Chapters Season 1: Episode 2: Baltimare
Previously, on Equestria of The Dead...
Suddenly, the banging of the wagon ceased. The biters all seemed to stop once they heard the noise. What was that? It sounded like a loud boom.
A few moments later, the biters began to just...pass right by the wagon, like they had completely forgotten about me, like I was invisible to them. Eventually, they were gone from sight, following the noise. I was completely frozen for a few moments. I would've died right there, right then, but that mysterious noise saved me.
"Hey!" a voice rang, which brought me out of my daze. I looked around to see where it came from.
"You! In the sideways wagon! What're you doing? Get out of there, now! Before they come back!" I looked up to see a radio similar to Applejack's radio, placed next to the steering wheel of the wagon. I picked up the communicator, pressed the button, and spoke into it.
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Dumbass, did you hear me?! GET. OUT. NOW!!"
**Equestria of The Dead
Created by: Thunder Ice
Episode 2: Baltimare**
"Let me see that," another voice emerged from the radio. A moment of movement occured, but once the sounds ceased, the voice spoke up again.
"Hey, in the wagon. You okay?"
I was frozen for a minute again, but quickly shook myself out of my daze and replied to the voice in the radio.
"Yeah, hello? Who is this?"
"Not important right now. You need to just focus on getting out of there. Now. The Walkers are only attracted by the noise for a short amount of time. In minutes, they'll be surrounding the place again. Grab whatever you can and go into the alleyway at the left. Got it?"
It took me a moment to get it through my head, but I did what he said and got all of my supplies ready. I grabbed my satchel, Applejack's hat, and I began to climb the wagon to the right side door. It took a few kicks, but with enough force, I managed to open the jammed door. Unfortunately, when I kicked it, I slipped downward, but caught my hoofing...on the horn of the wheel.
Upon landing on the horn, I caused it to generate a noise that echoed in the air. I quickly took it off and froze. I then looked to the area where the Walkers had left. I stared at the area a few seconds. Then I continued what I was doing before. I grabbed the sides with my hooves, then slowly made my way out. I rolled on my back and rested there for a moment.
The radio crackled again, and the voice spoke.
"Hey, this isn't the time to relax! With the noise of that horn, Walkers will be swarming the place. You need to keep moving!"
I listened to him. Slowly, I rolled my way to the edge of the side. I then fell off, but landed safely on my hooves. I looked to my left to see the alleyway. I began to walk towards it, but then I heard a noise. A scream.
"Help me, please!"
The voice sounded like a mare, but not the typical mare. It sounded higher. I looked to the right, near the middle of the street to see a filly, wandering aimlessly, scared. She couldn't seem to see me.
"Please!! Anypony!! Mommy! Daddy! I'm scared!!"
I didn't know what to do: leave the filly, or help her.
That was when I heard the voice from the radio again.
"Shit, Walkers!"
I looked to the far left, and saw the Walkers from before returning. They began to wander near the wagon, but they soon heard the voice and spotted the filly in desperate need. That was when I made my decision. Quickly, I bolted to the filly as fast as I could. Once I reached the filly, I picked her up and placed her on my back.
"Hang on tight!" I said to her. Quickly, I bolted back to the alleyway as fast as I could, while the filly wrapped her tiny forelegs around my neck and held on tightly.
When I reached the alleyway, I looked to where I was to see the Walkers quickly trotting towards me. Not looking back, I bolted down the alleyway, ignoring the stench of death that filled my nose as I ran through it. I began to reach the end of the alleyway, where a metal door greeted me. Suddenly, as I reached it, the door swung open, and a pair of hooves grabbed me and dragged me in.
Once I was inside, the metal door shut tightly behind me. I looked to see two stallions blocking it with large boxes. Seconds later, there was muffled banging from outside, followed by the growling and snarling of the Walkers. Safe for now, I took deep breaths. Suddenly, I felt the filly on my back slowly tighten her grip on my neck, and I could hear her whimpering silently.
"You okay?" I heard a voice say to me. I looked up to see a dark green stallion with a gray mane looking at me.
Still catching my breath, I just nodded to him. He then looked behind me to the filly.
"You okay, sweetie?" He asks to her. She nods and whimpers again.
"I-I...couldn't f-find my m-mommy or d-daddy..." she says, her voice shaky.
"Those big bad monsters didn't get you, did they?" The stallion asks.
"N-no."
"Here," he then grabs the filly and puts her on his back, "let me get you something to eat. You must be hungry."
