Chapters The skies dulled with lifeless clouds, unmoved by the once lively weather-mares. All of Ponyville seemed to hum with a silent hunger, an austere sense of doom. The infinite stillness and silence felt as though it spread all over Equestria, as if a malevolent being was exhaling its bitter breath all over the planet. The only sound heard throughout all of Ponyville was the repetitious pitter-patter of tainted water trickling down a barricaded ginger bread-themed bakery. The muted atmosphere was broken even more by this new sound, the sound of metal slowly scraping past another piece of metal. Finally, the choir of silence imbibed by the rhythmic droplets of water striking the ground and the gruesomely slow sound of sliding metal was shattered by the quivering voice of a carrot-maned pony.
“A-are you sure you got them all?” The other three ponies looked at Carrot Top as if she had broken a pledge of sworn secrecy. The dark azure Pegasus leaning against the bakery’s stained and fissured counter top suddenly became motionless and shot a questioning glare at Carrot Top.
“Would I be standing here now if I hadn’t killed them all?” Carrot shrank down from this verbal attack, and returned to the safety that never-ending silence had to offer. After harassing Carrot Top’s judgment, Cloud Chaser went back to reloading her recently spent shotgun. After depositing the tenth and final slug into her chromed armament with a satisfying Cha-Click, Cloud Chaser was assured of her weapon’s efficacy once again. In an effort to extend her hoof in amity and gratitude, and also to break the tension, a certain toothpaste-maned unicorn attempted to speak some words of acknowledgement.
“Thanks again, Cloud Chaser. I don’t think we would’ve made it if you hadn’t had shown up when you did…” Colgate lamented while passively covering her muzzle with a defensive, yet warm smile that faded away while she spoke of the outcome that almost befell the three trapped ponies. As she finished her report, she sank back down to her recent, pessimistic state. After hearing this, Cloud Chaser opened her mouth to speak, but stopped mid breath and was reminded of the events that transpired mere minutes ago, as if in a hallucinogenic trance
Cloud was wandering the desolate, corpse-ridden streets of Ponyville (not bothering to see if any were still breathing), reminiscing over all of the fond memories this place held for her, while scavenging for any supplies that weren’t already taken by other survivors. But more importantly, she was on the search for her kid sister, Flitter, whom she had lost track of during the first couple of evacs. While on her crusade to find her lost sibling, she stumbled onto a peculiar sight. There were about a dozen Trotters surrounding Sugar Cube Corner, shambling about, looking for any feasible entry point. Cloud Chaser made an effort to sneak up on the undead pony-eaters in order to see what had obtained their attention in the first place. As she tip-hoofed closer, taking great care not to step on any broken glass or severed body parts, Cloud Chaser noticed that the doors and windows had been fortified with nailed gingerbread boards and candy cane bars. It was obvious by this point what had happened, some poor souls had trapped themselves inside Sugar Cube Corner and were about to be seized and devoured by the dozen or so infected ponies that surrounded the decrepit bakery. Once she had gathered the information she so curiously inquired, Cloud Chaser turned around to find a different route to where she was heading. However, as Cloud was leaving the scene of the fortified Sugar Cube Corner she heard the crack of a wall toppling over, followed by a shriek of terror. Cloud’s head jumped up at the sound of the blood curdling scream.
That sounded just like...
Without thinking, Cloud Chaser flew back to Sugar Cube Corner and confronted the diminutive horde of undead ponies. One or two of the trotters turned to confront this new, daring invader, only to be met with the blast of her shotgun. The first two or three shots took care of most of them, and the rest could easily be taken care of with some hoof-to-hoof combat. One of them was able to get behind her and make a single, yet futile, swat at Cloud’s flank. However, this proved to be a wasted effort, as all that training in agility with Rainbow Dash proved to be useful during the apocalypse. Cloud Chaser swiftly and gracefully dodged the sluggish attack of her adversary, flipped around her shotgun, and rammed the end of it through the infected pony’s fore hoof, causing bone fragments and bits of flesh to fly in all directions. The injured trotter fell to the ground, and began to gurgle with aggression while still attempting to claw its way to Cloud in an endeavor to retaliate against her. But Cloud Chaser was too quick for him and had already lodged her previously bloodied shotgun through the trotter’s head, which once again sprayed hefty amounts of gore in all directions. After finishing the last of the trotters, Cloud Chaser rammed through the barred door of the formerly attacked bakery, expecting to see her little sister on the other side. But instead found three very confused and frightened ponies staring at her. One of them was pointing a gun at her head and asked if she was infected, however, when Cloud saw the gun shaking in the orange-maned pony’s hooves, she knew that she was in no real danger. The dark blue pony cowering behind the counter top slid out of her hiding spot and ordered everypony to start re-fortifying the bakery.
Cloud Chaser zipped back to reality, and finally took in her dull surroundings. There was little light inside the bakery, save for a few cracks in the ceiling that dripped streams of dismal light onto the creaky planks that were the bakery’s floorboards, and the dimly lit lantern that was left on the far side of the countertop. Several scrolls lay strewn about the cracked granite that covered said countertop, one of those scrolls was a map of Ponyville, another was one of the several health and safety flyers issued by PNI. She read the plain text on the flyer to herself:
Wash your hooves periodically Ensure the sanctity of any and all perishable items Keep a calm state of mind...
Cloud Chaser, now weary of her current predicament, shut her eyes, and leaned back even further in her seat. “You know what I hate about all this?” Cloud Chaser asked. And not giving anypony the opportunity to speak, immediately answered her own question.
“The fact that everypony knows each other in this town. I mean, if you happen to kill any of those trotters, you’re probably killing somepony you knew, or at least talked to at some point.” Everypony in the room sunk even lower into their seats, one of them had begun sniffling and silently sobbing to them self. As if to play it off as a joke, chuckling Cloud Chaser said “That is, unless you happen to not like anypony in this town. Then I guess you’re alright.” Everypony stared at Cloud Chaser in befuddlement; Carrot Top shot an unwavering, disgusted glare in the direction of the spiky-maned Pegasus. A pair of light gray ears flopped down in a hopelessly depressed arrangement. Seeing how sad it made her, Cloud Chaser patted Derpy on the head and said in an assuring, almost caring tone.
