100 one shots (FLOS CHALLENGE)

[Cruxich]

Old cities abandoned with nothing left but litter. Humans were wandering around, but something was off. Stumbling, non-human groans. Zombies. A young girl was hiding in a makeshift fort in the city, her German Shepherd companion keeping close to her to show he was there if she needed him. Peeking out. Eye going back and fourth. Nothing, it was safe. "Come on West, now would be a good time to get going." West barked, but he was sushed by her, as she approached the rather poorly made entrance and pushed it open. Not a pretty sight greeted her, only trash. Creeping out, he was close to his humans heels, ears perked up for the faintest sound of groans. Machete in hand, the girl walked through the city with her backpack flung over her side, keeping as close as she could to objects that would hide her. Luckily, these zombies were rather dumb and only responded to movement, but still she had to be careful. What was her name? Alice. Yes Alice. She had found herself in this city in hopes of scavenging for food that was still good, and supplies. She only managed to find a loaf of bread and a few bottles of water along with some canned goods. Enough to keep herself alive for a while. West was fine finding his own things to eat, she was surprised at how tough his digestive system was.

Quiet, with only a few groans in the distance. She halted suddenly, bending down scanning. West growled as he turned around, and barked. Alice whirled around just before a zombie hiding managed to swipe at her. Crawling back not noticing her machete that landed on the ground a few feet in front of her, the undead screamed, seeing something to eat. It lumbered towards her, the call it emitted alerting its other fellow kin there was a food source. "Damn!" She said as West lunged at the zombie and knocked it down, biting and tearing at the throat in a attempt to defeat it. "West! Don't!" She heard the sound of shuffling feet. That wretched thing called for assistance. The zombie, not even caring lifted it's hand and clawed West, making him let go and back away whining. Before West could lunge again, Alice grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and started sprinting. West quickly caught the cue, and followed his master.

"Keep close, West. I think we're almost out of the city." There was no doubt that running around in the open was gathering quite a lot of unwanted attention. There was no doubt there was about 20 or so zombies following. "West, there!" In the distance was a entrance to outside the city, the area they originally went in before making a makeshift shelter for yesterday. Alice's legs were starting to ache, but she couldn't rest. West was perfectly fine hough, keeping in place.

---
Safe. Out of the city. Alice didn't dare stop still though. Zombies were restless, and would continuously keep walking. There was no doubt they would contine following. Finally, when Alice thought they were far away, she sat down panting heavily. West was laying down next to her, panting as well. "You thirsty, boy?" Getting her backpack, Alice opened it and grabbed a water bottle, twisting the cap as West eagerly sat up. Gulping down a few hits, feeling as the water helped sooth her throat she poured the rest out above Wests head, the dogs tongue going in and out as he lapped up as much water.

"We can't stay here for long, West." Alice said tossing the bottle aside. "There's no douby they will reach us soon." West licked her face, and rested his head on her lap. She smiled, and scratchd his head. Everyone she loved may be dead no longer any actually humans, but she had West and that was all she needed.

[Ranger of the North]

aaaghhuhh, that would be awful, no! D:

[Cruxich]

"Oh darn, It's starting to get rather dark." Time thought to himself, holding his cloak close to his body as he walked through some woods. He had been exploring these woods for a while now, in hopes of finding a place to temporarily settle down and stay at. Time wasn't a very social dog to begin with. First, he grew up without any sort of adult figure to teach him the proper ways of socializing with others. And second, any attempts at him trying to communicate with others often ended up with him being mocked and chased away. Loneliness never really bothered him though, so Time was more comfortable being by himself then around others. Listening to the gentle ticks of clocks on his body, it calmed him down a bit even though his entire body was shaking as if in anxiety but this was simply a way his body acted. It didn't hinder him in the slightest, so he just always ignored it.

Finally, Time found a rather nice place to stay at. It was near a fast moving stream, and there was a large patch of grass that felt soft undeneath his paws when he walked across it. "Nice bedding, a source of water." He looked around, taking notes of some berry bushes. "Even food." Time sighed and plopped down, feeling the soft grass against his fur. But, it hit him. There was a much larger imprint from something that had been here earlier, and panic struck him and Time stood up quickly. "Wait, is someone already living here?!" He exclaimed, looking around with a tail inbetween his legs. It was quiet, except for the ticking and the stream. "May..be they moved on from this place." Ever so slowly, easing himself Time forced his legs to buckle underneath him and make him plop back into the grass. Whatever lived here..if it came back he hoped it would understand his predicament and let him stay for the rest of the night.
When he was sure that there was no one coming, Time slowly closed his eyes and instantly blacked out falling asleep.