"Uh-huh."
They head into another room. I then look back to the door as a stallion places one last box on top of his makeshift barricade.
"It's not that good," he pauses, "but it'll hold...for now, at least."
He then notices me and starts, "Listen, thanks for saving that filly out there. If it wasn't for you, she would've ended up like one of those...things out there."
I nodded, agreeing with him. After a few seconds of silence, other than the constant noises of the Walkers, he holds out his hoof to me.
"Star Burst," he introduces himself.
I look down to his hoof. I smile, then shake his hoof, and introduce myself.
"Lightning Flash."
Suddenly, the stallion stopped.
""Lightning Flash"?"
"Yyyeah. What about it?"
"Wait a second..." The stallion pointed at me a few times, "You're that stallion that mare's always been talking about. What was her name, I always forget...uhh, Rainbow Dash! That's it!"
Rainbow Dash? I remembered back to the picture. That cyan colored mare?
"Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah. Why, you know her?"
"Well...kinda. Is she...alright?" I asked with a bit of worry in my voice.
"Pfft. Yeah, she's fine. She's in the other room," Star Burst replied and pointed to the doorway where the other stallion went.
"She...she's here? Right now?"
"Yeah. She actually found this place last night for us. We were gonna leave once the coast was clear...but, the little event from before kinda...delayed that, sorta."
"Yeah..." I said awkwardly and scratched the back of my head, "Sorry about that..."
"Don't worry about it."
Suddenly, a box fell from the stack and on top of Star's head, causing him to flinch a bit. Rubbing his head, he picked up the box, placed it back on the stack, and banged on the door a few times, causing no effect on the Walkers.
"Hey, knock it off out there!" He then looks back to me, "Pfft...Walkers." He then started to chuckle. I chuckled with him. A few moments later, he changed the subject.
"So, tell me...where were you a month ago when everything went down?"
"Hospital," was all I could reply.
His eyebrow rose. "Hospital? Were you a doctor or somethin'?"
"No. I was in a coma."
"Coma? When'd you wake up?"
"Well...yesterday."
"Yesterday?! So you've been out the whole time the shit hit the fan?"
I nodded at the question. "Uh huh. But the worst part of it is...I couldn't remember anything. I woke up with no memory, at all. I eventually found out my name and a few other things, but...that's as close as I'll get to remembering anything about me."
I then sighed. Suddenly, Star put a hoof on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I had a friend...years ago, that had the exact same problem as you do, only without the dead walking around. He woke up from a coma after 6 months...with no memory of anything about him or his friends. Nothing. The doctors said he might never recover his memory, and that it'd be best to just support him the whole way."
Star stopped and looked to the floor.
"I thought I was never gonna be able to see my best friend the same way ever again. Suddenly, a few days later, he walks into my house, and starts talking to me. Says, "Hey, Star. Ready to head to the Best Flyer Competition?" He didn't even know what that was the other day. I then start asking him if he remembered anything from the past few days. He says a few days ago, we were at the cafe, talking about the competition. But we started talking about that before his coma! We then headed back to the hospital, and the doctor said he's fine. Nothin' was wrong with him or anythin'. His memory was back and everythin', like nothin' happened."
He then was silent. A few moments later, he looked to me.
"So you never know...it might come back on its own, maybe not. The mind works in mysterious ways, so...you never know."
I then took his words into consideration. I then smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Star."
He then smiled back to me.
A few minutes later , we headed into the other room, where the rest of the survivors stayed. There was the stallion from before, holding the filly and giving some food to her; another stallion with, who I assume is his wife and daughter; a mare who was shaking back and forth in a corner, whispering, "I'm safe in here. They'll never get me in here, right?"
There was also a colt, laying comfortably next to his mother, who was smiling sweetly down at her son. I can only imagine what must've happened to her husband. Then there was the mare from the picture. Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow Dash?" I called out. The mare looked up, and she just froze. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped.
"L...Lightning?" She managed to get out. She then slowly got up from the seat she was sitting in, and slowly began to approach me. Once she was close enough, she began to examine me, like I was something from another world.
"It...can't be you. It just can't. I...I have to be dreaming...Is it really you?".
"...Surprise, surprise?" I asked then chuckled.
Rainbow didn't reply. She just continued to observe me like some strange creature. She then opened her mouth slightly, as if to say something, but then a noise startled everyone in the room. We all turned to the room where I was just in. We saw the boxes barricading the door fall down, allowing the door to open freely, as the constant banging broke the lock. Within moments, countless Walkers began to pour into the other room.