“Don’t worry kid, I was just kidding!” Derpy perked up slightly, and wiped the tears from her estranged eyes, both of them completely ignoring the fact that Derpy is older than Cloud Chaser. Colgate grew tired of listening to Cloud talk to herself, and knew that she needed to bring up the fact that they weren’t going to survive forever in this broken down bakery. Seeing that Cloud was now preoccupied, Colgate took the opportunity to speak.
“Alright, I’m going to say what everypony here doesn’t want to admit. The fact of the matter is that we aren’t going to survive here forever. At some point, we’re going to have to at least try to escape!” It seemed as though when Colgate spoke, all of Equestria voluntarily bowed their heads out of respect, and attend to her every word as if princess Celestia herself was speaking. Yet there was an ostensibly hostile atmosphere about the barely standing bakery. Cloud Shifted in her seat. Carrot Top stood up and walked over to the arched and torn scrap of paper that the map of Ponyville was inscribed upon.
“I hate to say it, but you’re right. There’s no way we can stay here forever. We need to find a safe way out of Ponyville” Carrot Top planted her hoof firmly on the tattered map, gesturing everypony’s attention to it. Colgate and Derpy huddled around the broken counter top and began planning their escape route alongside Carrot.
“We’ll need to do a bit of preparations.” Colgate said, keeping her eyes glued to the map of Ponyville.
“We should probably scout out the rest of town. Y’know, find the safest way outta here.”
“Yeah, we should also pack pretty light, no need to get weighed down…”
Cloud Chaser listened in bemusement and slight annoyance to the three ponies huddled around the glowing light produced by the lamp lying on the broken glass of the countertop, doing nothing more than stating the obvious. At this point Cloud Chaser completely lost interest. Cloud caught a glimpse of a damp cloth lying in the corner of the shadowed bakery. Realizing that she and her gun were still covered in dried blood, Cloud Chaser walked over to pick it up. Cloud knelt down and grabbed the cloth with her free wing and trotted back to her seat. The cloth smelt rancid, and it had some stains, but it seemed safe enough to use. With a few swift motions of her wing she cleaned the blood away from her pristine blue fur. She then continued onto her seat, began cradling her shot gun, and began cleaning the gun with her cloth. When she was done, she got up, and headed for the broken down door.
“Well, that’s perfectly fine for you guys. I’m going to get on out of here and leave you guys to do you’re planning .” Cloud Chaser continued walking toward the entrance before Colgate got up to plead with her.
“No, wait! Cloud Chaser, we need you. None of us have been outside since all the Evacs left. We need someone who has experience with those... things .” Colgate got up close to Cloud, in order to emphasize the urgency of her staying. Cloud Chaser, however, brushed her off, and persisted in her trek towards the door.
“Yeah, I kinda get that. But the thing is, I don’t need you ! I’d be much better off if I went by myself. Sorry to say, but you guys don’t have anything I need,”
“We have food.” Colgate drew out a large smirk across her face. She knew how important the concept of food was now because of the infection. It showed on Cloud Chaser’s face. The last time she ate anything that wasn’t from a can or found on the floor was before the infection happened, that must have two or more weeks ago. The smell of the various sweets inside the bakery soon became apparent to the now fatigued Cloud Chaser. Cloud’s stomach roared with a furious absence of something to eat.
“I guess I could hang with you guys for a little while…” squeaked Cloud Chaser, whose face was red with embarrassment. Carrot stifled a giggle of amusement towards the dull purple pony’s humiliation. There was something that was simply hilarious about a tough pony like Cloud Chaser being defeated by something as trivial as food. Cloud immediately shot daggers from her eyes towards Carrot Top in retaliation. Carrot Top abandoned her laughter, and in its place laid a devilish grin over her muzzle. Colgate broke Cloud’s eye contact with the yellow farm pony, shoving a slice of overly decorated pie in front of Cloud’s curious snout.
“Alright, we’ll get ready while you finish eating.” Cloud Chaser could barely hear Colgate talking to her as her eyes glazed over and drool began seeping from both corners of her mouth. Cloud covetously gobbled the entire pie in a few seconds. After a few minutes of packing and prioritizing, the four ponies were finally ready to leave the sanctity of Sugar Cube Corner, and enter the unknown hazards that lay within the rest of Ponyville.
Cloud Chaser turned from her recently finished meal just in time to see a sight that gave her a mixture amazement and hilarity. What stood behind her were three ponies, a Unicorn, a Pegasus, and an earth pony, all of which had been festooned with various armaments. Not yet used to the additional weight of the weapons, the three ponies warily stumbled toward the entrance of the bakery, taking great care not to trip or fall. There they stood in front of Cloud Chaser, who carefully sized them up; Colgate, who was unanimously deemed the leader of the group, led the other three ponies to the entrance of Sugar Cube Corner, and with a twinkle of her horn, shoved the crooked door out of the way, allowing light to flood into the room as the four ponies left their domain.
Colgate, Carrot, and Derpy stared in horrific awe of their surroundings, the unmoved clouds, the once beautiful yet now decrepit buildings, and the stacks of dead ponies lying on every street corner were a sensory overload to the three ponies that had spent these last few weeks in a dark room with no outward communication. Cloud Chaser, however, leisurely glided over the dead corpses, broken boards, and whatever else was lying on the forgotten streets of Ponyville. The other three ponies found themselves unwilling to cross the sea of death and destruction in order to reach the clean plot of land Cloud Chaser was hovering over.
“Hurry up! I don’t have all day!” The three ponies were unmoved by Cloud Chaser’s sentiment. Cloud shook her head in disapproval, and sat down on the clean patch of grass she had found.
“Derpy, you have wings! Why don’t you just fly over?” Cloud Chaser yelled in irritation.
Derpy stared at the ground thoughtfully for a few seconds, and then, as if a light bulb went off in her head, looked up and exclaimed “Oh, right!” and then proceeded to fly over to the area clear of debris in a fashion similar to Cloud Chaser.
