The Dead Trot

After his shift at the forge was over, Fletcher thought he'd drop by the library to ask Twilight how her "Raise the Dead" spell was coming along. The more he thought about it, though, the more it reminded him of the nightmare that was still reeling in his head like a sick, twisted, never-ending video tape. He shook the idea out of his mind. It was just a dream, he thought, But it is a strange coincidence that his dream would involve the undead while Twilight is working on a spell to raise the dead. Upon arriving at the library, a flood of anxiety began to flow through him, rocking him to his very core. Before he was able to knock, the door flew open into Fletcher's muzzle, revealing the lavender unicorn within.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Fletch, I didn't see you there," Twilight apologized, lending a hoof to help he friend.

Fletcher brushed her hoof away, rubbing where the door had slammed his nose. "It's okay, Twi'. I'm not hurt that bad."

"Well that's a relief," the unicorn sighed, almost as if a heavy weight were lifted off her shoulders. "I was just about to look for you. I know that you were interested in how my necromancy studies were going, so I was going to inform you that I've finally do it!" she squealed with glee, hopping up and down like Pinkie Pie after too much "sugar".

"What?" Fletcher asked, his heart now sinking rapidly as the vision he had now returned to him with a vengeance.

"I said I've done it! I've brought somepony back from the dead! Isn't it great?"

"Um...to be honest Twi'...um..." the lavender pony pulled him inside before he could finish. She brought him to the main area, the massive collection of books towered over the two ponies like a coliseum of literature. There, standing near the staircase, was Derpy. She seemed like her normal self, but something was...wrong. Fletcher felt an awful feeling in the pit of his gut that this would not end well.

"I've revived Derpy!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Derpy never died. Derpy is still delivering the mail," looking outside, they both saw the grey bubble-butted mail-mare looking back at them, then fly away with a wave.

"No, dummy, that's her twin sister, Ditzy Doo. Derpy died after Applejack got back from that rodeo in Canterlot, so Ditzy Doo took her place. So far, nopony has noticed the difference except those who were here since the beginning. Anyway, I have successfully brought her back to life." Twilight informed Fletcher, who clearly wasn't following her. He just stared at the resurrected pony in a combined look of shock.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Twilight broke into Fletcher's thoughts, bringing him back to reality.

"Oh, forgive me. I guess i just spaced out for a minute," Fletcher grinned sheepishly.

Twilight was about to let him have another lecture, when a fear-inducing howl came from Derpy. Her eyes rolled back into her head, baring her now pointed teeth, followed by a cringe-worthy neck snap as she rotated her head to look at the two ponies before her. Her gums began to bleed as her jagged teeth serrated them. Horrified, Twilight's eyes grew to size of dinner plates, her pupils shrunk down to the size of pins, and her mouth dropped open. Fletcher was horrified as well, but not for the same reasons as the latter pony. He knew now that what he had dreamed, was reality--or was becoming reality. Before he could react, Derpy darted out the library door into the town outside. Screams from the other townsfolk echoed from outside s they were attacked by the ravenous undead mare.

"What the hay just happened?" asked Twilight, still petrified.

"I'll explain later, follow me," Fletcher answered, motioning for Twilight to follow him. She quickly regained the use of her legs as she galloped behind the black colt to his shop. They ran past pony after pony, most in a state of panic, some crying, some laying on the ground, dead. They won't be that way for long, Fletcher thought. After reaching the blacksmith's shop, Fletcher forcefully opened the door that led inside. He closed the door, allowing for him and Twilight to talk in private.

"Fletch, what's going on? What's wrong with Derpy? Why is everypony screaming? Why-"

"Twi', just shut up for a minute, okay!" demanded Fletcher, his tone riddled with worry and anger.

"I'm sorry. This is just really frightening," she admitted.

"I know it is, but you need to listen to me and answer my questions. Do you understand?" asked the black colt, holding Twilight's face with his hooves now to get her attention.

