The door slammed shut behind Applejack and Big Macintosh. Their gasping resembled the other ponies in the room who recently had given their everything to get inside this random house. Without reconsidering any other option, the red stallion quickly went for the drawer standing next to the door and pushed it in front of the now locked and sealed door. He then leaned over the heavy object to take a breather. Meanwhile, Applejack pushed aside the piece of golden hair hanging over her sweaty, warm face and looked at her friends.
“Everypony okay?” she asked without considering Rainbow Dash who sat on her knees in a defeated pose. She knew what mental pain her blue friend went through, but now was not the time to freak out and fade into thoughts of regret.
“At least... everypony who... made it back” Twilight managed to say between the heavy breathings. Her knowledge about running hadn't served her well, she was all tuckered out and nearly unable to move due to the adrenalin and stress running through her body and mind. She was just like Rarity who sat in a corner. She would have in normal cases whimpered about her torn dress, but even she knew that this was the least of her concerns. The painful thought that Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were missing was however on a very high priority.
There was a total of five ponies in the room. The ones who have made it through the harsh ordeal waiting just outside the door. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Big Macintosh. They were all wearing their everyday clothes, ripped from the casual everyday and mashed into this little group of personalities. Applejack looked at her torn jeans, realizing there was not much left of them with all the scars and stains of blood on them. She thus sat down with her back against the drawer and clenched her fists around the upper thigh parts. Her strength was enough to tear apart the jeans so she could pull off the broken pieces, shortening her pants so they only covered her most holy parts and a half inch of her thighs. She then looked at her red and green checkered shirt that was also covered with blood stains. It only took her a few seconds to unbutton it and reveal her...
“Applejack!”.
The mentioned one paused to look at Rarity who stared at her in utter horror. “Have some manners, will you? You don't even have a bra, and your brother is right next to you, for Celestia's sake!”.
Applejack tilted her head a little to the side with a raised eyebrow. “Rarity, me an' mah brother here has seen each others hides hundreds o' times befo'. He ain't fo' carin', an' I certainly don't either. But what disturbs ME is tha' you actually give a damn durin' a time like this” she countered and continued to take off her shirt, leaving her top half completely naked. Rarity sighed and rolled her eyes. “Besides... ah can't move right with a shirt if ah have ta keep bashin' the jimmies outta those things out there. Might as well jus' make a bra outta this”.
Big Mac didn't move an eye while his sister undressed. She was right about what she said. That body was so casual to him that he didn't even know how to get turned on by it. Rarity was quick to notice that Applejack had come to the conclusion that her shirt was in fact so bloody that it was impossible to use. She got up on her legs and walked over to a dresser standing in the corner of the room. In the midst of her struggle to come up with another plan, Applejack's head was suddenly covered by a light blue shirt that Rarity had dropped over her.
“Here. It's better than nothing... I suppose” she said with her arms crossed.
“Really, Rarity?” AJ asked after dragging off the shirt and looking at it. “A plain, regular shirt? Nothing fancier, minding is you an' all?”.
“It was the only thing left in the closet” she answered and turned away, believing she had made her point. It was painful to give somepony such a simple piece of cloth, but there was simply no other option. Applejack looked at the shirt again and smiled from the corner of her mouth. “Thanks, pardner”.
Rarity was about to smile and turn her head, until she heard the shirt getting ripped to pieces. She gave up and went over to Rainbow Dash instead.
While everypony tried to get their bearings and calm down, Twilight was fully occupied to understand what was going on outside and come up with a plan in order to adapt to it. Even though these weren't her standard problems to solve, like getting rid of a dragon or dismissing dozens of clones, changelings or even standing up to somepony demonic like king Sombra. No, she would have given the world to face those instead...