Carrot Top, realizing that sitting out in front of the bakery was a foolish endeavor, got up, and trudged through the mess of body parts and broken boards over to where Cloud and Derpy were sitting, slightly covered in dirt and blood. Lastly was Colgate, who sat adamantly in front of the partially destroyed bakery, hooves crossed, and wearing a smug pout on her face. A few seconds later, Colgate, deciding not to as nonchalant as Cloud, or as terribly blunt as Carrot Top, used her magic to levitate the piles of rubble and bodies out of the way in order to make a neat path to the rest of the group. Colgate beamed with confidence as she strode over to her fellow compatriots.
Cloud Chaser let out a heavy, annoyed sigh, and asked “Why didn’t you just do that in the first place?”
Colgate blinked at Cloud Chaser, as if not understanding what she had asked, but not a second later realized what she meant as her cheeks began to turn a light rose color.
“Oh, right…” The whole group began to chuckle at how silly they’d been, save for Carrot Top, who still had dirt and blood stains on her hooves.
Suddenly everypony became hush and still. Then came the fearful realization. The fact that they were out in the open, smack dab in the middle of a heavily quarantined area. There could be dozens of infected around every corner. The fear of being watched, day in, and day out, by creatures who want nothing more than to devour their flesh, and revel in their innards. The silence drew out for a few more seconds, until it was finally broken by a certain toothpaste colored pony fishing something out of her saddlebag. It was a small folded piece of paper. Colgate levitated the parchment between herself and the other three mares, and began to unfold it. The parchment was the map from before! Colgate began to speak.
“First things first, we need to find a way out of Ponyville. I think the best way out of here to head to the-“
Cloud Chaser interrupted the toothpaste pony. “Not so fast, I’m not leaving this Celestia-damned place until I find my sister!”
So what do you suggest, we wander all around town looking for somepony we don’t even know is here until we all get attacked?” Carrot Top asked Cloud sarcastically.
“Why don’t you learn how to keep your mouth shut, carrot breath?!”
“Don’t call me that! At least I know how to use common sense once in a while, blue brain!”
“Come on gals, we’re all friends!”
Both Carrot Top and Cloud Chaser shouted in unison “SHUT UP DERPY!”
Eventually the argument devolved into Carrot and Cloud yelling, and calling each other immature (and rather uncreative) names, while Colgate and Derpy attempt to placid their hateful emotions. They continued to argue for what seemed like hours on end. Colgate and Derpy eventually grew tired of attempting to calm the two angry mares, and stood by waiting for them to finish fighting. But regardless of their interference, Carrot Top and Cloud Chaser continued to assault each other verbally. That is, until Rainbow Dash appeared.
In the middle of another one of Carrot’s derogatory slurs toward Cloud, A lurid, ear-shattering scream tore across the sheet of dull clouds overhead. Suddenly, another screech was heard in a similar fashion, except it now sounded as if it was directly above the four equine survivors. A small shadow plummeted from above the clouds, and smashed into the ground. Debris flying everywhere, producing a cloud of dust around the shadowy figure. When the veil of filth cleared, it was obvious who was standing in front of them: Rainbow Dash. But it wasn’t Rainbow Dash anymore. She had been mutilated almost beyond recognition. Her eyes had been dug out with some type of crude device, the markings of said device visible on the corners of her face. Her tongue was snakelike, and slid about her mouth with no purpose. She had the posture of a rabid animal. Rainbow began to cock her head left and right, attempting to hear where that curious sound had come from, so that she may devour whatever it was.
All five of the mares that now stood in the center of Ponyville, continued to stand frighteningly still, waiting for somepony else to make the first move. Cloud Chaser (who knew that of all of her accomplices, she stood the best chance against this zombified Rainbow Dash) made that first move. With lightning fast reactions Cloud Chaser pulled the chrome shotgun out of her saddlebag, and blasted two slugs at Rainbow Dash’s head. The two slugs punctured several holes over Rainbow’s already emaciated face. Rancid blood flew in all directions, but Rainbow Dash was unperturbed. Cloud knew she would have to get closer to Rainbow in order to finish her off. Rainbow had already begun to sprint towards Cloud. Cloud flew up into the sky.
“Hey, Rainbow Crash! Why don’t we race for old time’s sake?”
Rainbow Dash gladly obliged her, and burst into the sky with a single, swift thrust of her wings, and gave chase to the shotgun-wielding purple Pegasus. Colgate attempted to shout at Cloud Chaser.
“Cloud Chaser! What tha hay are you doi-” Carrot Top quickly covered Colgate’s mouth in order to keep her from yelling. Carrot whispered in her ear.
“What are you, crazy? You want that thing coming after you? Let that jerk kill herself, we need to get out of here!”
But as Carrot Top finished her statement, a distinct sound reverberated throughout all of Ponyville: the sound of dozens of hooves thundering towards the center of town from all directions.
Chapter 2: Friends... For Now.
Colgate had never been an athletic pony. It wasn't like she was lazy or out of shape or anything. She just never had any reason to physically exert herself. Being a unicorn might've had something to do with it. But regardless of this, Colgate was able to outrun even her fellow survivors as the stampede of zombified ponies closed in on all three of them. Carrot Top shouted as loud as her lungs would let her at Colgate to tell her to stop running, but the blue and white maned pony was deaf to everything around her. Colgate was forced to stop as a group of four trotters blocked her way. As the zombie ponies began to stagger towards the paralyzed toothpaste colored pony, Carrot Top came darting from behind Colgate, holding a machine pistol in her hooves. Carrot jumped forward and began to fire upon the stoic creatures that blocked their path. Shots of fresh crimson burst one after another as the trotters fell to the ground.
"We can't keep running forever! We're gonna have to fight back!"
Slowly, Colgate began to regain her composure. A few seconds later Derpy arrived, with the horde not far behind. Steadily, Colgate shook her head to let Carrot Top know she understood what she had said. The toothpaste colored pony quickly fumbled the gun that was strapped to her back out of its holster. Still shaking slightly, Colgate pointed the wood furnished hunting rifle towards the large group of zombie ponies rushing towards her and her allies. Initially Colgate was a rather terrible shot, hitting absolutely nothing or hitting a trotter in the leg, which only served to bring them out of the action for a few seconds. But as she began getting comfortable with holding the rifle, and the fear of being eaten alive began to become more apparent, Colgate began to snipe head after head off of the oncoming hordes of trotters with the greatest of ease. As Carrot Top and Colgate began to thin out the number of zombie ponies, Carrot Top looked behind her to see that Derpy was doing absolutely nothing to help. Furious, Carrot Top began to yell at the blond mail mare.
