Chapter 1: Rise of The Dead
Chapter 1: Rise of The Dead
The bell rang as the foals headed into the small red schoolhouse. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo went into their small classroom as a group. They sat around each other in their seats, and started to talk to each other about random topics. As they talked, their teacher, Ms. Cherilee, walked into the room with the usual smile on her face. The classroom greeted her with the same greeting that they greeted her every morning.
"Good morning, Ms. Cherilee!" They all said in unison. Cherilee smiled happily at her students. She picked up the chalk with her hoof and started to write some math formulas on the green board. Applebloom stared at the chalk board attentively as her teacher wrote. She glanced at across the room from her side. Suddenly, Applebloom's smile faded as it turned more to a frown.
Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara looked at them, laughing and whispering into each other's ears. Applebloom looked back at the chalk board, trying to ignore the two. Their laughter started to grow a little louder, buzzing into Applebloom's flappy ears. She looked back at the pair. Silver Spoon spread out her mouth and took out her tongue. Diamond Tiara tried to hide the growing grin that spreading on her face, but was unable to do so.
Applebloom stared at the chalk board, her temper starting to rise. The laughter pierced through her eardrums. She knew it was going to happen. Her mind was going to snap if those two didn't stop what they were doing. She could already feel the insanity filling up her mind. Trying to focus on the lesson wasn't helping at all, as she couldn't hear what her teacher was saying due to the laughing and face making. The giggles, the chuckles, the laughing.
It had to stop right now.
Applebloom raised her hoof in the air. Cherilee stopped writing the equation she was writing and noticed the arm that was in the air. Concerned, she pointed at Applebloom.
"Is there something wrong, Applebloom?" Cherilee questioned.
"Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are making faces at me!" Applebloom yelled out. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara gasped in disgust.
"We would never make faces at her!" Diamond Tiara defended. "Why would we ever do that?"
Sweetie Belle got up from her seat and also raised her hand.
"Ms. Cherilee, those two are lying! They always make faces at us!" Silver Spoon got up from her seat as well.
"Why don't you shut your mouth, blank flank!" Scootaloo got up from her seat, her face red with anger.
"Don't call us that, if you know what's good for ya!"
"Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. You are all to go to the principal's office, right this insant!" Cherilee broke out, ending the arguement. The two groups glared at each other as they exited the room, snarling at each other like two rival packs of wolves. Cherilee sighed and continued with her lesson.
In the halls, the two groups continued to bark at each other.
"We wouldn't be out here if you blabbed about us!" Diamond Tiara accused.
"Maybe if you didn't start making faces at us, we wouldn't have said so!" Sweetie Belle countered.
The five continued to argue until they reached the principal's office. All sorts of stories have been made about the office, and they weren't very fun to listen to. The stories ranged from scary to outright outrageous. But even so, the five didn't know if any of them were true, but they weren't willing to find out until now. The filly's glanced at each other with worried expressions. They opened the door, awaiting for any horrors that was on the other side.
The office wasn't as scary as the stories had foretold. Rather, it was just mundane. The walls were regular white, with a mare behind a desk doing paperwork. She looked like she was completely bored out of her mind. She was filling paper after paper with information that would have bored a normal pony to death. The mare glanced at the five with a stern look. At the time, the five felt much more smaller than the desk and even smaller than anything else.
"And what are you here for?" The mare asked sternly.
"We were arguing in the classroom. Ms. Cherilee sent us here," Diamond Tiara said as apolegetically as possible.
"Mr. Bumble Bee is in that room over there," The mare directed, pointing at a door with her pencil, not even looking up from her paperwork. The five looked at the door. The door read "Mr. Bumble Bee's Office", and gave the filly's shivers.
Just like the stories had foretold, Mr. Bumble Bee did not look like a very friendly person. He was a very stocky earth stallion, and it felt as if his coat colour couldn't decide between either blue or purple. He had a short wavy blonde mane and a similarly coloured mustache. He stood behind his brown desk, only a couple of amusing toys and a pen and single piece of paper with a cheeky red face. He put his hoofs together as he sat behind his desk, scanning sternly at the filly's that were on their own chairs.
"So, let me get this straight. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were making faces at you three, and it annoyed you. Is that correct?" Mr. Bumble Bee questioned.