"Whoooo is this?" A ghostly voice said in Time's mind. A much gruffer, manlier voice pitched in. "Don't know. But whoever he is better wake up and hit the road. I don't like how he looks, he looks like a thief." The voices were distant, but were slowly starting to stir Time from his sleep. "Look, he's waking." Eyes fully open, Time allowed them to get adjusted and found himself staring at two legs of a much bigger dog. He looked up, being met face to face with a stranger who liked a bit like him, except having ligher brown fur and a..weirdly shaped mist like tail?? The expression on his face wasn't a very happy one, so Time could do nothing but curl up still staring shivering with fear. "What are you doing here, thief?" He said, a sternness in his voice. "Uhh..I was just, staying here for the night until I could continue my travels in the morning. I didn't kno-know this was yours and uh...I'll go if you would like. I'm not a thief, either..just a poor abandoned loner trying to find a place to stay."
He appeared to be in deep thinking, the mist tail just looking with sadness in its eyes at Time. He could feel like the entity was taking pity on him. “What’s your name..?” “It’s..Time.” The darker brown dog said, hoping deep down that this individual would let him stay. “I’m Emberry. And this is Hania.” Time’s tail wagged a little, but it stopped when he saw that Emberry still had that stern expression on his face. “You can stay for the night, but as soon as you wake up you continue on your way.” Time reluctantly nodded and smiled. “Yes sir.”

Time watched as Emberry walked over to a spot a few feet away from him and laid down curled into a ball. Hania retreated into Emberry’s body, leaving him appear tailless. Time was a bit curious about Emberry though due to something that was rising in his mind. This stranger felt like someone he knew a long time ago and had a connection with, but it was very fuzzy and when he tried to decipher it he found difficulty. It wasn’t long until he heard snoring, a bit surprised at how fast Emberry himself fell asleep. He did seem to be a rather old dog, and it’s widely known fact that elders spent most of their time asleep, or just being overall grumpy.
He closed his eyes again, trying to fall asleep. But the feeling of knowing Emberry kept nagging at him. Finally, he couldn’t take it. Time stood up, turned around and ran off in a random direction. Maybe if he fell asleep away from the person causing him this problem, he would be able to finish the rest of the night with sleep.
But, he wouldn’t be able to get any that night.

Constantly running, Time only stopped when he was sure out of breath and panting heavily. He analyzed his surroundings, not knowing where he even was. Did he get himself lost again? “Th..that’s fine. I can just retrace my steps.” Time turned back around, but he didn’t see his footprints. “What? This ground was sandy when I walked down it!” He heard the crunching of branches from the darkness behind him, and he reluctantly turned back around staring into the pitch blackness. He bristled his fur, making him appear bigger than usual and even growling. “Whoevers there. Show yourself!” There was no response, but padding slowly out of the darkness was a large, dark black dragon like creature. It had bright red, human lips and the mouth opened up revealing a tongue with an eye at the end that blinked as it looked at him. Time backed up a bit from this weird site. “What, if I can ask are you doing here? This part of the woods is way to dangerous for something small and simple as a dog.” Time thought to himself as he tried to make up an excuse. If the creature found out that he just wandered here, there was a possibility that it would kill him right then and there. But, the feeling from earlier came back and he looked up. “I came to seek a answer to a question..and I heard that these parts of the woods were ruled over by demons with most being wise.” The shadow laughed. “I’m not even remotely a demon. I’m just a mass of shadows melded to a certain shape and working as a colony. But, what you say is true most demons will be happy to answer your questions, at a price of course.”

“Well, even if you’re not a demon would you be able to answer my question?” She nodded. “Of course. What would you like to know?” Time tensed up a bit. “There’s this older guy I met who’s allowing me to spend the night in his home area, and whenever I’m near him I get a weird feeling as if I know him, and I met him a long time ago. Do you know why?” The entity tilted her head. “Do you mean the red caped guy with that ghost at the end of his tail?” Time nodded. “Yeah!” “He’s your father.” “W-what? How did you even know what he looked like?!” She did nothing but smile. “Even during the day, creatures like me observe those who wander into these woods. I was listening to a few other miscellaneous demons talk about him, and I heard that he was the father of someone called Time. Is that your name?” “Yes! But..I thought my parents were dead or didn’t want me. Why doesn’t he recognize me?” “It’s been quite a long time, and he forgot when that ghost of his decided to share his body. I know he did care for you, but Emberry was uncapable of caring for a pup himself and decided you would be better off by yourself.” Time lowered his head in sadness. The shadow got closer. “But, there is a way you would be able to trigger his memory. Get the ghost to stay permentantly out of him and far away.”
Time was a bit reluctant, but agreed. “Ok. Could you um, help me find the way back to where I was?” As soon as he said that, the entity wrapped his tail around him, picked him up, and whacked him hard against a tree knocking him out.