"DERPY! DO SOMETHING!"
Derpy, who was shocked at the verbal attack, simply shrugged and stated "But I don't have a weapon!"
Carrot Top stood there for a few seconds, mouth gaping open at the nonsensical report of the derp-eyed pony. While this was this was happening a trotter had sprinted toward Carrot Top, and just as the vile creature was about to take a bite out of the carrot maned pony, she quickly turned aroud, pushed him to the ground, and shot him to death.
"OF ALL THE PONIES I COULD'VE BEEN STUCK WITH WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE THE ONE THAT CAN'T EVEN SEE STRAIGHT?!"
Derpy began to cry at the orange maned equine who had just yelled at her. Carrot Top simply grunted, rolled her eyes, and returned to fighting the zombie ponies. Colgate felt bad for Derpy, but couldn't afford to stop shooting at the trotters and comfort her. As the numbers of infected ponies dwindled, Derpy looked up and saw a small blue fleck fall from the sky. Derpy squinted in order to better make out what was falling from the sky. Her face began to pale as she realized what was falling from above clouds, And she immediately began to run to where she thought they would land. As she left Colgate and Carrot Top to fend off the rest of the trotters, Derpy desperately yelled "CLOUD CHASER!"
Cloud Chaser was exhilarated to be able to fly again. Ever since the quarantine was established, there was a constant, yet subtle, fear that flying made you an easy target. This caused Cloud Chaser look for any small excuse to go back into the sky. And while being chased by a zombified Rainbow Dash isn't exactly the best situation to be in, it was a good enough of an excuse to return to the clouds. But with every flash of her wings, Rainbow Dash was gaining on the light purple pegasus. Cloud looked back up and stared at the oppressive wall of gray darkness that seemed to overshadow all of Equestria. If she was going to die, she was at least going to see the deep blue shell that surrounded the planet one more time.
The sunlight which was veiled by the all-encompassing wall of gray clouds nearly blinded Cloud Chaser. She hadn't seen this much light in weeks. As she flew even higher, the smooth breeze which had been alienated from her for so long had given a loving embrace to Cloud Chaser's fur. It felt as though if she looked down right now everything would return to normal. The happy ponies of Ponyville would walk around the streets once again, chatting with friends, enjoying life. It was as if she had been drowning for the longest time, and now she had returned to the surface. She could finally breathe.
However, Cloud Chaser's re acquaintance with the air was short lived, as the familiar figure of Rainbow Dash screeching her way through the wall of clouds. Rainbow's lightning speed allowed her to almost immediately catch up with the spiky maned pegasus. Cloud attempted a few evasive maneuvers in order to keep her zombified rival away from striking distance. While it was true that Rainbow Dash was much faster than Cloud Chaser, Cloud Chaser more than made up for it in her agility. With all the effort her body could provide, Cloud Chaser turned around and endeavored to shoot Rainbow in the head. Droplets of blood began to stream from new protusions on Rainbow's face as she was knocked backward from the blast of the shotgun. The force of the shotgun was enough to almost blast both ponies out of the sky, but the two were able to quickly recover and continue the chase.
Cloud made one more effort to take Rainbow Dash out of the air. Once again, Cloud used every muscle in her body to push back against the wind toward Rainbow. Against the friction of the wind, Cloud Chaser gripped her chromed symbol of death and death and practically shoved it down Rainbow's throat. But before she could pull the trigger, the rainbow maned infected jerked her head downward, which caused her jaw to split from the rest of her mouth. Before Cloud Chaser could react Rainbow Dash threw her entire body upon the helpless pegasus survivor, knocking the shotgun out of her hooves. Cloud Chaser struggled to regain flight, but was unable to push Rainbow off of her. They both began to plummet back down to the ground. Furious and desperate, Cloud repeatedly beat Rainbow Dash in the head, but the infected pegasus was unphased, as the wind around them raged from the increasing velocity which perpetuated their fall back down to Ponyville.
The two pegasi crashed into the side of a building with a rupture of sound that almost shook the Earth. Both ponies had sustained various bruises and cuts, but Rainbow refused to let this deny her her meal. Rainbow Dash pinned Cloud Chaser to the ground, and began to ravenously thrash the defenseless light purple pegasus. Any attempt that Cloud Chaser could have made to defend herself was immediately countered with an even more intense blow from Rainbow Dash. Just as Rainbow Dash was about to take her first bite of the deliciously tenderized survivor, a voice sounded from behind them.
"Hey, Rainbow,"
Before she could fully turn around Rainbow was met with the dull blade of a woodcutter's axe. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground from the heavy blow, and before she could recover she received a vertical chop to her forehead. A barrage of heavy vertical slashes soon met with the fresh wound made on Rainbow Dash's head, each digging deeper into her skull as blood, grey matter, and fragments of bone sprayed out in all directions. this went on for about four or five more slashes until Rainbow finally stopped moving, and in the place of her head was a bloody crater. Cloud Chaser was barely concious enough to actually understand what was going on, slipping into and out of a coma-like state. Her breathing began to slow. Everything was moving slowly, like staring at a picture. Cloud closed her eyes, and when she opened them again there was a shadowed figure standing over her. The figure was desperately shaking her, and attempted to say something to her, but Cloud could barely understand her. After a few seconds Cloud Chaser fainted in the hooves of her savior.