“Alright...” she whispered and took a deep breath before turning around to her friends. “How are everypony holding up?” she then asked and leaned a hand onto a wall. Applejack threw a quick glance at her friend while tying the shirt around her freckled chest. She wanted to sigh, but she was also aware that it wouldn't answer Twilight's question. Rarity didn't think that far. She didn't hesitate to look away from the curled Rainbow Dash and give Twilight an angry glare. Big Mac seemed indifferent to the question and instead focused on pulling down the blinds on every window in the house.
Twilight looked around once more and ended with a sigh. She understood that it was a stupid question. Everypony was terrified, of course. They believed all of this was a nightmare you couldn't wake up from. A nightmare that had coated them in blood, forced them through horrors, brought tears, cries, regrets, and in Rainbow's case... paralyzing fear. Her pupils were small even due to the dim light in the room. In those small dots, there were memories of ponies being butchered alive, ripped to pieces and devoured by monsters. Her fingers dug deep into her face, clutching onto the only realistic surface she knew of for the moment. She hadn't responded to Rarity's attempts of talking to her, nor had she used her own strength to run inside the house. If it hadn't been for Applejack, she would have been another bloody corpse surrounded by those... horrors outside.
Everypony understood. They weren't going to ask her what her problem was. Therefore, she was relieved of answering the question. All she needed was some space.
“Look... I have analyzed the situation and come up with the following conclusions...”.
Everypony except Rainbow turned their heads to the schooled unicorn.
“Some sort of plague has spread in Ponyville. Judging by the condition of the diseased inhabitants... it's some sort of virus that infects the brain and make the bearer...” she paused and discovered that even the mortified Rainbow Dash now looked at her with large, scarred eyes. She swallowed before continuing. “... turn feral. They lose all ability to reason and appear oblivious to any damage they take, no matter how crippling or fatal it may be. They... have also, sadly, a resistance to magic, making them practically immune to any sort of spell. On top of that, they quickly develop a strong killer instinct towards any other non-infected being, doing anything in their power to sink their teeth into pony flesh. Apparently, that is the only way for them to continue spreading the plague”.
Rainbow's worried expression appeared on Rarity's muzzle, as well as Applejack and Big Mac's.
“There's no point considering the elements of harmony anymore, since Fluttersh-”.
“Twilight, please don't!” Rarity interrupted with a flat palm towards her friend. Twilight looked at the white unicorn, awaiting what was so wrong with what she was about to say. Rarity's eyes were getting wet. She had the same reoccurring images for the moment. They were not easy to deal with once inside her thoughts, but now she had all the words in Equestria to justify her sudden input.
Twilight took a deep breath, shifting her eyes at the mentally wounded pegasus. “I know... but we don't have time to mourn right now. We mu-” she said right before getting cut off by the impact of violence striking her throat.
In a flash, Rainbow had swooped from her fetus position and yanked her hands around Twilight's neck. Out of reflex, she put her own, physically weaker hands over Rainbow's, fearing to get the choke of her life. A furious set of eyes burned her, a reflection of what hellish thoughts Rainbow had inside her. She was so angry she didn't know what to do, yet the reckless idea about killing her friend where she stood was dangerously intense. The others didn't have time to react before the scene already had been caused.
“How dare you?! How dare you say so about her?!” Rainbow roared. She had forced Twilight over the drawer, rendering her unable to get any contact with the floor. Twilight felt the pressure building up around her delicate neck, a warning that her next words could be her last. “R-rainbow... q-quit it!” she choked out and focused her magic around Rainbow's fingers. In a snap, they opened from the clutch and thus released her. Rainbow took a step back, still huffing out of rage. Twilight coughed and massaged her throat to get back in synch with the words that wanted to get out of her mouth.
“This is hard for all of us... not just you, Rainbow. I understand what you feel, but we must focus now, else we will all be dead. Or can you stand the thought of that?” she tried to make a point with, sadly only aggravating her friend even further.
