Chapter Sixteen:
There was Nothing You Could of Done.

	Twilight had been leading the group solely by guess work. For a long while she'd been able to see the silhouette of Canterlot in the distance, the silhouette was swallowed up by the thick trees long ago. It threw them into darkness, even Braeburn's flashlight did little to cut through the shadows. The underbrush growing thicker slowing their progress until they reached a row of tall, thick thorn bushes Twilight halted the group so she could rethink their path ahead.	
	“Glory be, these woods are ticker than Granny Sol's Molasses in the winter.” Applejack paced back and forth along the wall of thorn bushes. Twilight could see little bloody slits riddling her bare arms, from the sharp bushes they'd already traversed. “Damn, I shoulda went back for my jacket.” She cursed, it had only been the twentieth time she's sad that since they'd run into the denser part of the forest.
	“Easy, Cuz, you're going to get your tail in a knot. Just sit down and take it easy for a minute.” Braeburn slipped the flashlight into his back pocket and started scouring the ground for something.
	“All I wanna do is get a move on, but...” Applejack argued, but didn't turn down the offer to take a seat. As soon as she was comfortable, Scootaloo moved to join her. Applejack guided her to sit in her lap so she could make the filly more comfortable, wrapping her arms lazily around her small figure. Scootaloo remained dreadfully quiet ever since they left Zecora's house. Twilight wanted to ask her what happened, but didn't want to put her in the position to talk about something she wasn't ready to discuss.
	“We could go around.” Pinkie Pie's gaze followed the whole row of the bushes that disappeared into the darkness a few away.
	“I think that might take too long.” Twilight rubbed her cheek feeling something wet there. When she looked at her hand she saw a dull blotch of blood. One of the thousand branches they'd climbed through, must have gotten fresh with her. If it would have happened any time before this night the sight of blood would have made her nauseous, but now she'd seen so many terrible things that she was numb to the sight of a few drops of blood.
	“I'm going through 'em.” Braeburn started chopping through the heavy brush with a stick he'd found. Branches snapped, splintering, pieces flew everywhere, forcing him to raise a hand to guard his face from flying debris.
	“Sounds better than anything I could come up with right now.” Twilight sighed, it had been an easy enough plan to come up with, but she'd been so weary that her brain wasn't functioning as well. Instead she knelt down in the cluttered dirt to rest. It wasn't ideal but then again nothing had been the whole night.
	“So Braeburn...” Applejack started, but stopped as Scootaloo shifted against her chest, readjusting to get comfortable.
	“Are you...” Braeburn grunted taking a few more swings. “gonna say something...or what?” A huge branch cracked free from the bushes, allowing him to pull it away and toss it aside, before going back at it.
	“What happened back there?” Applejack blurted out. It was clear that she could feel the young filly's eyes moving up to look at her, but she avoided looking back.
	Braeburn grunted pulling another large branch free from the bushes. In a wide swing he threw it to the side.  He was panting heavily, sweat soaked his dirty t-shirt. His large green eyes were easy to read, he didn't want to talk about it. “It got bad, that's all you need to know.”
	Applejack opened her mouth in the attempt to draw more information from him, but Braeburn went right back to work on the bushes. “Listen, cuz, I know you did everything you could to keep them safe.”
	“You don't know shit, Applejack.” Braeburn stopped chopping on the branch and wheeled around to look at her. His voice peaked so suddenly and cut so sharply that the rest of the group jumped. “Zecora got bit. She got bit while she was out on her walk about. We didn't know until it was too late. She pulled me aside, showed me the bite.”
	“What?” Twilight stepped forward, resting a hand against Braeburn's chest, bringing his eyes to meet hers.
	That's why Zecora had been acting so strange right up before they left. Why she refused the help so adamantly. Why had she kept her infection a secret? Zecora was well aware of what would happen when she finally shut down. Which brought Twilight back to her original thought stream from so long ago. How did the infection work exactly? How had Spike gotten it in the first place? Why did he change so slowly, but Shining Armor changed so fast? There had to be an answer. Twilight was ripped away from her thoughts when Braeburn started talking again.
	“She tried to warn me, so if anything happened I could take care of her. I'll be damned if she didn't change while I was busy trying to restrain Maude, that's when shit got crazy. Rainbow Dash got Fluttershy. I heard the screen and turned to help, Maude slipped away from my grip. I tried to get the fillies out, but She got Sweetie Belle. I grabbed Scootaloo and when I turned to get Apple Bloom, Zecora already had her. It was total screw up on my part.” Braeburn hung his head, before slipping
	“No it wasn't.” Scootaloo got up, moving to wrap her arms around the stallion's neck. “You saved me, didn't you?” Braeburn didn't speak, he just wrapped his arms around the tiny filly holding her close.
	“I just wish I coulda done more.” 
	“There's nothing more you could of done, cuz. Zecora shoulda told us she'd been bitten.” Applejack got up from her place in the dirt, picking up the stick that Braeburn been using to cut through the brush and started back to work. “We...can only...focus on getting...to...Canterlot for right now. One...step...at a...time.” She was swinging so hard that it interrupted her vocalized thought.
	“Yes, whose to say that Celestia and Luna haven't already figured out a cure and is already distributing it to the citizens of Canterlot.” Twilight beamed, the idea, albeit comforting was a little far fetched, but the princess sisters still wielded incredible power that even Twilight wasn't aware of, so there was still a chance that they could have things under control.
	“Boy howdy, wouldn't that be...a load off.” Applejack added, as she pulled a heavy branch out of the bushes, tossing it aside.
	“Do you really think it's possible, Braeburn.” Scootaloo leaned back so she could look into his eyes.
	“Shoot, anythings possible when magics involved. You saw that crazy thing Zecora did with pipe. I'm sure Celestia has even older magic than that.” The optimism was catching, a wide smile slid across the little filly's face.
	“Shh you guys.” Pinkie Pie whispered, picking up her baton from where she leaned it against the tree. Applejack stopped chopping, cocking an ear towards the noise coming from somewhere in the distance. Braeburn shifted from his knees to a crouch ready to run if he had to.
	Twilight crouched next to Braeburn and Scootaloo, trying to stay out of sight. “What did you hear?”
	“I don't...” Pinkie Pie started, but something screeched from off in the distance then it stopped. It didn't sound like the howls of a timberwolf, or any other forest creature they'd encountered. There was something familiar about it, but they hadn't heard it in a long time. Then something moved in the bushes about a hundred yards from where they were. Every muscle in Twilight's legs tensed as a small voice in her gut whispered for her to run. Something wicked was coming this way and they were all in grave danger.
	“Oh my gosh, we gotta go, guys.” Pinkie Pie whispered, crouching down out of sight slowly backing away. What had she seen that they couldn't, Twilight wondered, it was enough to bead sweat on her brow.
	Applejack crouched down and slunk out from the bushes, she held her stick tightly so she could use it as a weapon. There was no telling how deep they'd cut through the bushes and even less way of telling how much deeper they had to go, but there was no time left for chopping. They were going to have to find away around if they wanted to make it through.
	Another screech tore through the dense wood. This time it closer than the one they'd heard before. It was joined by another and then another. A herd of whatever they could be were coming for them.  Twilight started to pant, the fear pushing it's way up into her throat. Her trembling eyes met Applejack's and then Braeburn's. He was already whispering for Scootaloo to wrap her arms around his neck. Pinkie Pie was already backing towards the rest of the group holding her Baton ready. They were going to have to make a run for it...before it was too late. Twilight prayed that it wasn't already too late for them to escape.