Acting fast, I ran to the door of the room we were in, and quickly shut it. I then locked it and quickly looked around the room for some objects. I found a bookcase. I then ran to it and began to pull it. Unfortunately, it wouldn't budge.
"I need some help here!" I yelled.
Quickly, Star Burst ran to the other side of the bookcase and began to push forward. Finally, the bookcase moved forward, or I guess in my position, backward. We placed the bookcase in front of the door, then got in front of it and pushed it so that it touched the door. Just as we did that, the Walkers began to bang roughly at the door, trying to get in. Luckily, since the bookcase was extremely heavy, I don't think they'll be able to bust that down anytime soon.
I panted, trying to catch my breath.
"We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die..." The mare in the corner began to say repeatedly.
"Mommy, I'm scared! What if those monsters get in?" The young colt asked his mother.
"Don't worry, honey. They won't get in..." The mother looked up to me. "...will they?"
"No. We're safe as long as this bookcase holds," I replied to her.
"How else are we supposed to get out of here?" The green stallion from before asks.
"Why don't we head to the roof?" Star Burst suggested, "We can look around the place from the rooftop."
A few moments later, Star Burst, Rainbow Dash, and I were on the roof. The building was very high, close to 20 stories. We could see for many blocks across the city. Below, in the front, we could see the toppled wagon I arrived in, and all around were countless Walkers, just shambling around the road, some even walking into the alleyway.
"Rainbow, how 'bout you fly around and see if you spot something? Lightning and I will check on the street in case they migrate," Star suggested to Rainbow.
"Got it," Dash replied, then flew up into the air, beginning to look around. I looked at her as she flew around the place, until Star spoke up.
"She's a beaut, isn't she?"
I stuttered for a moment. "U-Uh...yeah, I guess."
He chuckled for a moment, before asking me, "Why don't you ask her out? I mean, even if you don't really know her, she knows you. It'd be fine."
"Actually...I'm...already in a relationship," I replied slowly.
"With who?"
"This one mare...actually, she's Rainbow's friend. Her name's Applejack, from Ponyville. She lives at Sweet Apple Acres. Maybe you've heard of her?"
Star put a hoof on his chin for a moment, before he replied. "Oh yeah. I know her. Although, I only went there one time to buy some apples and even try out their cider. I did want to go back there again, but then...you know."
I nodded, agreeing.
"But," he then began, "that's a bit of a shame for Rainbow."
I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
He looked in the direction where Rainbow was, then spoke again, "Well, 'cause she's had a crush on you for a while."
"Huh?" I said in surprise.
"Yeah. Before the city got overrun, she's told me many things about you. She even told me about this one time when she went to go get you for cider season in Ponyville, and you were sleeping. So she carried you there, and she said on the way, you started talkin' dirty to her in your sleep, and you-"
Suddenly, a loud bang echoed throughout the place. We looked in the direction of the sound and saw Rainbow flying back to us at a rapid speed. Suddenly, something pierced her left wing, causing her to cry out in pain and spin out of control.
"Rainbow Dash!" I yelled as she flew towards us. A few moments later, she flew right into me, and I landed on my back, holding Rainbow tightly.
"Are you okay?" I asked. Rainbow whimpered a little and moved her wing up. There was a small hole in it.
"A-Ah!" Rainbow cried out in pain. Tears quickly began to fall down her face.
"Who got you?" Star asked her. Rainbow looked up at him.
"Bandits."
"Shit," was all that Star spoke.
"Bandits?" I asked.
"Assholes who kill anypony they see. Show no mercy. About 4-5 of them came here last night as the place got overrun. Must've gotten separated, I guess."
Star opened his mouth to say something else, but Rainbow's moans of pain stopped him.
"C'mon, let's get her down to Doc Rain."
"Who?"
"That green stallion downstairs."
"Wasn't he the one who called me a dumbass on the radio?"
"Yeah. You'll get used to that eventually," he says, chuckling a bit.
I then carefully pick Rainbow up and place her onto my back. I then started to turn to the door, but not before Star stopped me.
"Lightning, wait a sec," he speaks to me. I stopped and turned around to see him standing at the edge of the building.
"What?"
"Look."
I walk towards the edge of the building and look down. The Walkers below begin to walk in the direction of the sound. The most came from the alleyway.
"Holy shit, they're leaving," Star says in surprise.
We looked in surprise as the Walkers left suddenly. We quickly knew this was a result of the sound. Sound attracts them. That's something I should keep in mind for the future.