“Don't you fucking dare threaten me!” Rainbow yelled and grabbed Twilight's wool sweater. She had a thinner shirt beneath it, sadly the other cloth Rainbow also managed to grab and pull up in Twilight's face. The others were forced to watch her raise her arms and try wrestle back the violent pegasus. They didn't know what to do. Rainbow Dash's frustration was fully understandable, but what point was there in fighting? Rarity put her hands to her cheeks and looked at Applejack who was equally locked. Luckily, the only male pony in the group knew what to do.
With a much stronger yank, Big Macintosh pulled away Rainbow, using a full nelson in order to lock her arms and neck. She flailed her legs best as she could, but she only managed to imitate a fish on dry land.
“Hnng... let go of me!” she shouted.
“Nnnope” he replied calmly.
Fully aware of her inability to fight back, Rainbow decided to stop struggling and instead ask what was on her mind. It took her a few seconds to breathe. “Then tell me what is wrong with you!” she yelled at Twilight. In a flash, the intelligent unicorn felt like pressed back into the wall again on top of the drawer. She stopped breathing. That question was something she hadn't expected to answer from the heart.
“You've been running past dozens of ponies who were assaulted by those monsters! And you didn't even glance at one of them! And now when we have a moment to catch our breath, you still go on like it's just another assignment from Celestia about homework! Don't you care about Fluttershy? Or Pinkie Pie? Us? OR EVEN EQUESTRIA?! ARE YOU JUST TRYING TO SURVIVE AND NOTHING ELSE?!”.
“N-no!” That's not-”.
Suddenly, two disfigured hands broke through the wooden wall behind Twilight and grabbed her around the neck and waist, pulling her back as another two arms broke through and groped her face. She screamed terribly in shock, sending the others into a jump scare. Moans and gurgling growls came from behind the wall, and they were getting more.
Without hesitation, Big Mac dropped the shocked Rainbow Dash and joined Applejack to tear off the ruthless hands, feeling their cold and dead skin without fur as they struggled to maintain the grip. Twilight panicked as one of the hands got into her mouth and yanked her cheek. It felt like the hand ripped it off, turning her into one of them. She couldn't do anything in the grip of those monsters.
“Drop. Dead!” Applejack shouted and broke the arm clenching over Twilight's stomach. Big Mac caught the idea and did the same to the others. Bones snapped and broke out from the cold flesh, but none of them ever quit fight back. The shoulders were still intact, thus argument enough for the mindless ones that they should continue. Once all of the arms were hanging lifelessly, Applejack snatched away Twilight and tossed her on the floor due to the heat of the moment. More arms broke out, and eventually, a hole big enough for a foal to pass through was torn open by the new hands.
Rarity couldn't fight her instinct, and thus screamed at the top of her lungs when the twisted, hairless head came from the hole. A disfigured set of teeth without lips separated to let loose a disgusting screech. Big Mac responded by throwing his arm back and then crushing the monster's face with one punch, blowing it back into the other freaks. Outside the house, several resembling monsters stood outside, trying to climb the house or banged on the walls in order to get inside.
They had all once been ponies, ripped away from their ordinary lives. The glow in their eyes were gone, replaced with an insatiable hunger for living flesh that covered their eyes in pitch black darkness. Their clothes torn asunder, their bodies naked without fur, their love and reason vanquished, every little thing that made them civilized and friendly, gone and transformed into an endless path of destruction and consuming. They all now wandered for the sake of the slaughter. And the noise inside these blockades had attracted them...
“We needa git outta here! NOW!” Applejack yelled right before turning her eyes to the stairs. Her eyes widened as she realized that this house wasn't empty. A small baby foal stood in one of the steps, starring with the same dead eyes at her. She was covered in blood and scratches, drooling the pieces of her parents. She leaped with a feral roar like a doll from a horror movie and crashed into Applejack's embrace. The tiny arms and legs flailed like crazy, trying to break free from the hindering grasp around its waist. The usually tough farmer girl was for once stricken with fear, that until her brother saw the little monster and grabbed its head from behind. He tore off the bloody foal from his sister's hands and threw it to the floor, followed by a heavy stomp from his hard boots over the head. In a gut-wrenching crack and blood splatter, the little monster was finally able to rest in peace.
