Rainbow never worried about evil taking over Equestria. She relied too much on the fact that she and her friends possess a weapon powerful enough to banish almost anything. However, until those moments she spent most of her free time flying, having fun with her friends, or even reading one of the Daring Do books. Life was perfect for her, and in fact, she decided to keep it that way. All her other friends have work to do however. Twilight with her royal duties, Pinkie who babysits the cakes, Fluttershy who tended to her animal friends, Rarity working with only the finest cloth, and Applejack who worked on the farm. But Dash never cared, she always claimed that she had ‘more important things to do’, but that one day, when she got together with her friends over at Twilight’s, something strange happened. Something strange that she still could never understand up until this day. It left her in tears, scars, and blood, in the aftermath. Let’s focus, however, on the day Equestria went to hell.
“Isn’t this the best party ever?!” Pinkie exclaimed. They were having a party at Twilight’s celebrating the 5th anniversary of the Elements of Harmony.
“Meh, it could have been 20% cooler” sighed Dash. Her depressed look said it all, something was wrong.
“Is there something wrong Dash? You seemed depressed.” Twilight frowned. She was always concerned for her friends.
“No, I’m fine, it’s just, how come Pinkie Pie’s parties are all the same? I mean, yeah sure, they are fun and all, but is it possible to actually get a party from her that was different?”
“What are you talking about silly billy? I use different streamers, balloons, cakes, punch. They are all different!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“No! I mean like, different different. Like it has to be different not by the physical parts.”
“Oh, then what do you suggest?”
“Well you could first start off on the-”
Rainbow was suddenly cut off by the sound of a large splat up against a window.
“Uh, yah’ think somethin’ is wrong?” Applejack questioned feeling a bit nervous.
“It’s probably nothing, I’ll even look.” Rainbow stated as she trotted to the window shades. As she pulled back the curtains she saw a stain that was red, red like blood. She wasn’t afraid on the other hoof, but she was as she fully opened the blinds.
“GAH!” Rainbow exclaimed.
“What is it?!” Twilight immediately stated. She looked worried as only but one question soared through her mind. Yet she was sure that she was worried for her friend. Why had she let out a scream when she opened the shades?
“YOU GUYS DO NOT WANT TO KNOW!”
“Oh come on it can’t be that bad. I’m pretty sure you saw something that wasn’t re-OH SWEET CELESTIA!!”. What really was there was a pile of pony intestines. It never was common to find a body part of a pony lying around. But one thing was certain, something has gone wrong.
“Yeah, intestines, it is almost like some sort of cannibal struck ponyville.”. Dash’s voice was shaky. She never expected for something so gory to show up on a window of Twilight’s house during one of Pinkie’s parties. But when Dash opened the window and looked around she saw nothing. However, when she peeked down below her head she saw a pony eating another pony.
“It’s a cannibal situation alright. There is somepony eating somepony else!” stated Dash.
“What?! Oh, I’m n-not s-so s-sure I will m-make it!” stuttered Fluttershy. It was unclear what they could do. The victim was clearly long gone already, but it was possible this cannibal would find another victim to take down. To their surprise the victim who was dead suddenly rose up from the ground having all her organs spill out. Dash felt for sure that she was going to vomit.
“Fascinating! Zecora mentioned to me about this phenomenon. The dead coming back to life in an undead form going to find another victim to kill. But only the power of gypsy magic could do it.”
“Well for sure there has to be another reason for this! For sure nopony in Ponyville would be able to use that mumbo jumbo and for sure Zecora wouldn’t do this.” interrupted Dash.
“It is possible that some sort of virus could do it. But that certain virus was destroyed years ago. Certain toxins from a pit in the Everfree forest could start up the virus again, but nopony would dare enter that place!”
“What about Derpy, cause Derpy seems to be the cannibal, look at the cannibal’s cutie mark!”
“Sweet Celestia it is Derpy! So because of Derpy we have a zombie apocalypse on our hooves!”
“A what now?”
“Zombie. It was the name of the virus. Back then anypony who got infected would be called this. The only way to be infected with the virus is to be bitten or touch the toxins that first started the virus!”
“So how can we stop it?”
“By stopping them from infecting anypony else, but sadly they won’t stop until the kill everypony, or they are killed first.”
“How do you kill somepony who is already dead?”
“Easy, you damage the head, you damage th-”
“Ah’ don’t like to interrupt, but it seems that we are in way over our heads.” Applejack interrupted. Then Twilight and Dash looked out the window and saw a swarm of zombies.