Cloud Chaser had a rather strange dream. She was in Cloudsdale. Nothing was really out of the ordinary, except that nopony would talk to her, and she didn't have her wings. For a while she just walked around, Cloud eventually found out that she could walk through the walls of buildings, which allowed her to see what was happening inside each. Absolutely nothing. In most of the buildings the ponies would just talk to eachother without making any sound, or speak in jibberish. As she came to the center of town, she noticed something. There was an earth pony standing in the middle of the street, gazing intently at Cloud Chaser. She had a dark purple gray coat, a frayed yet beautiful violet mane and tail, eyes that were a bright blue that shined as if they were polished glass, and a childishly timid smile upon her muzzle. Her cutie mark was rather simplistic, it was the hands of a clock, pointing in seemingly random directions. Being a dream, Cloud didn't question the validity of an earth pony being in Cloudsdale. Cloud tried to get closer to this mysterious mare, but as she took another step closer, the blue eyed pony gleefully pranced off. After she made a few more leaps away, the nameless pony turned to Cloud Chaser, gave a wink, and mouthed the words follow . Cloud did what what the strange earth pony asked and began to pursue her. As Cloud ran faster and faster so did the earth pony. Cloud started to becomeannoyed at this and continued to speed up in pursuit. After what seemed like hours Cloud Chaser eventually gave up and started walking in the other direction. But as soon as she turned around all of Cloudsdale disappeared from beneath her hooves. She hopelessly began to flail her hooves and scream, yet no sound came out. As she was about to hit the ground Cloud Chaser could distinctly hear the words follow your Queen .
Cloud sprang from the table she was laid on, and subsequently fell off it. Panting heavily, Cloud Chaser looked up at the three familiar, yet perplexed, faces. Cloud then looked down at herself, noticing that she was covered in water. Carrot Top lowered the bucket of water she was holding in her mouth. Before Cloud could say anything both Colgate and Derpy ran up to the confused and wet Cloud Chaser and held her in a tight embrace.
"Cloud Chaser! Thank Celestia you're okay!"
"Cloud, We were so worried,"
Cloud attempted to push the two frazled ponies, but the clench of their hug was too strong. "Guys, you're hurting me,"
Sheepishly, the two ponies let go of their friend. "Right, sorry..."
Still annoyed at being drenched in water, Cloud Chaser asked "Why the buck did you throw water on me!?"
Colgate quickly a put hoof up to Cloud's mouth, and signaled her to be quiet with a subtle shush. A dead silence lingered in the air. Carrot Top glanced through the boarded up windows, and after a few seconds, nodded to the others in order to indicate that it was safe. Colgate looked back at Cloud Chaser.
"Sorry about that, better safe than sorry,"
Cloud Chaser ignored this, and asked again, yet slightly quieter, "Why did you throw water on me?"
"We needed to wake you up. Here," Colgate levitated a dry towel, which Cloud disdainfully swiped.
As curtious as a pony in her situation could be, Cloud Chaser backed away from the toothepaste maned unicorn, and dried herself with the towel that was kindly provided to her.
"You'll need this too," Colgate levitated the shotgun Cloud had lost in the fight with Rainbow Dash, which Cloud also swiped from Colgate's clutches.
"Where'd you find this?" Cloud inspected the chrome weapon to ensure it was the one she had lost.
"Not far from where you crashed,"
After she dried herself, and found that her gun was in working condition, Cloud Chaser attempted to stretch her wings, but was met instead with a stretch of pain across her back. She looked back to investigate the source of her discomfort, and to her chagrin, found her right wing had been wrapped in cloth.
"Uhh, what the buck is this?"
"It's called a bandage, genius,"
Cloud Chaser glared at Carrot Top "I know that. Why's it here?"
This time Derpy interjected "Well, when I got to you, you were really banged up. So when the others got here I decided to use this!" Derpy held up an empty bag of medical supplies, the contents of which were used to treat Cloud's wounds.
"Aww, thanks Derpy,"
"Don't thank me, thank Carrot Top. She's the one who patched you up,"
Cloud looked at Carrot in surprise. Carrot Top looked up and blushed slightly "It was nothing. I just didn't want to see what would happen if Derpy tried to use scissors..."
All four ponies giggled at this. The mood was finally lightened. That is until Cloud Chaser remembered something.
"Wait. What happened to Rainbow Dash?"
"Oh, I took care of her," Derpy stated almost unwaveringly.
Cloud Chaser was quite literally stunned at this. She had never expected Derpy of being capable of killing anypony, even if they were infected. "Are you sure you killed her?" interrogated Cloud. Derpy nodded, and gestured to the axe she had found on her way to Cloud Chaser. Muddled and confused, Cloud sat back down to process this new information and finally began to notice the new setting with which she was in.
"Just where are we anyway?"
"Some building we found by where you landed,"
Colgate felt that this was quite enough small talk for now, but before they left, she wanted to make something clear.
"Okay everypony. listen up. I know we might not get along at times. And there might be times where we outright hate eachother. But we have to face something. As hard as it is to believe, we are some of the last few ponies still alive in Ponyville. And I don't know about you, but I'd like to stay alive. But we can't do that if we keep going of on our own. And I'm not asking for much, all I want is your help. I've spent about a half an hour on the outside. And I can say for absolute certain that none of us would be able to survive by ourselves. So I have a propasition for you all. We work together, as a team. At least until we get out Ponyville, then we can bicker and yell at eachother all we want, deal?" Colgate outstretched her hoof to the other survivors, wearing that familiar yet warm smile. Derpy walked over to the white and blue pony and laid her own hoof atop Colgate's. Carrot Top sighed, and put her hoof in as well. the three ponies now stared expectedly at Cloud Chaser, who seemed rather complacent sitting right where she was. But after a few more seconds, and a couple of exchanged glares, Cloud finally put her hoof into the group of this rag tag team. "Fine, whatever,"
It was at this point that Cloud Chaser remembered her initial question to the group, "So why exactly did you have to wake me up?"
While startled at the sudden question, Colgate was about to respond, but was interrupted by Carrot Top, "Because, you were screaming like a mad mare in your sleep. Thats why,"
"R-really?" Cloud almost seemed embarrassed to ask this.
"Yeah, what exactly were you dreaming about?" Colgate stared quizically at the spike-maned pegasus.