"S-So...now what?" Rainbow says to us.
"We'll get you to Doc Rain, then we'll go out and hopefully find a way out of here," I said to her.
Rainbow nods, smiling at me, before moaning in pain once again. Finally, Star and I begin to head downstairs, being careful not to bump into anything. Once we reach the bottom floor, we open the door and head to the couch. The mother and son quickly move once they see us with Rainbow. We thank them quickly and set Rainbow down on the couch. Doc Rain comes over to us and looks at Rainbow Dash before turning to us.
"What happened?" Doc Rain asked.
"A bandit shot her from one of the rooftops," Star replied.
"Will she be okay?" I asked.
"Yes, she'll be fine. I just need to sew up the hole."
"What...did they shoot her with?" I ask.
"A sniper rifle," Star replied.
"What's that?"
"A very powerful object that can shoot tiny projectiles amazingly fast. Some say these projectiles are fast enough to pierce the head kill even the strongest creature in Equestria. These things are...well, were hidden from the public. Some survivors, including the bandits, found some in Canterlot after it got overrun 2 weeks ago."
"Then I guess we'll need to be careful, then," I said, before heading to the door and pushing the bookcase out of the way.
"What are you doing?" The colt's mother asked with a little worry in her voice.
"The sound of that rifle attracted Walkers. The outside is completely deserted, other than the wagons and bodies."
I then stopped talking, and slowly opened the door. I peaked my head out and looked around. I was right. The coast was clear. I then walked out, and Star followed behind me.
"We'll be back. I promise," Star said to the others.
"You better," Rain replied.
Star nodded before closing the door behind him. He caught up with me and we both headed to the door. However, I heard something and quickly stopped him. I put a hoof up to my mouth, signaling him to be quiet. I then slowly snuck to the door. Once I reached it, I peaked my head out. Luckily, only one Walker was slowly shambling, trying to follow the horde that had left a while ago.
"I got this," I whispered.
Slowly, I took out the knife from my satchel. I quietly snuck my way towards the Walker...until I stepped on a piece of glass, causing it to crack. I winced at the sound.
Slowly, the Walker turned to face me. It was a stallion, who growled and snarled at me, before quickly shambling towards me. As he got to me, I raised my knife up, then dove the blade deep into the head of the Walker, causing it to become instantly silent. Some blood had squirted, but I turned away before it could get in my face. Quickly, the Walker became as limp as a ragdoll, and fell to the ground. I then turned to Star and motioned him to follow me.
After a few moments, the two of us were on the empty streets, aside from the countless wagon wrecks and dead bodies. Usually, if there were 5-6 of us, we would've split up to cover more area, but since there were just 2 of us at the moment, we stayed together. We walked across the road, sometimes walking over bodies. Luckily, these had holes in their heads, possibly from those rifles.
Star and I stood in an intersection, which led to three paths. The two of us looked down the road Rainbow went down. In the distance, we could see countless Walkers limping and shambling into a building, possibly the one with the bandits in it. We stopped focusing on that and continued walking around for a shortcut out of here.
As we walked, I happened to step on something metal. I looked down to see a round metal door at my forelegs.
"Where does this lead to?" I asked.
"Leads to the city's sewer system," Star replied to me.
I reached down to the metal door, and began to pull. Surprisingly, it wasn't extremely heavy, but it was definitely heavy. I lifted it out of its resting place and set it aside. I then took a peak below. A horrifying stench filled my nose, but it wasn't anywhere as horrible as the smell of a dead body.
"What if we can use these to find a way out of the city?" I asked.
Star then facehoofed himself.
"Why the fuck didn't we think of that sooner?" He exclaimed in anger, but not too loud.
Suddenly, we heard distant screams. We looked in the direction of the screams. We then looked to the rooftops. We couldn't really see much, mostly because of how distant we were, but at one building, we could see a stallion screaming. To get a better view, Star took out some binoculars from his satchel and looked up close.
"Look," Star said as he handed the binoculars to me.
I grabbed them and looked to the rooftop. What I saw was terrifying. The stallion was being grabbed by a few Walkers as others began to rip into him. One of the Walkers grabbing him managed to rip his arm off, causing him to scream in agony. Suddenly, with Walkers still grabbing at him, he limped slowly towards the edge of the building, dragging the Walkers with him.
"Fuck you, motherfuckers!!!" He screamed, then with little force, jumped off the side of the building, taking the Walkers with him. I could hear a faint thud and splat. I could also see blood splattering everywhere. On the rooftops, I saw a few more Walkers slowly limping to the edge, then fall off as well.