To be continued…...
“So….that’s it? Ponyville is gone? And we are in the middle of it’s death?” Rainbow sighed. It never should have come to this she thought as she saw everypony turning on each other.
“It would seem like that, but….when did this all begin?” Twilight stated. Then that only gave Dash another moment for all the questions she had to race around her head. ‘How did this happen? When did it happen? What will happen to us? Will they notice us in here? Will we end up being the next victims?’ She knew she needed answers to this disaster. She knew for sure, that she had to get out of this mess with her friends.
“We need to find a way out…” She added.
“What?”
“We need to get out of this mess before it gets any worse! Almost everypony in Ponyville is dead and who knows how long until we are next! You said that they won’t stop until everypony in Equestria is killed or they are killed! You said it yourself Twilight, and you were right.”
“But what do you expect us to do? We don’t have any weapons, and all guards in Equestria are pretty much the only ponies with weapons.”
“Then we will make our own! Chop chop! I will not stand here and wait until we are next! As long as we make it out of Ponyville, we should be fine, or...at least I hope so.”
“Well….what are ya’ll waitin’ for? Yah’ heard her!” exclaimed Applejack.
“I can’t take the pressure anymore!” screamed Fluttershy. Dash saw Fluttershy run towards the door. She knew what her friend was doing, she was going to make a break for it and escape Ponyville to her animal friends.
“FLUTTERSHY NO!!” She exclaimed. But she was too late. She saw all the zombies go after Fluttershy, and before she knew it, her friend was being consumed. A tear started to roll down her cheek before she was startled by the slam of a door.
“Now it is possible that they know we are here.” Twilight stated in a stern voice. Then Fluttershy’s voice was heard once more, she was calling for help.
“TWILIGHT! WE NEED TO GO SAVE OUR FRIEND!!” exclaimed Rainbow.
“No! Fluttershy is long gone! We need to get out of here! She gave away our position! We stay here any longer and we will be the next victims. We need to make our own weapons and get out of here! The Elements of Harmony won’t be able to hold of those things! I know that we will miss our friend, but she has turned into one of those things! You want to go join that party then you are more than welcome Dash!”
“OOH! They are having a party?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“PINKIE! THERE IS NO PARTY!” exclaimed Dash.
“Jeez, you didn’t need to be so rude Dashie.”
~
They grabbed nearly anything they knew could be used as a weapon. Applejack decided to grab a wooden board with the nail stuck in it. Rainbow used a bat, but the others couldn’t find anything else, unlike Pinkie who always used her party cannon. They waited for every lumbering corpse to leave, but every time one would leave, another took their place. They waited hours and before they knew it, they waited a full day. Dash thought it would’ve been impossible, but it happened somehow. Then an overwhelming force inside her burst out in anger. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THIS IS RIDICULOUS! IT IS ALMOST LIKE THEY ARE TRYING TO LURE US OUT OVER TIME!!” She darted to the back door. She found a clear path to start their journey. She called back to her friends and they started out on their adventure.
Chapter 3: Embark on Your Destiny
She had the same nightmare every single night. First, she would find herself in a dark abyss. The next, a corridor would form. It wasn't like she could control herself as she began trotting down the corridor. It seem calm, nothing disturbing her.
However, after going down the corridor, the images became more gruesome. She spotted bloodstained walls with pony bodies hanging on hooks supported by chains. Her mind told her that this wasn't real, that this was all just a bad dream, but it just made her situation worse. Soon, the corpses began whispering to her, warning her to leave, but no matter how much she desired to leave, to rather go back to the dark abyss and wait for this nightmare to end, she couldn't.
She just kept on trotting down the halls, but her images became even worse. The ponies hanging soon looked different, their chests cut open, allowing their internal organs to fall out of the support of their body. Now, she knew there was no turning back. She soon regained control over her body and went back to the abyss, but as soon as she turned, she heard a voice that sounded so familiar. "Dash, help.......me." At this she turned around, only to feel a shock of fear, pain, and guilt.
What Dash saw, was her old friend, Fluttershy. Fluttershy was mutilated, her right eye hanging out of it's socket, her organs falling out of support, and her legs were rotting along with her wings. Dash couldn't believe it, Fluttershy's spirit has visited Rainbow in her own mind. It was unbelievable. However, no matter how she never wanted to see her friend in this painful, gruesome state, this is how she appeared.