"Well... I-"
A loud crash was heard from outside where the survivors were holed up. Everypony immediately ducked for cover. Hoof steps. A grunt. A gurgle. More silence. Soon more hoof steps were heard slapping the soggy ground as grew ever closer to the ponies' safe house. The survivors made an even more desperate struggle to remain quiet. Then, as if to counter the sheer silence of the situation, A blood curdling shriek was heard in the distance. The gurgles soon turned to roars as the vile monsters stampeded off to the cry of helplessness. Cloud didn't waste any time after the zombies left to go after them.
"Cloud Chaser! What are you doing?!"
"I'm gonna find out where they're going. That's what I'm doing," Cloud explained while peeling the boards off of one of the windows.
"You can't keep going off by yourself! We just talked about this!"
"Well we didn't talk about my sister. And if there's a chance that she's in trouble, nothing's getting in my way,"
"But you don't even know if it's her or not!"
"I can't afford to take that risk. She's my sister," Everypony knew that this argument was futile. Cloud was going with or without them, which was a choice they had to decide for themselves. And they all decided to follow her.
While speed and stealth isn't exactly this group of survivor's mantra, but when the chance for Cloud Chaser to find her lost sister comes up, the whole group finds their hidden talents. The group sped off to where the trotters were heading. But what they would find would prove not to be Cloud's sister.
Just as the survivors were about to reach their destination, a large object came hurling from over the horizon towards the general direction of the four unexpecting ponies. The sudden attack nearly gave all four survivors heart attacks, but upon further inspection, found that the object that was thrown at them was still moving. A trotter. But who in all of Equestria would be crazy enough to throw a trotter?
The four mares finally made it to their destination, the library. The area outside the library was covered in varying amounts of debris, corpses, and the like. The survivors grew tense. Slowly and cautiously, the ponies walked closer into the circle of filfth, but as they did, they noticed something that took hold of their breath, and refurbished their fears of the undead.
Pillars of rubble and corpses rose around the survivors like an altar to some forgotten god. The slow groans of the undead filled the air and soon turned to roars of rage. The four mares were in complete shock to having fell for this obvious trap. In the center of this circle of death ripped floor boards began to shift as a figure of immense fear climbed to her hooves. A purple, straight-maned, unicorn. Twilight Sparkle. For a moment, it seemed as though Twilight wasn't infected. She didn't display the initial traits of a normal trotter. She wasn't cut up or scratched, and showed no indications of being bitten. But the look in her eyes, a look of pure rage. Colgate looked to Twilight's neck and saw exactly what killed her. There was a lynch tied firmly around the purple unicorn's collar bone. The rope had been cut from where ever Twilight had hung herself. A thought that would enter the survivor's minds later was who, or what exactly, had cut Twilight from her self made gallows?
What would happen next, however, would cause a new spread of panic through the survivors. Twilight's horn started to glow with a dim aura, as she began to levitate several objects from the ground. The group took this as an indication to run. Twilight began to throw objects of differing size and shape at all four of the mare survivors. For the most part, Twilight had telegraphed her attacks rather easily, which made them easy to dodge. This didn't matter very much to her though, as the zombified unicorn continued to pelt the survivors with more and more heavy objects which she pulled from around her. A few times, Twilight would pick up a trotter and throw it at the fearful survivors. Derpy , with all her brevity, was able to hit a thrown trotter out of the air with her axe, cutting its head off in the process, much like a baseball.
As much as they hated to do it, the four ponies had to open fire upon the infected ponies, including Twilight . They were already surrounded, and couldn't afford to risk one of them getting bitten. Colgate was able to shoot her infected friend in the head, but this did not stop her. A thick black liquid leaked from the bullet hole Colgate made in the purple zombie that once was Twilight Sparkle. Twilight stumbled a bit, but regained her balance, and launched a wild screech of anger not unlike the one that lured them here. Soon more voices of anger and rage joined Twilight's, as the group found themselves in a bad position.
"Uh-oh..." Carrot Top lamented
"I think I know what that means!" Cloud Chaser bellowed, happy to be able to kill more of these sick monsters again.
Out of almost every corner of Ponyville came more and more trotters, eagerly running to their next meal. The survivors had to fight back even harder due to the large influx of new targets. Twilight had doubled her pace, throwing larger objects and at an increased rhythm. The four mares, however, paid very little attention to her, as the number of trotters surrounding them increased. But Twilight took this as an opportunity to up her aim. With the ferocious strength of Twilight's magic, the infected unicorn grabbed a half broken crate from the bloodied ground and threw it as hard as she could at Colgate. The unsuspecting blue and white pony didn't even see it coming. The large wooden box hit Colgate squarely in the back, exploding into a mess of splinters and planks which cut Colgate quite extensively. Colgate tumbled to the ground, her rifle falling just out her reach.
The other three mares friends took notice of their friend's incapacitation, but could do little to help her back up, as the bodies of infected ponies fell closer and closer their defensive circle. And while Derpy was able to fend of a respectable amount of attackers with her axe, Both Carrot Top and Cloud Chaser knew they would run out of ammunition eventually. One trotter was able to jump Carrot Top from behind, but Cloud Chaser was quick to react. With a single well placed trigger pull, Cloud blew the zombie pony off of her orange maned friend's back.
By this point Colgate was completely separated from the rest of the group. Yet she was fine. None of the trotters even bothered assaulting the defenseless blue and white pony. The hordes of infected were intent on killing and devouring the three ponies that still remained a threat. Colgate attempted to get back up, but winced from the pain of the splinters still lodged in her back, and fell to the ground. In truth, it was a one on one battle; Twilight versus Colgate. And although Twilight could have easily finished off the toothpaste colored pony right there, she had something else planned. Twilight's horn began to glow an even darker violet than before.
At a tempered, yet sluggish rate, Twilight began dragging her old friend across the bloodied and filthy ground, into the reaches of her doom. Frantic, Colgate tried with all her strength to break free of Twilight's magical clutches, But to no avail. In a spark of thought, Colgate reached behind herself with her magic and attempted to grab her fallen rifle. With some unbelievable luck, Colgate was able to take hold of the stock of her dropped gun. With the speed of a Wonderbolt, Colgate aimed her wood furnished rifle at the head of her purple assailant.