"Not true! They're just lying so they can get us in trouble!" Silver Spoon exclaimed, anger taking over her tone.
"Why would we lie?! That's just rediculous!" Applebloom pointed. The two glared at each other, and if looks could kill, they would both be dead.
"Girls, girls. We cannot have violence in the classrooms. Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara, they are obviously angry about something you two dead. Let's resolve this issue. Could you please apologize to Applebloom?" Mr. Bumble Bee asked calmly.
"I'm not going to apologize to liars! They're the liars!" Diamond Tiara barked.
"Look, if we-" Mr. Bumble Bee started, before being interrupted by the desk-mare poking her head through the door.
"Mr. Bumble Bee, we have a sick kid in one of the classrooms. I think you should take a look," She said quickly. Mr. Bumble Bee got out of his chair and followed the desk mare. He glanced at the filly's. "Stay here." With that, the five were left alone in the room. They all glared at each other.
"You guys are such liars," Scootaloo said.
"Whatever. We don't apologize to ponies who don't have their cutie marks," Diamond Tiara replied. The filly's glared at each other in angry silence. Applebloom looked through the open door. Beyond the office, she could hear the seemingly sick colt. Violent coughs were heard in the distance, and the sound of a liquid spraying to the ground started to Applebloom sick.
"Is there something wrong, Applebloom?" Sweetie Belle asked. Applebloom put a hoof to her mouth.
"Shhh, just a minute. Something's going on in the hallway." Applebloom listened to the sounds in the hallway. A conversation could be heard, but she couldn't make out the words that they were saying. Suddenly, a scream filled the entire school, making Applebloom gasp. It sounded like a disgruntled voice.
Mr. Bumble Bee?
"What was that?" Silver Spoon questioned. Applebloom listened more. Doors opened outside of the hallway. School teachers started to scream in a horrific tone. More screams filled the schoolhouse, and the five, stuck in the principal's office, had no idea what in Equestria was going on. The familiar sound of their school teacher was telling foals to stay inside their classrooms.
"That's Ms. Cherilee!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
"What do we do?" Silver Spoon asked in a worried tone.
"I say, we bust outta here!" Scootaloo said. Scootaloo got down from her said and rushed out from the door and into the hallways. The remaining four glanced at each other and also raced out of the office. The four met Scootaloo outside of the office. Foals were running left and right, some screaming and then some crying and bawling in the corner.
"What is going on?" Diamond Tiara asked in the midst of the confusion. Some teachers were trying to herd the scared foals to their classrooms, but to no avail. It was complete utter chaos. The group was looking around the hallways. Chaos and confusion was evident in the entire school, screaming and crying filling the hallways. Applebloom looked at a large group. She couldn't see anything, what with all the ponies surrounding something. Applebloom felt almost compelled to go towards it.
Applebloom ran off in a sprint, everypony else following her tail. Applebloom pushed through the sea of ponies and foals that was surrounding something. She saw that she couldn't go any further. She thought for a moment, then found herself crawling through the sea of ponies. Finally, she could see a little opening. A small colt laying on the floor back first. A couple of teachers were pinning him on the floor. The colt was spreading his legs out and swatting at the air. Applebloom squinted for a closer look. The colt looked as if he had a massive case of the flu. The colt screeched at the top of his lungs. Many foals put their hoofs against their ears. To Applebloom, it sounded like a creature from the Everfree forest. Suddenly, the colt bit into one of the teacher's legs, and ripped out a big chunk of his skin.
The teacher screamed at the top of his lungs, and Applebloom started to run in the opposite direction. Everypony had a similar idea, and started a large stampede of scared foals. Applebloom ran back to the group.
"Guys, we need to get in a room and lock ourselves in there. There's a crazed kid in the hallways!"
"What do you mean?" Silver Spoon asked.
"A colt just ripped the skin off of a teacher! It almost seemed like he was possessed or something! We need to get into a room or something!"
"The office!" Scootaloo exclaimed. The five went back into the office and slammed the door closed. They locked all the available locks that was on the door. The five breathed in and out from exhaustion.
"I think that should hold," Sweetie Belle said. At that moment, A bloody hoof smashed through the hard wooden door. The five fillies screamed in horror as more and more hoofs started to poke through the door. All of them walked slowly back to the corner of the room, scared out of their wits. It seemed like it was over for them.