"Yes, i understand," Twilight answered with a lot less worry now.

"Okay. Twilight, where did you learn that spell to raise the dead?" he asked.

"The princess taught it to me," she replied, answering with as calm of an attitude as she could.

"Why did she teach it to you?" Fletcher interrogated her, his voice growing increasingly uneasy.

"I'm not sure. She just said that it would help her usher in a new era of existance, and remove all of the impurities from Equestria."

Fletcher couldn't believe what he just heard. Remove the impurities? Would that mean what I think it means?

"Twilight, I think I know what's going on here, but it's going to sound completely insane. I think Princess Celestia taught you that spell so you could unknowingly end the entire pony race and replace them with undead cannibals." he stated matter-of-factly.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Did you get into Pinkie's sugar again?" she asked suspiciously.

"Think about it! What other reason would there be for the ruler of Equestria to teach you a spell so powerful? She doesn't want the blood to be on her hooves, so she thought that if she wouldn't do it, maybe she could trick somepony else into doing it. And who better than her own apprentice?" Fletcher ranted. His message must have been getting through to Twilight, her face was twisting from an expression of confusion into an expression of terror.

"You could be right. What do we do?" Twilight despaired.

"We need to get to Canterlot to see for ourselves," he informed the lavender unicorn.

"What about our friends?" Twilight inquired, growing uneasy from all of this talk of the dead rising.

"Yes, they can come with us, as long as they aren't infected," Fletcher said.

Before they left, Twilight had to know one more thing, "Fletch?" she asked.

"Yes?" Fletcher acknowledged, his speed of speech implying that they needed to get out ASAP.

"How do you know all of this?"

"I saw it in a dream," he answered, not sure if Twilight would still join him thinking that he was crazy. Luckily, though, this didn't affect Twilight's resolve to journey to Canterlot. Grabbing a few weapons from the shop, they dashed out to find their friends.

First, they galloped to Sugarcube Corner, where they found Pinkie Pie inside flinging cake at a now undead Mr. and Mrs. Cake.

"Pinkie, stop giving them cake!" Twilight shouted.

"I'm not giving them cake. I'm ASSAULTING them with cake!" Pinkie exclaimed as she threw a quite delicious looking dandelion cake at her attackers.

With a small sigh and a facehoof, Twilight gave one of the swords they had picked up to Fletcher. He took it in his mouth, ran towards the two zombified bakers, and sliced them apart, their bodys now just a heap of bloody, dacaying limbs on the floor.

"Wowy, Fletch! Where'd you learn to do that? Huh, huh, huh?"

"Pinkie, just come with us," Twilight ordered, her voice stern and almost cold.

"Okie dokie lokie," Pinkie replied with a cheerful grin. How she could find joy at a time like this, nopony will ever know.

Next, they hurried to Sweet Apple Acres. Arriving on the farm, they found Big Mac fighting off an undead Granny Smith. He was about to buck her to the moon, when she latched down on his hind leg with her fake teeth. Big Mac let out a yelp as he shook off Granny Smith and promptly crushing her skull with his powerful hoof.

"Big Mac, where's Applejack? Twilight asked.

Before he could answer, Applejack ran from the barn, and following her, was Applebloom, only she wasn't Applebloom, she was one of...them.

"We need to leave AJ, follow us!" Fletcher yelled.

"But, Applebloom and Big Mac-"

"It's too late for them! We need to move. NOW!" Twilight screamed, becoming increasingly agitated by their situation.

"Go, AJ," Big Mac joined in, "don't worry 'bout me.  I'll be fine."

"Oh...fine, I'll go," AJ stated reluctantly.

As they left Sweet Apple Acres, Fletcher looked back as Big Mac twisted Applebloom's neck, promptly ending her suffering, then proceeded to find a pitchfork, tie it to the barn door, and gallop into it, killing him instantly. Fletcher made sure to turn back to the direction they were running quickly so AJ wouldn't look back, too.