"We're running out of time. Let's get the others and go," Star said.
I just sat there, still looking through the binoculars, watching as the Walkers below eat whatever was left of the bandit.
"Lightning, come on, we have to go!" Star nearly shouted, which brought me out of my shock. I then turned back to him, nodded, then we both headed back into the building.
As we entered the place, we could see that Rainbow's wound was treated and bandaged.
"She's fine," Doc Rain said. "Wound'll heal up within a couple weeks."
"As long as she's fine, that's good," Star said, before heading to one of the couches and grabbing a few things, possibly his extra supplies.
"What're you doing?" Rain asked.
"We found a way out of here."
"Really now?" Rain asked in surprise.
"Yes. There's a sewer pothole in the street out there. If we go through it, it could possibly lead to a way out of the city."
"'Possibly' ain't really gonna cut it for me."
Star then walked up to Rain and looked at him.
"Dad...it may be our only shot to make it out of here."
Wait..."Dad" ?
"Mom told us before she died last night that she wanted us to get out of here. This may be our only shot. We can't get out any other way. The whole city is littered with Walkers."
Rain was in a state of thought for a moment. Finally, he came up with an answer.
"Okay, son. Let's go."
Finally, Rain got up and began to grab his backpack. Star got up and said to everyone, "Everypony, get your things! We're leavin' in 60 seconds!"
After he said that, everyone in the room began to pack whatever they had. All except the mare in the corner. She just continued to rock back and forth.
"Berry Shake, c'mon. We have to go," the stallion with the family asked.
She didn't reply to him. Instead, she just laughed insanely, like a maniac.
"W-We're all gonna die. There's no point anymore. Why not just give in? Let us become one with the dead. L-Let us join Bean Bag and Vanilla Blossom." She laughed insanely once more, rocking back and forth faster.
The stallion was about to say something, but Rain stopped him.
"Wind...she's too far gone," he said to him.
"But we can't just leave her here! We've already lost 2 ponies! I don't want to lose another!"
"There's no point, Wind. Let's just go. C'mon!" Rain then headed out the door. Wind looked back and forth at the door, then to Berry Shake.
"Dammit! I'm so sorry!" Wind says to Berry, before grabbing his things and heading out the door. Unfortunately, he went out too fast and forgot to shut it.
Back inside, Berry laughed crazily once more.
Wind then exited the door and through the alleyway. He could then see the others, who were already beginning to head downward into the sewer. He then looked up. That's when he froze. A numerous amount of Walkers were surrounding the perimeter...and quickly heading towards him.
"Wind, hurry up!" Star yelled as held the round door. Just then, another young filly squeezed through the hole.
"Daddy!" She shouted to her father, bringing Wind out of his trance. Quickly, he sprinted as fast as he could to the hole. Star and the filly moved down to make room for Wind. Wind quickly climbed down the ladder, but not before shutting the door. But as he reached out to grab the door, an enormous pain erupted in his right hoof, causing him to scream out in pain.
He looked up. A Walker was biting into his hoof. The Walker then lifted his head up, tearing a chunk of Wind's hoof off, and allowing Wind to pull the door to cover the hole.
Once it was shut, Wind quickly climbed down, and his wife screamed in shock.
"Dear Celestia, what happened?!"
"One of those fuckers bit me!" Wind yelled in pain, grabbing his torn hoof.
Wind's wife's eyes widened.
"B-but...I thought that bites...killed you," she whimpered, her voice shaky.
"They do. Just not for a while, maybe...10...12 hours?" Rain replied.
"Can we stop the infection?" Wind asked in fear.
Rain sighed. "No. That is...until you cut the infected area off."
Wind's eyes widened. "You mean like "amputate" cut it off?"
"Well...yeah. There's really no other meaning for it."
"No way! I'm not letting you cut off my foreleg!"
"Would you rather live with one foreleg, or die with both?"
Wind was about to speak up again, but he stopped. He realized there was no other way. He was either going to have to lose his foreleg, or lose his life. He finally made his decision. Slowly, he held out the infected hoof.
"Just...do it quickly."
Rain looked at him, as well as the rest of the group.
"Before I do..." Rain paused, then took something out of his satchel. It was a syringe.
"What is that?" Wind asked, looking at the substance within the syringe.
"Anesthesia. The local kind. That way, your whole body doesn't numb up. Getting your foreleg cut off's gonna hurt like Tartarus, but this will prevent that."