Scootaloo got out of the corner and looked through the desk for anything that she could use. She eventually found a stapler in one of the drawers. She disassembled it and made some new adjustments. She grabbed some more staplers and used them.
"Scootaloo, what are you doing?" Applebloom asked. Scootaloo glanced at Applebloom with a wicked smile.
"I made a staple gun!" She pointed the staple gun at the door, new hoofs coming through the door every other five seconds. Scootaloo aimed through the top of the stapler, and pushed a small spring. The stapler shot out a stapler through the door and sliced through the skin of a hoof. The hand immediately retracted from the hole, and screeching could be head beyond the door, telling Scootaloo immediately that it was working.
"Quick! Get chairs and whatever to the door!" Scootaloo commanded. The rest of the group started to pile chairs and desks to the door with several smelly hoofs. Soon, the last hole was filled with the last object. Scootaloo blew the dust off of her staple gun, and set it down to the floor. The group sat around, completely dog-tired.
"This is all your guys' fault!" Diamond Tiara immediately pointed.
"Us?! We didn't want this to happen, and we would never do anything with it!" Applebloom persisted.
"You just wanted all the ones with cutie marks to get eaten by the zombies. If you guys can't have cutie marks, then no one else can, huh?" Silver Spoon jabbed.
"Stop saying that we're blank flanks!" Scootaloo yelled, with flames burning in her eyes. The group was just about to momentarily battle to the death, before the pale white filly came in the middle.
"Guys, we can't keep fighting over this! There are flesh-eating zombies out there, and we'll kill each other before they kill us! We all don't want to get eaten, so let's agree to work together until this thing is over. Then we can go back to despising each other! Is that clear?" Sweetie Belle said. The group glared at each other, then nodded. "Good, now we should wait here until help get's here. Maybe they'll be able to help us."
"Sweetie Belle's right. Let's just get some rest and we'll get some energy later," Applebloom said. Applebloom sat down on the hard wooden floor and closed her eyes. The rest of the group did the same, not before they glared at each other for the last time.
Chapter 2: Eclipse of The Dead
Scootaloo poked her eye through one of the many holes through the door. It was still daylight, but the afternoon was just about to come. As of yet, she couldn't see anything but the blood that was splattered across the ground. Although she couldn't see it clearly, Scootaloo could see the thin outline of one of her school teacher's dead corpse. Scootaloo shuddered at the thought of being dead, worse being a zombie.
"Is it clear?" Diamond Tiara piped in.
"Yeah, I think," Scootaloo replied. She took a few steps back and looked at the door. Bits of sunlight poured into the room, enlightening the rest of the room. The room relied on completely natural light. Scootaloo wondered if that would be a factor if it got dark.
If it got dark.
"Do you think we should go outside?" Sweetie Belle wondered.
"We should go find Ms. Cherilee! Maybe she's still alive!" Applebloom persisted.
"Pfff! Please! With the size of her brain, she was probably dead when the whole thing started!" Diamond Tiara snarled.
"How could you say that about Ms. Cherilee?!" Sweetie Belle snarled back.
"I mean, come on! Even though she's a teacher, she can't be that smart!" Silver Spoon teased. Sweetie Belle's face started to grow red by the minute.
"You say that again, and you'll really get something!" Sweetie Belle yelled at Silver Spoon. As they both prepared for an all-out battle to the death, Scootaloo came in between the path.
"Guys! As much as I really want to smack Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara in the muzzle, we can't let this get between us. We all want to get outta here, and we gotta try our best to do just that!" Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon backed off, but not without looking the other way.
"You know what, this isn't solving anything! If all we're gonna do is argue, we might as well just go off on our own and leave you dweebs here," Diamond Tiara said, starting out the door. "You blank flanks can just die here alone, while we survive. See you never!" They both walked out the door, laughing their seemlessly evil laugh. They walked out of the principal's office, leaving behind the Crusaders.
"Okay, guys. We need a plan," Applebloom said. The three sat in a circle, pondering the things that they could possibly do.
"Well, we could always try finding Ms. Cherilee. She must know something!" Scootaloo proposed.