Colgate emptied her entire clip into Twilight's enraged face. Bullet after bullet rang into the purple unicorns head as more plumes of blood decimated Twilight's face, making it almost incomprehensible. One shot charged straight into Twilight's eye, spewing visceral liquid out in a gush of blood and gore. Another shot went into Twilight's mouth, impacting directly on her tongue. An explosion of blood and flesh poured out of the purple unicorn's muzzle. But she would not desist. Twilight continued to pull the hapless white and blue pony closer to what was sure to be a painful death. Colgate fired her last shot. Twilight still wouldn't stop. Colgate began to panic. She resorted to her last option.
The distraught toothpaste colored pony threw the hunting rifle away, and unlatched the pistol she had kept hidden under her hind leg. This truly was just as dangerous for her as it was for whoever she used it on. She barely used the darn thing. But the damage that it's proven capable of was reason enough to keep it around. With the remaining strength left in her body, Colgate thrust the weighted hand gun into the head of the purple zombie unicorn. Colgate pulled the trigger as fast as her hooves would allow, a flurry of new holes opened on the already mangled face of Twilight Sparkle. But Twilight continued pulling the terrified blue pony even closer to certain death. Twilight was practically on top of her now. Colgate closed her eyes. She fired the last of her shots at Twilight. With unbelievable luck, Colgate was able to shoot Twilight on the tip of her horn, causing the zombified mare to cease her telekinetic spell. But Colgate didn't notice, and continued to unload the rest of her clip into Twilight's face. With her final shot, Colgate was finally able to kill Twilight as her purple body fell into the mucky dirt.
The number of attacking trotters soon dwindled. And at just the right time, too. Both Cloud and Carrot Top were pushing on their last few rounds, and Derpy was beginning to grow lock-jaw from swinging that axe in her mouth. The air began to to calm once again, and the three breathed a sigh of relief. But their relief was soon taken away again, as Carrot Top realized that a certain white and blue unicorn wasn't standing with them.
"Wait, Where's Colgate?"
The three mares began to panic. Where was their friend? They began to search frantically for Colgate. Eventually, Colgate was able to call out to them. The group rushed over to their incapacitated ally.
"Holy... Are you okay Col'?" Cloud Chaser asked.
"Yeah, I just need some help getting up,"
Carrot Top picked Colgate off the ground and helped here onto her hooves. Carrot Top felt a wet patch on Colgate's back. She gasped as she saw how badly cut up her friend was.
"Colgate! What happened? were you-"
"No. I wasn't bit. I just took a nasty fall is all,"
Just as the group finally felt they could relax, a growling sound was heard behind them. It was Twilight. After all of the abuse she had taken she was still alive, barely. She was laying on the ground, crawling her way towards the survivors. A portion of her horn had been shot off, keeping her from performing any magic. The lynch still barely hanging around her neck. Her face was beyond incomprehensible. A mound of bloodied and rotten flesh. Twilight continued to growl and gurgle, as if she still posed a threat. Colgate couldn't hold back her tears. Twilight was her friend, and she couldn't handle seeing her like this. Colgate always thought she looked pretty, but now she was nothing but a pitiable corpse playing in the mud. This situation reminded Colgate of what happened before the quarantine.
Colgate had gone to the library in order to return a few books she had borrowed, and what she found inside was Twilight Sparkle in full on panic mode. As soon as the first infection hit Twilight began to prepare for the worst. Twilight had sent Spike to live with her parents in Canterlot, just to make sure he'd stay safe. The poor unicorn tried her hardest to warn everypony as best she could, but no one would listen. Don't worry, Everything will be fine. Calm down Twi, this will just blow over. Have faith Twilight, the princesses would never let anything bad happen to us... Likewise with Colgate, when she entered the treehouse-library Twilight came up to her and pleaded for her to listen. Twilight was practically in tears, even her friends began to avoid her, and no one would pay her any mind. Colgate tried to calm the her distraught friend. But she would not calm down. Colgate left the books on a nearby table, and left. That was the last she ever saw of Twilight.
This wasn't fair. How was Colgate still alive while Twilight lay in the dirt, a twisted version of her former self? Why didn't Colgate listen to her friend in her time of need? Why didn't anypony listen? Because they didn't want to believe it would ever get this bad. Colgate's entire body was quivering as teardrops streamed down her chin. She continued to stand there for a few more moments, unable to look away from the monstrosity that was once her dear friend, Twilight Sparkle. The rest of the group remained in solemn silence, and gave their friend the time she needed to mourn. Colgate knew what she had to do, she couldn't allow her friend to suffer like this.
"Cloud Chaser, can I use your shotgun?"
Slightly startled, Cloud nodded and handed over her chrome armament. Colgate bent over, and spoke a few last words to her old friend.
"I'm so sorry this happened to you. You have to know that I never wanted this to happen. I just hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me,"
After saying her goodbyes, Colgate aimed the large metal weapon directly onto Twilight's head. The purple unicorn reacted by letting out a menacing hiss. Colgate was trembling even more than before. She was practically drenched in her own sweat and blood. Colgate clenched her eyes closed. And with the single pull of a trigger, the pony that was once Twilight Sparkle was gone.
Colgate gave the shotgun back to Cloud and without turning to the rest of the group, stated "C'mon, let's see what we can find in the library. There has to be some useful supplies inside,"
Without question, all four mares entered the library.
The inside of the library was almost as horrifying as the outside. Bodies lay strewn about on tables, and cut into segments of the floor. The wood was stained with crusted blood. There were burnt out candles everywhere. The walls were riddled with bullet holes. Many of the books were thrown out and had several pages ripped out. PNI flyers were posted in large numbers upon the walls, many of which were torn up or had incomprehensible gibberish written over them. There were signs of vicious battles everywhere. But for the most part, it seemed safe.
After treating Colgate's wounds the survivors began to split up and search for supplies, which were increasingly scarce. They needed to find something, or they'd be completely defenseless. Carrot Top noted a strange bottle on one of higher shelves. The orange farm pony called over her friends.
"What is it?" Cloud Chaser questioned curiously.
"I have no idea. Here, give me a boost," Cloud did as she asked and gave her a boost up. But when she took hold of the glass bottle, she found that it was extremely hot. The small bottle burnt her hoof immediately upon contact. Carrot Top fell back onto the ground.