Rain aimed the needle above the arm, where the cut would be. He inserted the needle, and released the liquid within the syringe, until it was empty. He waited for close to half a minute, which was about the time for it to completely take effect.
"How does it feel?" Rain asked after the time was up.
"I...can't feel my foreleg." Wind tried to move it, but failed. He tried to raise it, but due to its numbness, he failed. He slowly balanced on his hind legs, and held it up past the elbow with his left hoof.
"Alright...ready?"
Wind was silent for a moment, then replied, "...Yes."
"I'm sorry I have to do this, Wind."
"Don't be. Just do it quick, alright?"
Rain nodded, then took out a hatchet from his satchel. He placed it into his hoof. Then slowly, he raised it up. However, before he began, he looked at all of us, then set it down.
"...If any of you easily get sick...look away."
He then turned to Wind's wife.
"Don't let her look."
Wind's wife nodded and covered her daughter's eyes. Rain then turned to Wind once again, and raised the hatchet.
Finally, with enough force, he dove it down, deep into Wind's foreleg. However, Wind didn't scream. He didn't feel the pain. He just looked away, not wanting to see the sight before him.
The chop squirted blood outward, getting on Wind and Rain. The others were out of range. Rainbow Dash stood right next to me, looking a little disgusted seeing the sight. I looked at her with a little bit of worry.
Just then, Rain raised the hatchet and dove it down into Wind's foreleg again, getting it halfway. By then, Wind's foreleg was sort of hanging downward. More blood splashed out of the wound.
At this point, Rainbow couldn't couldn't take it anymore. She turned away and vomited onto the ground. I then turned around, having her on my left. I then put my left foreleg on her back and gently rubbed it up and down. Her fur felt so soft. Just like...Applejack...
"It's okay, Rainbow," I whispered to her. I continued to rub her back while I waited for her to let it all out.
Behind me, I heard one last chop, then a huge splash. I turned around to see the foreleg was finally cut off. Wind was examining the spot where his foreleg was just seconds ago.
"The anesthesia's gonna wear off in a couple hours. It might hurt...a lot," Rain said.
Wind breathed in and out for a moment, then nodded before stepping back down onto all threes. I then looked back to Rainbow, who was just coughing up tiny pieces now.
"You alright now, Dashie?" I asked with a little nickname.
She nodded a bit, before wiping her mouth.
"Sh-Shouldn't we get going?" Rainbow then asked the group.
"Right," Star replied to her, "We should. Let's go."
Star then walked by everyone. Once he did, everyone else followed behind him. Wind, however, was behind the group with his wife, who was helping him balance, and his child.
"W-Wait..." Rainbow then said. Everypony stopped and looked at her.
"Where's Berry Shake?"
Rain look at the back of the group to Wind, who was looking back.
"She wasn't coming. She was too far gone." Rain then sighed and continued forward with his son.
Rainbow then frowned deeply. Just then, I saw a tear fall down her eye. I knew that she cared for the mare.
"Hey," I said to her.
I stepped in front of her and wiped the tear from her face. She smiled back at me, then stared at me for a moment, before giving me a hug.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she then whispered to me.
I smiled, then hugged her tighter.
"Hey, c'mon, you lovebirds!" Star then yelled to us, causing Rainbow and I to blush slightly. I looked at Star and could see him smirking, before turning his head back.
"Y-yeah, he's r-right. We should go," Rainbow stuttered a little.
"Right."
We then started walking forward, catching up with the group. As we walked, Rainbow leaned her head on mine. I have no idea how I'm going to tell Applejack about this...
Back on the surface, in the building where the others had taken refuge, Berry Shake was still sitting there, talking to herself and laughing mechanically. As she laughed, she looked around the room. Everyone's supplies except for hers were gone. She then looked towards the door. It was still open slightly.
She continued to observe it. Suddenly, a hoof appeared through the shadows behind the door.
"Ooh! Who is it? Bean Bag? Is that you? Oh, you silly pony! Please, come in, come in! Don't be shy, now!" Berry said.
Slowly, the pony behind the door entered after Berry spoke. It slowly started to move towards her.
"Bean, are you alright? You don't look so good. Where is that pony Vanilla Blossom! I'm sure she can help you!" Berry then smiled creepily.
The pony still did not respond to her. Instead, it began to wheeze and snarl and even shamble towards Berry. Just then, another pony came in through the door. After that one, another came. Then another. And another.