“Agh!” Time exclaimed as he woked up, noticing he was in the patch of soft grass with Emberry still snoring away. He looked over at the base of where a tail would be, and gulped thinking about what the creature said. Time didn’t know it, but he felt like Hania and Emberry were in a close relationship of some kind, and it would be rude to seperate them. He would have to think on this. Feeling cold where Time was, and wanting to be farther away from the woods behind him he stood up and tiptoed over to where Emberry slept. He was stretched out, relaxed clearly exposing his belly. STanding there a few minutes, making sure he wouldn’t wake up Time arranged himself to where he was curled up into a ball and snuggled into the soft bellyfur of his dad. Emberry grumbled a bit in his sleep, wrapping his arms lightly around Time and pulling him even closer. For once, Time’s body stopped feeling the anxiety and nervousness, calming down. Not a single shiver remained. Time would make a decision in the morning, if he would go through with seperating the two from each other, or simply say farewell and part ways with. But for now, he just wanted to fall asleep while he was warm and felt safe.

[Cruxich]

((Starring two of my new mlp hybrids, Diamond Dust and Dogwatch a hippogriff and diamond dog/earth pony hybrid)

The ocean was calm near the beach, and with the wind blowing gently it was the perfect time to go swimming. Various ponies were hanging out on the beach, most swimming or even just sunbathing. One pony stood out among the rest though, who was farther down the beach away from prying eyes of the others digging in the sand like a dog. Surprisingly, the clouds of sand being spread everywhere didn't get clumped together in the individuals fluffy fur, instead simply just being blocked entirely. After a bit of digging, there was a low feminine growl and the digger pulled herself out from the hole, shaking herself off and fanning away the clouds of sand. "Nothing, once again." The rather dog-like pony, who was named Diamond Dust looked back at the other holes that dotted the beach. "I bet that one old pony was simply crazy. He said someone buried gems along this beach, and after three hours I haven't found anything."

Not even bothering with taking another three hours to refill the holes, she strode farther down the beach and looked out at the ocean. Even though most of her fur was shaved off helping keeping her cool, the other parts that were covered in fur were getting hot and itchy due to sweat being trapped. But, if she went swimming then that would mean any remaining fur would get wet and soggy, and she didn't want to go home completely wet which would ruin her reputation of being fancy, or deal with the struggle of detangling, brushing, and curling that could take quite a good chunk of time. Sighing sadly, she had no choice but to endure it. "I could be at home, in a big room with air conditioning listening to music and fawning over my gem pile." Little did she know, that in a few minutes Diamond Dust would have an encounter that would probably change her life.

The silhouette of a ship in the distance getting closer to the mainland captured her attention. Tilting her head, she was wondering what it was doing. She had never seen a ship in real life before, but knew that such ships were used by sailors who were tasked with keeping an eye on incoming storms and even shipping things to far away lands. But then, why wasn't it stopping at the dock that was farther down? "Could it be that they missed it?" A bit of panic was starting to set in, ships were hard to control and and any chance at them landing perfectly on a area without a dock without doing damage was slim to none. She started to look around for something big she could use to signal to the boat, but nope. "Well, if it crashes at least there is no one around to get injured. But, me!" Diamond Dust turned and ran away ducking behind a bush that was near a patch of trees.

Closer and closer, it seemed like forever until the ship was close enough for Diamond Dust to see its features. It seemed like any other ship, but appearing more like the kind that were used specifically for traveling. There was a pony at the very top, in a basket shaped part attached to the larger stick that stuck out of the middle. Spreading out wings, it jumped out and flew to some ropes, pulling on them making the sails stretch out slowing down the speed the ship was approaching land slowly. Slowly creeping out of the bush, Diamond Dust tried to sneak away but she heard a shout. "Hey, you!" She froze, and the figure flew to where she was, gently landing on the ground in front of her. This stranger seemed to be a pegasus colored black and white, but had strange features. Her tail was very lion-like, her ears appeared fuzzy, and in place of hooves on her front legs she had feet and claws of an eagle. "Do you happen to know which land I'm in?" Diamond Dust blinked. "Um, Ponyville. Where else?" Ah, Celestia!" she shouted, stomping her left hind hoof on the ground. "Well, thanks for telling me. I guess I'll continue traveling west of the beach. Anyway, my name is Dogwatch. Yours?" Dogwatch seemed to be one of those "ruffians" her mother warned her about, but she definitely was not showing any signs of being loud or gruff. "Diamond Dust. If I may ask, where do you hail from?" "Griffonstone." Diamond Dust was a bit amazed. "All the way out there? But you look nothing like a gryphon." Dogwatch shrugged. "I get that a lot. My mom was a gryphon, but my dad was a plain Earth pony. I was raised in Griffonstone by my mom for most of my filly years, but it escalated to me being picked on a lot so I had no choice but to go with my dad. Ponyville was more accepting of hybrids, but man is it boring."

