Spike looked down from the balloon with Pinkie Pie. Below them was a mile stretch of road, decorated for the part with some broken down and busted up cars covered in rust and grass. One even had a sapling growing out of the trunk. Sitting dead center in the road was a glowing collection of runes encased in a glowing ring. These magenta markings were a portal, that could carry a pony through space and time to the twin of the origin portal. No two sets of portals were alike, as the color and markings depended on the unicorn that carved and powered it.
Wandering around were a bunch of ponies in heavy makeup, moaning and giving off blood-curdling screams every so often to play their part: zombies. They lurched around, wandering in between the cars and smacking into each other.
Spike tapped the microphone. "Is this thing on? Testing, testing, yep it's on." He cleared his throat and then began. "Alright everypony. Her royal higness Princess Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville, presents the first annual run for the hills zombie youth sprint!"
The ponies assembled below cheered wildly and stomped their hooves on the ground. Some started chanting, "Twi-light! Twi-light! Twi-light!" Some just plain out screamed. "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Pinkie Pie looked down as well. "Indeedy doo!" she chirped "This looks like it'll be fun!" Spike agreed. "Yep. For thousands of years, ponies have feared creatures shrouded in myth and legend. But none so prominent as the zompony, also known as zombies. "
"In today's run," he continued, "we have a lineup of contestants who must make it to one of the safe zones without being bitten by a zombie. They start at the portal and can run either direction to the lunar finish or the solar finish. Our first contestant will be Alula Kicker, standing for her clan. The next runner will be Sweetie Belle, and then her friends, Apple Bloom and then Scootaloo. After the fillies, come the colts running: Pipsqueak, then Rumble, then Snips. And after that, we have two special mystery guests."
Pinkie Pie stole the mike and shouted into it: "So tell me, ponies: ARE. YOU. READY?" The ponies answered: "YEEEAAAHHHH!" The party pony smiled brightly and yelled: "Then here we go!"
The assembled crowd cheered.