"Do you think she's really dead?" Sweetie Belle pondered. The three sat in silence, playing out the possible horrific scene in their heads. Applebloom snapped out of it and rested a hoof on Sweetie Belle's shoulder.
"We can't go thinking about stuff like that. Why, Ah bet she's thinking about a plan right now!"
As Cherilee morphed into a ball and sobbed in the corner of her small classroom, the scent of a dead corpse filled her nostrils. The horrific memory played in her head once more, although only fragments were retrieved.
Mr. Bumble Bee came into her classroom. A sick colt was having a supposed heart attack in his seat. Even though it seemed impossible that little colts could even get heart attacks, they couldn't take any chances. The colt fell to the ground as his stopped beating. The teachers tried to bring him back.
But the little colt did it himself. His eyes flashed open and bit Mr. Bumble Bee and ripped out his skin. Everything broke lose after that. Cherilee couldn't do anything to stop it. The foals hid in the bathrooms, the cafeteria, and some of the foals started to turn. They started eating each other, like they were a bunch of cannibals.
They were eating each other. The thought that the students, the little foals that Cherilee loved, made her bawl even more than before. In the midst of her sadness, a tap sounded off. Cherilee sniffled and looked up to where the sound had come from. The dead corpse, which was Mr. Bumble Bee, started to twitch and shake. His arm rised in the air, giving off the sound of a low register moan.
"Oh, no..." Cherilee said under her breath. The former school president rose up from his lying position, and his eyes opened. He looked at Cherilee with grey and lifeless eyes. His mouth gaped as he crawled towards the school teacher, his ripped up arm still being able to move.
"Oh no." Cherilee got up from the corner and started to trot to the door, before another undead creature stopped her in her tracks. The mare, who also happened to be her friend, blocked the doorway. Cherilee backed away from the mare, trying to find something that could possibly be on her desk. She looked at the chalk board; along the rail was a long ruler. Cherilee grabbed it, and with a deep breath, whacked the mare with the stick in the head. The mare was knocked through the chalk board, and smashed a wall in the chalkboard.
Cherilee didn't take long to pass by the mare and run out into the hallway. Cherilee headed for the women's bathroom and busted through the door. She locked herself into a random stall and sat down on the toilet seat, to where she continued to cry.
How in Celestia did this happen?
What could be done?
The three Crusaders slowly opened the door and poked their head through the doorway. All they could see was blood on the lockers, and stacks of scrap paper lying on the ground. Scootaloo gripped her staple gun tightly, which was loaded with extra staples. Sweetie Belle had a small yellow ruler to protect herself with, and Applebloom happened to stumble upon a similar weapon, only slightly longer and made out of wood. The three stepped out of the office and tip-toed across the hallway, trying their best not to make any sound at all.
Every second felt like a minute, and every minute felt like an hour. As the three Crusaders tip-toed through the hallways, scraping sounds could be heard from every direction. They didn't know where, which only added to the fact that they were scared out of their minds. Scootaloo scanned the hallways, looking for any signs of something that could possibly jump out at any moment. They knew that one false move, it was over for good.
Finally, they found that two doors that led to the playground were unlocked.
"Guys, we can get out of here! We're save!" Scootaloo exclaimed. Suddenly, white sheets of paper shielded the outside of the doors. Scootaloo tried to push the doors, but it was almost near impossible with the white plaster on the door. "What's going on here?" Sweetie Belle pounded on the door furiously.
"Hello? Is anypony there? We're inside and we need some help!" Applebloom looked around the hallways as Sweetie Belle pounded on the door. At the next corridor to the left, a gray hoof slithered through the corner. Applebloom looked to her right, and found that through the small window on the door was a pair of undead mouths trying to get through. Sweetie Belle continued with her pounding on the door. "Hello? Can anypony hear us? Please help us!"
"Sweetie Belle, stop! You're making noise!" Applebloom shushed. By that time, it was already too late. The door collapsed and swarms of zombies ran through the door. Scootaloo started shooting staples at the undead, but it didn't seem to work at all. It only fazed them for one moment at a time.