"Let me try," Colgate took hold of the flask with her magic and gently levitated down for her friends to see. There was an inscription on the back:
FIRE POTION
*warning*
Do not ingest the contents of this container
Do not in any way fracture the container itself
Contents are extremely flammable
"I think I like the sound of that," stated Cloud with a devilish grin on her face.
"Me too," agreed Colgate as she tucked the fire potion away in her saddlebag.
The group continued there search on the first floor for a little while longer, and found that there wasn't much left of anything for them to take. Since it was obvious that there was nothing left on the first floor, the group decided to graduate to the second floor of the library. The survivors noticed what seemed to be a sniping tower on the balcony, but there wasn't anything of worth there, not even a weapon. Once again the four mares searched high and low for supplies. Nothing. Finally they were upon the door that lead to Twilight's bedroom. Colgate breathed, and opened the door.
The room made everything else seem childish. Body parts ornamented almost every piece of furniture. Bodies were cut up with surgical precision, leaving large flaps of skin on either side which exhibited what was left of their bones and organs. Wide pools of blood were all over the floor. Even more frantic scribbling graffitied the walls. In the center they saw what would haunt their thought for a long time. The rope that Twilight was once hung from. It stayed exactly where it was when Twilight first attached it to the roof. Due to the quality of how it was cut, the rope was most likely split with a dull blade-like device. But what was on the opposite side of the room was able to catch the attention of the survivors. A military styled crate. Carrot Top and Cloud immediately ran up to it as soon as they noticed it.
Derpy remained at the door, uneasy at the sights that lay before her. But Colgate noticed something peculiar on top of Twilight's nightstand. The toothpaste colored unicorn decided to investigate. It was a book. From the looks of it it was a journal of some kind. Colgate debated whether or not she should read it. In the end she decided that curiosity overthrew common sense, and slowly creaked open the book of lost memories:
Entry I
Well that's it. I've just finished boarding up all the windows and doors. I'm not going to let anypony in or out of here until Celestia finds a cure. It's the only way to make sure I stay safe. I've decided to begin chronicling my time in here in order to pass the time. And also, Just in case, I don't survive the whole thing. If you by chance find this journal with me not around, or if I've... been disposed of, you can find a list of various supplies on pages 6, 14, 34, and 73.
Colgate flipped to a random page and began to read again.
Entry VII
I had to do something horrible today. While I was reading a book on viral infections in hopes of finding a cure, I heard a whining sound from outside. I went out to the balcony, and saw a little filly crying for her mother. I tried to get her attention, I pleaded for her to stop, but she couldn't hear me. I could already hear the infected coming. I had no choice. I took my sniper rifle and shot her in the spine. It was the only way. She didn't feel anything, I swear. At least what I did to her was less painful than what they would do to her.
Once again, Colgate stopped reading, and opened to a new page.
Entry XXVIII
Rainbow Dash tried to break in today. I heard her trying to beat down the door. She called my name. She was begging me to let her in. I pretended to not hear her. She became extremely angry. I heard her curse my name dozens of times as she tried her damnedest to break through the door. But I was a little too good at fortifying my library. Everything went quiet for a few seconds, then I heard her fly up to my window. She was even more furious as she tried to buck down my window. This was the first time I can honestly say I've been afraid of somepony. She eventually stopped bucking and just started to knock on the window. I could hear her crying. I've never heard her cry before. She apologized for not listening to me. At one point she stopped pleading all together and just began to sob to herself. But I wasn't going to let her in, Even if she was my friend. Before she left she said something strange. She said that there was somepony else out there. I didn't understand what she meant. I almost asked her what she meant but before I could bring up the courage to talk to her she already left. After that, I decided to lie in my bed and cry to myself for a few hours.
Colgate was afraid, but continued on a new page.
Entry LXV
This is bad. This is really bad. The infected broke into the first floor. I don't how. But they're in. Luckily I was able to barricade the stairway up to the second floor. For now I'm completely cut off from the rest of my supplies. I barely have any food in here And I'm running out of ink.
Colgate flipped to a new page, and noticed that the color of the ink was now red.
Entry LXVI
Good news! In a streak of genius I decided to kill a couple of infected and take their bodies into my room. With these books on anatomy I have I'm able to preserve their blood for much longer than normal. Obviously it isn't the best replacement for high quality ink but it'll do for now...
Fed up with reading this terrifying novel, Colgate went to the very last page.
Entry LXXIV
This is it. This is the end. I hear the roars of the undead perpetually. I can't sleep. I haven't eaten in weeks. They beat on my door nonstop. I can't take it. I found some rope tucked away in the corner. I think it'll do. But before I do this I need to say something. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everypony I could have saved but didn't. I'm sorry for everything I've done... I can hear a voice sometimes. I'm not sure whether I'm imagining it or not. But it doesn't matter. Soon it will all be over.
Colgate could barely restrain her tears. She knew that she could have saved Twilight. All she needed was one pony that would listen to her. But then, she noticed something strange. They're appeared to be another page stuck to the back of this one. This page was rather strange. The writing was written in some kind of gray ink, and covered the entire page:
WHerE iS Thy QueEN?
Puzzled, Colgate closed the book and placed it back where she found it. What did it mean? Who was this Queen? Was it talking about Celestia? Chrysalis? While Colgate was in deep thought. Carrot Top snuck up on her and tapped her shoulder. Colgate nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Dear sweet Celestia, Carrot! You scared the hay out of me!"
"Sorry, Col'. You've been standing there for a while. I just wanted to make sure you're okay,"
Colgate blushed "Oh. I'm sorry... I was just in deep thou- wait. What did you call me?" The white and blue mare pondered her carrot maned friend.
"It's your nickname! Me and the others decided to make you one," Carrot Top stated gleefully.
"Oh, well thanks. I guess..." Colgate smiled warmly.
"Well if you guys are done having your little tea party we better get outta here. there's ammo in that crate over if you need it," Cloud interjected.
Colgate nodded, got herself some ammo for her gun, and they set out once again to their next confrontation.