"So much company, hahaha!" Berry laughed mechanically once again.
"Come on, why don't you come out of the shadows, everyone? No need to hide your faces! Here, lemme help you!"
For the first time since last night, Berry got up and headed to a light switch. She then flicked it on and turned around to see the ponies entering the room. Her eyes widened, but she still kept a creepy smile. The ponies entering the room were indeed Walkers, none of them she knew. They smelled of death and decay, parts of skin and fur hanging off their decomposing bodies. All of them were shambling quickly towards Berry. Berry then laughed insanely, her left eye twitching madly.
"Come in, come in everypony! There's lots to go around!!" Berry exclaimed, then opened her arms, like she was welcoming the Walkers, which she was.
After a moment , a few Walkers pounced on Berry and tackled her to the ground. Berry, however, didn't seem to care at all that her life was going to end. The only thing on her mind was Bean Bag and Vanilla Blossom.
But even though she lost her mind, it didn't mean she couldn't feel the pain. Soon enough, Berry's insane laughter became nothing but screams of agony and pain as the Walkers began to bite and tear into her body, ripping out organs and feasting on them.
Soon, within seconds after being torn into, Berry's screams and cries of agony became whimpers. She slowly began to close her eyes. Then soon enough, it was silent.
After a few minutes, the Walkers had left, done with their feast. All that was left was chunks of organs here and there, as well as the hollow body of a mare who was alive only minutes ago.
Then suddenly...her eyes flashed open, glowing red, with a mixture of green in it. Soon enough, Berry began to wheeze and snarl.
Berry Shake had become a Walker.
Slowly, she began to get up from her resting place, wheezing as she did. Once she was up, she began to look around, like she was examining the place. Her head twitched slightly, and she snarled. Then she spotted the door. Slowly, she began to shamble to the door, but as she did, she bumped into a satchel that belonged to her, causing the satchel to fall over. As it did, a picture came out, cracking a bit as it landed.
The sound of the crack caught Berry's attention. She turned around and looked down to see the source of the crack. Slowly, she managed to lower herself to examine the picture.
It was a picture of her and a cyan mare, with a rainbow colored mane. She cocked her head a little, wheezing a little. She then looked to the corner of the picture, where it showed the date the picture was taken: 7/16/12. Just 5 months and 5 days before the outbreak.
However, since Berry was a Walker, the picture no longer mattered to her. But she kept the vision of the rainbow mare in her slowly decaying mind.
She then began to walk away from the picture, and left the room through the open door. Once she did, she passed through the storage area, and past the fallen boxes on the ground. She left through a second door, into the alleyway. She began to shamble through the alleyway, shambling past the dead Walkers on the ground, which she looked at, snarled, and shambled away.
Finally, after a minute, she finally made her way outside of the alleyway, where she joined the endless army of the walking dead. She walked into the middle of the intersection.
Just then, she began to hear something under her. It sounded like a voice. She looked under her to see some kind of machine. Even though she was dead, she could still remember that this was called a radio. The radio seemed to be surrounded by glass. She looked in front of her to see a crashed wagon in front of her. It was tipped sideways, with a hole in the windshield. The decomposing body of a stallion was halfway through the windshield, with what appeared to be a bird picking at it.
Berry then looked back to the radio to hear a voice speaking in it.
"To all radio broadcasts out there throughout Equestria listening to the sound of my voice, this is Dr. Rain Burst, from the Baltimare Refuge Center. If you are planning to head to Baltimare, cancel that. Baltimare has been overrun. I repeat, Baltimare has been overrun by the Walkers. Do not make any attempts to enter the city. I'm with a group of 10, myself included, trying to escape through the Baltimare sewer tunnels. If you are listening to this broadcast, do not enter Baltimare. The city is lost. I repeat, the city is lost. Dr. Rain out."
After listening to the message, Berry snarled at the radio. She then raised her hoof and slammed it down onto the radio, smashing it into pieces. She then lifted her hoof up to observe it. There was glass dug deep into the hoof, with blood running down her foreleg. However, she felt no pain, therefore, it didn't matter to her. She then set her hoof down back onto the ground, causing the glass to dig deeper. Still, she did not matter.
She then slowly began to turn around, then looked down to see a pothole in the road. Slowly, she shambled towards it, reached to it, and began to pull. Surprisingly, even in death, she still managed to lift it up. She then threw it next to her.
She then growled and snarled loudly, trying to get the attention of the Walkers. She then motioned her left hoof to the pothole.
