW.
Macintosh sensed the urgency in the zebra’s message, and after a few minutes, the horde began galloping towards Trottingham.
*****

Cam heard the sounds of gunfire overhead, and he struggled as best he could, but apparently Vinyl Scratch had been a filly scout at some point in time. The knots didn’t give an inch, and after a while he gave up and sat quietly. All sound faded away, and in time he noticed that he wasn’t alone in the room.

A pale grey mare lay on a cot on the opposite side of the room. Leaning up against the wall was a dark chestnut cello. The mare’s torso was covered by a red bandage. No, the bandage was white, but blood had soaked through its many layers and even stained the edges of the cot. The mare’s side barely moved as she breathed, clinging on the the last threads of life. Cam felt a wave of sympathy for this helpless mare. She looked how he felt; slowly losing everything and being powerless to stop the agony.

A tickle rose in his throat and he coughed, turning his head to muffle the noise. Even so, the sound was enough to awaken the grey pony. She didn’t move, merely opening her eyelids a crack and gazing at Cam with deep violet eyes. She said nothing but continued to stare at Cam. Cam looked back and finally broke the silence.

“Been better?” The grey pony blinked and said nothing. Cam waited for a reply, then continued when none came.
“I know the feeling. collapsed, no point to keep going, might as well just give up, right? Nopony left to care for...You promised her that you’d keep her safe. But you couldn’t. You left her to die, listened to her scream, and did nothing. I don’t get it! Why am I alive? What sick twisted sense of justice allows somepony like me to exist and rob her from this world?”

Cam stopped for breath and heard a sound. Faint, even less than a whisper.
“...not your fault...”
He laughed. “Ha! Not my fault, eh? Explain to me how it’s not my fault!”

The mare coughed, and a thin trickle of blood and saliva dripped from her mouth. Cam was smacked back to reality by the sight of fresh blood. He winced and gathered his composure. Once he was calm enough, he spoke again.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be making you talk. You need to rest and recover. And all I’m doing is making listen to my whining. Sorry.”

The mare gasped and grew still. Cam’s eyes grew wide and he began to yell at the top of his lungs. “Somepony get down here! She’s in trouble!”

Stillness answered him. He strained against the ropes binding him, cutting them into his flesh as he began to wriggle free. Her breathing had stopped and from the lack of sound above nopony could hear them. Or nopony was left. He squashed that option into a dark and ignored corner of his mind, focusing on the ropes that bound him. After a minute of chafing and wriggling, he finally got all four hooves free. He rushed to the mare’s side, the chair still tied to his back. He felt for a pulse, but couldn’t find one.

“Damn it mare!” The profanity felt oddly familiar to his tongue. “You can’t die on me now! We might be the only two ponies left!” He flipped her onto her back and began to administer CPR, pausing in his string of accusations, pleadings and florid curses only to breathe air into the grey mare’s lungs. Finally she gasped and began breathing again. Cam worked fast. Reaching under the cot her grabbed at a small first-aid kit that he had seen earlier, and dumped the contents onto the floor. Grabbing at various syringes, he finally found the one he was looking for.

Adrenaline.

“Gotcha!” He sighed. Wincing, he plunged the extremely large needle into the mare, and squeezed every last drop out of the syringe. Next, he began cutting away the dried bandage. The sight of fresh blood normally would have rendered him unconscious, but he was too worried to be concerned by a little blood. When he got the bandage off, the deep wounds began to ooze more blood, but he acted quickly, using a cloth and applying pressure, switching to a new cloth every time the old one become too soaked with blood to use.

After finally stopping the flow of blood, he began to gently sew up the wound. He was no medic, and it took several tries, but eventually the wound had been somewhat stitched up, and he wrapped fresh bandages around the wound.

Now all he could do was hope and pray. He quietly spoke to nopony in particular.
“I don’t know if anypony can hear me. But if there is somepony listening, somebody listening, I beg you to save her. Please! I don’t even know her name, but if you could...”
“Octavia...”

Cam leaned back towards the mare. “What was that?” He asked hopefully.
“My name...Octavia...” She closed he eyes and slipped back into unconsciousness. Gently he took her hoof in his own.

“Nice to meet ya, Octavia.” He whispered. “I’m Shuttercam.”
*****

“We need to save my sister. I heard her. She’s alive!”
“No way! We just barely got out alive! We can’t...”

Shining Armor grabbed the white stallion and slammed him against a tree. Cadence gasped and tried to pull Shining Armor away from Prince Blueblood, but Shining Armor shook her off, and pressed one hoof against Blueblood’s quivering throat. He spoke with a quiet rage.

“My sister is alive, plot-hole. and you wouldn’t even be here if I hadn’t saved your flank. I don’t care what it takes, I’m going back for her, and you need to stallion up and start acting like the prince you are. Understand?”

Tears streamed down Blueblood’s face, but Shining Armor was unmoved. Finally Blueblood gulped and nodded. Shining Armor released the Prince and turned away.
“Good. Cadence?” He turned to his wife. “Are you OK with this?”

Cadence nodded. “Of course! She’s your sister. and my sister now, too. We should go and help her.” Leaning closer she whispered. “Do we really have to bring Mr. Whiney-plot with us?”

Shining Armor nodded. “Yes. He is still royalty. Besides, He needs to learn that caring for his subjects comes before anything else. And who better to teach him about caring than me and you?” He kissed Cadence gently. “I love you.”

Cadence smiled. “I love you too. Now let’s go save your...our sister.”
____________________________________________________________________________
Yes, another long wait. I do apologize for that! I had stuff happen last week.
Things are really gaining speed now! Sugarcube Corner burned down, Half the elements captured, Shining Armor traveling to the aid of his sister...
It's going to get rather exciting!
gonna be working overtime to get up another chapter!

All ponies and locations (c) &

ShutterCam and Sakoyo (c) &

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