Suddenly, the walls of the corridor soon fell apart, the gruesome dead pony bodies soon began to fade away in turn, and so did Fluttershy. Soon, there was nothing left but the darkness and the floor Dash was standing on. The floor was the only thing that didn't fade, or at least, that is was Rainbow believed. Then she knew it, she was waking up.
--
"Dash? Dash! Come on Dash wake up! We gotta go! The darn creatures found us!" her orange friend stated.
"Wha...what? How did they find us?"
"Well, if not for Rarity's over-reactive self...we'd have been out of this mess before it ever happened!"
"Yeah yeah. Keep you horseshoes on, I'm coming."
"Well hurry! We can't go without a friend!"
Why now? Why of all the moments left in Equestria would it be now? That's what was going on in her head. First, Equestria descended into hell, next her friend dies, later a gruesome nightmare, and of all the moments left in the dying world, why this? They moved around a lot, sure that was proven, but an undead ambush now?
Two weeks earlier.....
"Are you sure this is a good idea Applejack?" the cyan mare questioned.
"Now, ah know y'all are questionin' what ah'm doin', but yah gotta understand that I am doin'. Sweetie, Scoots and Applebloom could be in there." the orange mare stated as she pointed her hoof towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse.
Applejack turned around and walked towards the structure. It looked as if it were going to fall apart, broken corners, lots of missing planks. It wasn't safe for sure, but if Applejack knew what she was doing, it was best not to question her. The cold, unforgiving winds brushed up upon the gang. 'I wish Fluttershy was here.' Rainbow thought to herself.
"AGH!!" a voice screeched from inside the small clubhouse.
"That was Applebloom! C'mon y'all!"
As Applejack began to dash towards the clubhouse, Rainbow clenched her teeth onto the orange mare's tail. She tightened her gripped as Applejack attempted to run faster.
"C'mon! Let me go!"
"NO! I already lost one friend, I'm not going to lose another. We don't even know what is inside there!"
"Y'all know what is in there! It's Applebloom and the others!"
"Applejack, Rainbow is right." the purple unicorn interrupted.
"She IS?!" the orange mare responded.
"I am?! I mean...of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?"
Applejack shot the cyan mare a cold look and yanked her tale out of the mare's grip.
"We can't just leave 'em in there! They're in trouble."
Twilight rested her hoof on Applejack's shoulder and looked into her eyes.
"I know. And you're right as well too, but we don't expect to leave them alone. Your intentions are in the right place, you're just not forcing them in the right direction. If we were to let you go all willy nilly all over the place, we'd lose another friend."
"Ugh. Fine, ah'm calmin' down. Now, ah want to hear what you've got in the bag."
"I'm planning on going in there, slowly, and checking on them."
"Sounds like a plan. Ah'll take the lead."
"That's more like it. Now let's go."
The group slowly trotted towards the clubhouse. The sounds of the screams grew bigger as they got closer. Applejack led the group up the stairs to the front door and slowly creaked it open. The light was on, along with the three fillies being terrorized by an undead upper half of a corpse. The orange farm mare recognized the face of the creature, Babs Seed had died.
"RARITY?! SIS! PLEASE COME HELP US!" exclaimed the young white filly.
"Hold on! I got it!" yelled the cyan mare as she brought her bat down on the corpse's head once.
"I think I got hi- OH HOLY BUCK!!"
The corpse was unaffected. It simply got angrier and jumped on Dash.
"Guys! Please help me!!"
Applejack simply ignored Dash, got the fillies and dragged the rest of the group out of the clubhouse. Rainbow's heart felt like it had been cracked. She had been abandoned by her own friends. Rainbow threw the corpse against the wall and cracked it's head open with the bat. She then turned around and ran out the door.
"What..the..HAY WAS THAT?! YOU JUST THOUGHT YOU COULD ABANDON YOUR OWN FRIEND?!"
"OH... SO YOU THINK THAT WE SHOULD HAVE HELPED YOU FIRST? THERE WAS FOALS IN THERE!" Applejack thundered.
"AND NOT TO MENTION, STILL ENOUGH PONIES TO HELP ME! PERSONALLY, I THINK YOU WANTED ME TO DIE!"
"Exactly what makes you think that again sugar cube?"
"Ooooh! Look at Applejack being so smug! I saw what you did! You dragged the others out and slammed the door shut!" There was nothing but silence. The orange mare turned around, ending the conversation.
"All right y'all, we're heading back to camp. I don't want anymore trouble than we've already stirred up.
"WHAT!? HEY! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU! APPLEJACK!"