"We're trapped!" Scootaloo exclaimed. Applebloom looked around for options. To her left was the boiler room, the room that the janitors always told never to go into, and it was always locked. Applebloom grabbed both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and rammed through the door. Receiving the message, the three started to bust open the door, trying to endlessly slam open the door. It was a very heavy door, and the zombies were nearing closer and closer as time went by. With one last push, the three bursted through the door and quickly locked the door behind them.
The boiler room was just as disgusting as the janitors described it to be. Cobwebs claimed most of the corners in the room. A single dim lightbulb illuminated the room, but it was still difficult to see. The three stopped to catch their breath. Scootaloo slammed her hoof to the ground.
"What the heck?! We can't get out now!"
"Who were the ones who plastered that stuff on the doors?" Sweetie Belle questioned. Applebloom was wondering the same question that everypony else was asking. Applebloom's ears picked up a noise. She looked in the direction of the noise. It sounded just like a little filly whimpering. There was a small cupboard beside some old tools. The rest of the group looked in the direction as Applebloom. They glanced at each other and nodded. Scootaloo gripped her staple gun tightly and moved in with the rest of the group slowly. Applebloom slowly opened the cupboard.
Silver Spoon shrieked as the Crusaders opened the cupboard. The three jumped back in surprise, Scootaloo accidentally triggering her gun. The staple whizzed through the door, and clamped on the skin of Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon screamed in agony. Sweetie Belle went to Silver Spoon's side in panic.
"Silver Spoon! What are you doing here? Where's Diamond Tiara?" Sweetie Belle questioned.
"Get this stupid staple out of my leg!!" Silver Spoon shrieked. Sweetie Belle looked around, and picked up her yellow ruler. She pinned the ruler through staple and started to pull it out. Silver Spoon whimpered as the staple pulled through her skin. Finally, the staple flinged out of Silver Spoon's skin. Applebloom bran along some band-aids and applied it on the wound.
"So, where's Diamond Tiara?" Applebloom questioned.
"We got seperated. The zombies came out from literally no where, and I hid in here. Diamond Tiara is out there, all alone with those stupid zombies," Silver Spoon explained, some tears streaking down her face. "But I'm not too worried."
"What do you mean?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Diamond Tiara was in the track-and-field championship team. She won a gold medal! I'm pretty sure she can find a way out herself!"
"I dunno. If you got stuck in here, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have too much of a chance either," Scootaloo said. Silver Spoon limped to a standing position and glared at Scootaloo.
"How dare you, you stupid blank flank! You should be ashamed for saying that about Diamond Tiara!"
"I'm sorry if you're the one who decided to walk out on us! And now look at the situation! This is all your fault!" Scootaloo replied. Silver Spoon started to talk, before a stab of pain pierced through her leg. Silver Spoon whimpered again, some tears streaking down her cheeks. Applebloom came across the two.
"Look, we can't stand here and accomplish nothing! We have to find Diamond Tiara, like it or not. On the way, we might find Ms. Cherilee and find out what's going on here! Scootaloo, You and me will go out and find Diamond Tiara. Sweetie Belle, you stay here and keep Silver Spoon!"
"Aw, do I have to?" Sweetie Belle complained.
"Yes, you do! Scoots, let's go!" Scootaloo and Applebloom gathered some supplies, Scootaloo resupplying her staple gun, and Applebloom finding a mop. They opened the door, and made sure that the coast was clear. They closed the door behind them and ventured throughout the hallways, leaving Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon. Sweetie Belle glanced at Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon looked away from Sweetie Belle.
"You feeling okay?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I'm feeling fine," Silver Spoon replied dryly.
"Don't worry, Spoon. I'm sure that Diamond Tiara is just fine."
Diamond Tiara slowly opened her eyes. She was groggy. She hated being groggy. Pain throbbed behind her skull for some odd reason. She couldn't remember anything. She tried to move her legs around to assist this pain. She found that she couldn't move any of her limbs at all. Diamond Tiara started to move her body, but to no avail. Her eyes grew wide, as she noticed that she was in a chair. Rope surrounded her body, strapping her to the chair. She tried with frustration to move from the rope, but it was firm and secure. The room itself was dark, and Diamond Tiara didn't know where she was. A scrape sounded off, making Diamond Tiara. Finally a voice broke the silence. It sounded familiar, and it was high-pitched. And annoying.
"Ooooh! We have a nice find here!"
"Ha! You got that right!"