After they had retrieved Spike from the library after Twilight had finally remembered that he existed, the group hustled over to Fluttershy's cottage. Upon entering said cottage, they found Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash curled up on her couch in a state of hysteria. Nearby on the floor at least half of Fluttershy's animal friends, dead. They showed signs that they had turned, and all of their heads were smashed in.

"Fluttershy, Dashie, follow us!" Pinkie giggled, bouncing up and down.

"Fluttershy is in no mood to move, guys," Dash informed, comforting her heart-broken friend.

"Look, it was either them or us, Fluttershy. I'm sorry that they had to die, but we need to live, so come with us," Twilight spoke in a calm voice despite the scene laying before them.

"Um...okay, I'll come," Fluttershy whispered, sobs still escaping her throat.

They were about to leave when Spike shouted, "We need to save Rarity!"

They rushed over to the boutique, only to find a zombie Rarity feeding on her helpless little sister. Sweetiebelle was far gone, but Rarity kept gorging herself on her dead sister's flesh. Spike and Fluttershy looked away in terror and disgust.

"Fletch, you know what to do," said Twilight, showing only a small amount of sadness as she spoke. At this, Fletcher took the sword and strolled over to Rarity. She let out a spine-chilling roar at the colt. A little shaken by the outburst, Fletcher promptly decapitated Rarity and Sweetiebelle. Sheathing the sword, he returned to stand by the others, tears streaming down all of their faces now. These were two of there dearest friends, and just like that, they were gone like an exhaled breath. Just as a rose by any other name smells just as sweet, a zombie by any other name still bites, so it was an understandable circumstance. Once they regained their composure, Twilight spoke, "Alright, we're ready to leave."

"Not just yet, Twi'. I've got one more pony I need to drop by," Fletcher informed, a sly grin crossing his muzzle.

After following Fletcher for a few minutes, they came to a small house built into a hillside just on the outskirts of Ponyville. Fletcher knocked harshly on the door.

"I know your in there, Tail Spin," he called.

A loud commotion came from inside, the sound of a glass object breaking followed by several locks on the door beginning to unlock. When the last of the locks had been opened, a Pegasus pony stepped out of the doorway.

"Oh hey, Fletch. What's shakin'?

He was about Fletcher's height, and his body was also about the same build, accept Fletcher had quite a bit more muscle than Tail Spin. His white and grey-splattered coat din't exactly match his red and yellow mane, but he apparently didn't care.

"Fletcher, who's this guy?" Rainbow Dash inquired, raising a brow at the pegasus.

"An old friend of mine," Fletcher answered, "we went to school together."

"Yeah, those were some good times. We were inseparable until I joined the Wonderbolts," Tail Spin added.

"You're in the Wonderbolts?" Dash asked.

"Yep. My stage name is Stratos. I'm sure you've heard of me."

"Wow! It is an honor to meet you! Can I get your autograph?" Dashes words were a waterfall of syllables spilling out of her mouth faster than anypony could comprehend.

"Dash, you can get your autograph later. But right now, we need to get serious," Fletcher reminded her.

With a huff, Dash pulled back, disappointed.

"So, what brings you to my neck of the woods, Fletch?" inquired Tail Spin.

"You need to follow us. The dead are coming back to life and I thought that you could help us."

"I don't know. I have to be at a practice for the Wonderbolts in, like, five minutes and-" he was cut off by Fletcher grabbing him and slamming him to the ground.

"Don't you get it?! We are ALL in grave danger! Get that through your tiny, self-centered brain!" Fletcher demanded, getting louder with every passing word.

"Woah, there, Fletch. Chill out. 'Course I'll go with ya," the pegasus replied nonchalantly, still pinned down by Fletcher's hardened body.

"Thank you," Fletcher smiled, getting off of his friend, allowing him to stand back up, "we'll need all the help we can get."

"No prob, bro. What are friends for?"