Meanwhile, Twilight had gotten back her bearings and climbed up from the floor. She then looked at the breached wall, noticing the horde breaking inside, then turned her head back to discover the kitchen in the next room. She had a plan. “Does anypony have a lighter?” she asked in the commotion. The others looked like they had been caught and either shook their head or answered 'no'. Twilight charged inside the kitchen. “Keep them busy!”.
She tore out kitchen drawers on the floor and opened every locker she could find, failing to get what she needed. “Hey, Twi! Will this thing do the trick?” Applejack asked from the doorway, tossing a barbeque lighter to her. “Yes! Perfect!” she answered and caught it. Her next move was the gas pipes leading to the oven. She charged up magic from her horn to break the pipe and let the gas fill the room. However, one of the windows smashed into pieces and let the hairless creature who broke it climb inside. Twilight screamed and used the magic she had charged up as a knock-back beam, firing it at the monster's face. The magic bounced off, causing only a minor flinch to the hungry pony. Out of pure coincidence the beam managed to ricochet straight into the gas pipe, blowing it open without causing a combustion. Out of desperation, Twilight reached for one of the knives laying on the floor. And at that moment, she got another brilliant idea...
Applejack and Big Macintosh worked as a tag team against the invading monsters. They got each others backs and made use of any tool at their disposal. The tools being their fists and elbows as they shoved, pushed and swiftly disposed the enemies when possible, but their strength would run out soon. Right when Rarity was about to ask what was taking Twilight so long in the kitchen, she was answered by a dedicated Twilight.
“Alright! There's a backdoor here, everypony! Let's go!” she yelled and awaited the others. Applejack glanced over her shoulder and then used all her force in a single kick together with her brother, knocking back one of the monsters into the others once again. Rarity helped the terrified Rainbow Dash up and led her out to the kitchen. There, she was greeted with the morbid sight of a twitching pony nailed to the kitchen wall with knives piercing all its limbs and throat. It was still moving, but unable to do much more than a few twitches.
“I improvised” Twilight panted and pointed at the door. “Now get out!”.
With just a disgusted groan over the display, the fashionista ran to the door with Rainbow hanging over her shoulders, nearly unconscious due to the pressure. When they were outside, the other two ran into the kitchen and headed for the door. Applejack caught the scent of gas in the kitchen. She looked at Twilight holding the lighter with her magic grasp, understanding that they were going to run further than just outside the house, and that fast. Once everypony were outside, Twilight pulled down the blinds over the kitchen floor and closed the door behind her when leaving the house. She saw her friends making a run for it to the end of the backyard, giving her the opportunity to stand still and count the seconds passed. Applejack looked over her shoulder and saw that Twilight was about to be surrounded by the monsters that had walked around the house. She screamed out her name. At that instant, the monster nailed to the kitchen wall saw the trigger on the levitating lighter getting pushed.
The whole kitchen caught fire, causing a fiery explosion that blew up the entire room and put the rest of the house in flames, consuming everything around it as the air pressure burst out. The monsters flew out from the house, ending up on the street with fire burning their cold flesh. The shock-wave reached the survivors, blowing down Rarity with Rainbow ending up on top of her. Applejack's stetson flew off, leaving her golden blonde hair naked while staring in disbelief at what just happened. Twilight was caught in the fire, she saw that. The thought of Twilight being dead took too much on her mental strength, forcing her down on her knees in defeat.
Her hope was back the same instant she saw the magical girl come out from the smoke and fire, safely protected by the magic bubble she had created the moment before the explosion. Applejack gasped and ran up to Twilight, who dropped the shield and was in the next second embraced by the strong arms of her friend. She smiled and hugged her lightly-dressed pal back, not noticing until now that she had made a half shirt that you tie around the breasts out of the cloth she had been given. Now she was crying, cursing Twilight for scaring her like that.
Twilight couldn't deny, now when in safety, that she was... slightly aroused.
