Once, there were more than 7 billion ponies in the world.

The Pony race ruled supreme.
It's dominance - taken for granted.

I find it hard to picture that world now.

The plague was unlike anything we have ever encountered before. It came out of nowhere, spreading undetected, it's only symptom; a tiny cough. We think Patient Zero became infected in Canterlot, but we can't be sure. At the time we spotted it, 10 percent of the world was infected. Even then, we didn't take it very seriously. But everything changed when it mutated and ponies began to drop dead in the streets. It rapidly became the greatest threat our species have ever faced. Governments united in an extraordinary attempt to find the cure. But it wasn't enough. Civilizations collapsed... the plague keeps killing!

Now in the lab, isolated from those whom we tried to save, ethics and morals long gone... the cure is all that matters now! It evolved so damn fast, we are close! We just... we just needed more time...

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in medias res

"Shit, sir! Genetic instability detected!" Shining screamed to the head scientist, Paramecium. "The cure's going down! Damn it!"

"Insert more genetic stabilizers! Fend the infected off! We need more time to take care on the living! Use the cellular accelerator! Shining Armor!" he called, instantly bringing Shining towards his side. "You and me, we gonna' need to fend off these zombies. The living need help, the walls are gonna be busted! Let's move!

Shining followed Paramecium to the weapons storage to get a few guns. There was a SCAR-L, but Shining didn't understand latest Z-COM technology, so he stuck on horn-attached blasters, one that his deceased sister invented. Paramecium on the other hoof simply took a hoof-held battleaxe and a body-attachable turret. He attached the turret to his back, winced at the slight pain and configured it to blast anything that moves with a cold body signature. "Ready, Shining? Blow the damn door up!"

Shining placed a hoof-charge and planted it on the front gates. In an instant it blew, sending waves of trotting dead flying back and crashing on broken brick walls, killing a few. The horde didn't hesitate to attack at the new line of defenders and approached them in a striding speed. But they were too late, as Paramecium's turret activated and instantly shot at hundreds of zombies, sending them flying back once again and creating a pit in which most of the attackers fell at. Shining remembered his horn-blaster and activated it, and his body surged with magical power as a pulse of plasma went incinerating every single thing in it's path. But the zombies were agile, while the pulse wasn't, and they avoided it with precise quick movements, while their slow brethren at the main gates shouted in agony as their body decayed and perished.

Suddenly, a living guard got flung away, screaming "AALLIICOOORRNN‽ OMG! RUN!" The other guard stationed at the post nodded at Paramecium, and took a horn-blaster. Shining wondered who it was, since Celestia and Luna had been taken to the divine realms for safety. But his question made a very negative answer: it was his wife, Cadence.

Memories rushed back to him as he got reminded of his past happy life with his wife. Prior to the virus, he had worked as a scientist, but everything changed when his cure hadn't worked and the dead reanimated. Cadence died in the hands of her very own scientist army, although they were infected. She had begun to reanimate herself and rose, commanding the Canterlot part of the zombie horde.

Paramecium's turret tried to shoot down the alicorn, but alicorn zombies had very high magical powers and still had common sense on magical abilities. Cadence 'blinked' in and out of everywhere, constantly appearing behind guards and slitting their throat. Screams echoed as little fillies watched in horror as the princess of love began ripping guards apart with her bare hooves. Paramecium looked beside and found Shining Armor staring into the bright sky. He nudged him.

"Shining, we need your concentration! Use the horn-blaster and try to hit the damn thing! All our guards are dead and it's approaching us!" Paramecium's turret hit nine bullets into Cadence's chest, stopping her wingpower and disabling her mobile wings. Shining armor came back to sense and tried to blast the falling Cadence, but in an instance she 'blinked' behind both of them. "SHINING, DO IT NOW!"

"SHINING, SHOOT! SHINING!!!!!!"

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"James, tell me. What is that?" Whooves asked as he got a demo of the new vaccine for HIV that his lab partner, James, constructed. "It looks like a vial of feces mixed with blood. Why, Calcelmo will deny this a vaccine! Besides, you used plutonium extract on this shit! Who knows? Maybe it'll reuse the Cytopathic Reanimation symptom again! Remember? The fucking thing made ZOMBIES!"

James replied with a smirk. "I've checked every possible mutation outcome for the Cytopathic Reanimation symptom. Let me tell you. It's not possible once more. And even if we DO create another zombie plague, we have a gun to hold the spread. M60E4 with a PSO-1 scope, increased fire range, attached shotgun barrels and a hoof-held trigger mechanism. What else?" He strode over to the vial. "Look at it! It's perfect! I don't give a flying buck if Canterlot won't accept it, this is still a magnificent product!" He waved his hooves around, and accidentally bumped the vial, smashing it and pouring the liquid over an exposed cut on James' forehoof.

"James? James? What is wrong with you?!" Whooves asked as James began squirming in the floor, screaming and chanting words Whooves couldn't understand. "JAMES! Shit, James!" Whooves took the machine gun and tried to load it with a bullet, but James suddenly lunged at Whooves. He dealt a severe blow, but Whooves blocked it with the gun and bashed him with it, sending James tumbling back. An attack this weak would already be enough to kill a zombie on their last pandemic, but this time, James only shook his head for a couple of seconds, and recovered.

'BANG BANG!' came the sound as two rounds got fired from the machine gun, incapacitating infected James. Whooves sighed in relief. He turned his back and placed the gun on the pedestal, but when he turned his back again, James leapt up and made a deep cut in Whooves' croup, severely damaging him. James blood dripped onto the open wound, and Whooves screamed.

AAARRGGGH! AHAAAAAAAAAAAAARRrrghghRrrrrrrrrr....

Author's Note

Hey people! This is my third and first published story ever! I'm glad ya'll liking this story. The attack part is IN MEDIAS RES, or simply means 'starts from the middle'. Recently I've been reading both gorey, sadistic whlist being educational pandemic stories. Note: This fic is a crossover of L4D, DeadFrontier, and Plague Inc. (mostly Plague Inc.)

For the next chapter I'll be putting more descriptions of 'advanced' guns and attachments and put some medical stuff and advice, such as pandemic tips and those masks. Not just any masks: I learned some like the N95, R95, P95, N99, R99, P99, N100, R100, and P100 masks, and a PAPR. I've lately been learning these stuff from the story 'Flu Season' and constantly reading medical 'Morning Posts'. I've also planned to make this educational! Starting on chapter 2, read the author's notes incase you do NOT want to feel the same shit the CDC were feeling when James got infected.

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Uncommon typography signs:

‽ = !? combined into one, an Interrobang. Used to define surprise followed by confusion.
eg: "WTF‽"

⁂ = An asterism, or three asterisks placed in a triangle. Used to define cuts in a typed story/art.

■ = Alt Code 254, I use it to represent cuts and ends in the Author's Notes section.

◊─ = I only use these to mark the Prologue and the Epilogue parts
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