Now that the group was fully assembled, they decided that they needed more supplies. Figuring that everywhere else was no longer safe, they scurried to Sugarcube Corner, surely there would be food and drink there. As they entered the bakery, they noticed that everything was still pretty much intact.

"Well, sure looks like none of those things didn't get in here," Spike remarked looking around.

They all began to search the building for anything useful, whether it be food, water, blunt objects, etc. Pinkie Pie was able to find a sack of flour, a dozen eggs, and a bag of "sugar" from Mr. Cake's "stash". The other ponies knew what it was, but didn't bother telling Pinkie. Why spoil he fun?

Nopony else was able to find anything that they really needed. They were about ready to leave when the rain began to fall. There was something odd about this rain, though, it looked...different. Twilight stuck her hoof out a window to catch a few drops. WHen she had accumulated a few she retracted her hoof to look at the droplets.

"It's...it's.......it's BLOOD!" she screamed in shock.

"Then, that must mean..." Tail Spin started.

"...that whatever this is, it's gotten to Cloudsdale," Dash finished.

Before any mourning could begin, a loud crash came from outside. Startled, everypony froze, paralyzed in fear. The crashing against the entrance of the shop continued, and over time, became stronger as more of the "things" from outside began slamming themselves against the door.

"Quick, we have to baracade the shop!" Twilight ordered.

Working as fast as they could, the team baracaded every single door and window of the store. The monsters outside were relentless, though, smashing and breaking the wooden planks that restricted them from their prey.

"What do we do?" panicked Fluttershy.

"We take out the trash," Fletcher said as he grabbed a sword from his saddlebag and stuck the blade outside a window through a crack in the baracade. The sound of steel puncturing skin could be heard as a long, drawn out moan passed the lips of the unfortunate soul outside as it collapsed. Dead.

The sight of this brought courage to the hearts of the other survivors, prompting them all to grab a tool of death and begin striking down the attackers from outside the walls of the bakery. One after another, the trotters were slain by the group of heavily armed ponies. Blood ws everywhere, both inside the store and out. The ponies no longer resembled their natural colors, but now all share the same shade of crimson on their coats created by the constant stream of blood created by the undead marauders.

After the moans ceased, everypony was silent for a minute, just to be sure that none of them were still alive. When there was no response, the living ponies started to leap for joy and laugh uncontrollably. Everypony was bursting at the seems with joy and happiness for multiple reasons, whether it was being alive, thankful that here were no more trotters outside the sweet shop, or that it was now safe to sleep, the ponies couldn't control their emotions. Fletcher ended up wrapping Twilight in a powerful embrace. Shocked by this,Twilight was hesitant to embrace him back, but considering the circumstance that they were under, she decided to return the gesture.

Everypony giggled and smirked at the sight of Twilight and Fletcher hugging, but they didn't care, it just felt so good to be alive. Once everypony had settled down for the night to get some sleep, or what little sleep that could be had at a time such as this, nearly everypony fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows, all except Twilight and Fletcher. Fletcher was wide awake, staring off into some dark abyss, falling deeper and deeper into a sort of hypnotic state of meditation. Twilight interrupted his train of thought.

"Hey, Fletch?" she asked shyly.

"Yeah?" questioned the black colt.

"I just wanted to say thanks, for what you did today. I never would have known about Celestia's true plans unless you showed up."

"No problem, Twi'. It's not that big of a deal," Fletcher replied.

"You saved my life. You saved all of our lives. I just want to say thank you, for everything."

She leaned over and kissed his cheek, still partially caked with blood. By now, the blush on the colt's face couldn't be told apart from the blood.

With a sigh, Twilight rolled back over and fell asleep.

With a small grin, Fletcher reached over and stroked the lavender mare's mane gently as he thought. Well, what now? he thought laying back on his sleeping bag. Why would the princess do this? Why Twilight? Why us? All of these question bounced around in his head like rabbits until his own thoughts and ideas put him to sleep.

TO BE CONTINUED...