Diamond Dust frowned. "Gee, that sounds rather harsh." Dogwatch laughed. "Nah, I just kept my head up and ignored them. My dad did force me to be a sailor when he died though, but you know gryphons. I was set on being free and doing whatever I wanted, and I was quite selfish so one night I stole my dad's ship and sailed off to wherever. It's been quite some years now, and I don't even know if he is still around in Ponyville." Dogwatch finally noticed the holes that were scattered around on the beach. Diamond Dust turned her face away to hide the ashamed look on her face. She tried to speak without sounding like it. "I was digging for gems, after a old pony told me that someone buried them around here. He was lying though." "Gems? Diamond, no one would ever bury anything valuable like that here. Ponyville is too populated, so it's not good for storing valuables. I know where all the goods are, though. In less inhabited places like islands." Ears perked up in interest. "Do you have any??" Dogwatch shook her head. "Nope. But, you're by far the most nicest person I've ever met that hasn't been grumpy or annoying, so if you would like you can leave Ponyville forever and travel with me, and have all the gems and other valuables you want. I can tell you are part Diamond dog, and I know how greedy those guys can be when it comes to gems. So, how about it?"

Diamond Dust thought about it. The offer was tempting and the Diamond dog side of her was saying to take the chance, but her Earth pony side told her that she belonged here and needed to keep up her image. Her family never really interacted much with her, though and they wouldn't miss her at all if she decided to leave. Diamond looked at Dogwatch. "Give me till at least till tonight to decide, ok? If I go through with it, I will come down here with my stuff and join you. If I don't appear at all, that means I decided against it and you are free to leave the next morning." Dogwatch lowered her head. "I can do that. It'll give me enough time to restock supplies. Just remember where my ship is set." She smiled, and walked home as Dogwatch flew towards Ponyville set on buying as much as she could for the travels ahead.

[Cruxich]

Alone. Quiet. The environment was a jumbled mess of crumbled buildings and discarded, old trash left behind by careless humans that measured in the billions, but declined to only a small population of 20, survivors of a nuclear war that lasted for weeks. The land that was once a city wasn't entirely empty. A small figure could be seen trudging through the wasteland, a orange and white creature.

Peach could tell that he needed to stop, to let the mechanics that allowed him to walk cool down or they would explode from the heat and pressure. But he couldn't, the need to find his boy was strong. He still remembered the look of sadness and guilt on his face before Peach was manually shut down by the same people who brought him as a gift. Peach would've fought back if he could've, but that wasn't programmed. He was simply a machine used for companionship, like domesticated animals.

Several miles now, the heat from his mechanics was hot enough to burn bare skin. But still, he walked on. Peach's home was in this location, he could sense it! But..where? Was his boy alive?
There was a big pile of crumbled bricks and debris that captured his attention. Approaching, he analyzed them. Yes! This was definitely where he first came and stayed several months ago, before all this stuff happened.

Walking past the pile, and further away from it Peach finally succumbed to the overheating inside and collapsed. Smoke spewed out of all parts of what was their prison and disappear into the air above. Managing to lift his head, Peach tilted it at the steadily growing puddle of bright green he was laying in. The heat must've melt holes inside that allowed the liquid to seep out.

Peach may have had human emotions, but not the ability to feel pain, or be aware that this was very deadly. Things were steadily growing fuzzier, and the puddle was now bigger. "I'll be fine." Peach spoke in his young boy voice to a non-existant listenener. "I'll let myself cool down! Continue o-o-on." Stuttering was setting in, and Peach was now very close to shutting down permanently. Head plopping down, the light at the end of his tail dimmed to darkness. The environment was hard to see now and it was dark. Peach decided a good rest, and he knew that at this time his boy would be asleep. Tomorrow, he would continue.

He shut off his eyes and artificial breathing stopped. Peach would never reactivate.