Finally, Berry slowly began to climb down the hole...and the rest followed...
END OF EPISODE 2.
Season 1: Episode 3: Sewer
Previously, on Equestria of The Dead...
After listening to the message, Berry snarled at the radio. She then raised her right hoof and slammed it down onto the radio, smashing it into pieces. She lifted her hoof up to her face to observe it. There was glass dug deep into the hoof, with blood running down her foreleg. However, she felt no pain, therefore, it didn't matter to her. She began to set her hoof down back onto the ground, causing the glass to dig deeper. Still, it did not matter.
She then slowly began to turn around, then looked down to see a pothole in the road. Slowly, she shambled towards it, reached to it, and began to pull. Surprisingly, even in death, she still managed to lift it up. She then threw it next to her.
She then growled and snarled loudly, trying to get the attention of the Walkers. She then motioned her left hoof to the pothole.
Finally, Berry slowly began to climb down the hole...and the rest followed...
Equestria of The Dead
Created by: Thunder Ice
Episode 3: Sewer
It had now been almost 15 minutes since we made our way downward into the sewers, hoping to find our way out of the overrun city of Baltimare. Wind was with his wife and daughter, his wife supporting him. His daughter was on his back, sleeping. Rain was with Star Burst at the front of the group, the young filly I had saved from before sitting on his back. The mother was walking along near the side, her son on her back, and her face showing deep thought. She must be trying to take this all in, even after a month. I'm just glad I wasn't awake to see this...
Rainbow Dash and I were walking together, side by side, at the very end of the group, just talking and catching up. Sometimes, I would ask her some things about my past, and sometimes, I'd ask her about hers. She told me about those Wonderbolt ponies. Apparently, they were the famous fliers of Equestria, and Rainbow's idols. They even had an academy and selected a number of ponies to go to said academy to prove whether or not they were Wonderbolt material.
Apparently, while Cloudsdale was being overrun, they evacuated remaining survivors to here, including the Wonderbolts. However, they were one of the lucky ones to make it out...well, maybe.
"So," Rainbow began, "Applejack's okay?"
Everytime I hear her name, I felt so...warm inside. And I barely know Applejack. For now, that is.
"Yeah, she's okay. Holed up at the barn with Big Mac, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom," I replied.
"They're all okay?"
"Yeah, thank Celestia."
"So...what happened after you woke up?"
"In the hospital?"
"Well, duh," Rainbow jokingly replied, giggling a bit.
Although the events happened only yesterday, it was a little fuzzy, but I could still remember it.
"When I woke up, the first thing I did was get up. That was when I was greeted with this thing," I pointed to my wound.
"When I woke up, I got off my bed and stood up for the first time in a month, only to fall flat on my face. It hurt a lot, but it went away. Once it did, I got back up and headed to the bathroom, only to find out the lights and sink didn't work. I gave up after a few tries, then went back out. That was when I saw the cards and pictures. I read them, looked at the pictures, then put them in here." I pointed to the satchel, still on my back.
"By the way, thanks for the card," I decided to say. Rainbow chuckled slightly, putting a smile on my face. I continued the story after her chuckling stopped.
"After checking the whole room, I went out into the hall, which was completely torn apart, like a tornado came through. I wandered through it for about a minute. That was when I saw this pony. They were on the ground, laying with their face away from me...I...I didn't know if this pony was hurt or dead or what. But when I turned him around..."
The vision of the stallion's face haunted my mind. Just the sight almost made me vomit, but I held it back. Rainbow could already tell what the sight might've been like.
"I kept on going until I reached the double doors to the cafeteria. But...they were chained up. At the time, I didn't know why they were chained up, so I called out and asked if anyone was in there, and told them I needed help. The only thing they did was reach their arms out through the opening, like they wanted me. Fear taking over, I quickly turned around and headed down another hallway."
I closed my eyes for a moment, picturing the Walkers reaching out to me. It only lasted for a second before I opened my eyes again, and continued.
"I kept on walking, not stopping, until I reached an exit door. When I went through, I was in a stairwell. Surprisingly, some lights still worked. I eventually found my way outside. It was, I believe, the loading dock behind the hospital. All over the place... there were just...bodies, some of...children..." I'll never forget those images. Those heartbreaking images...
"After a few minutes, I got over the hill and saw Ponyville. But the sign that said welcome replaced the population number with 0. Ignoring it, I just went into town anyway. And...it looked worse than the hospital. I just searched the place for...I don't know how long I searched. Eventually, I found a bike and started to leave...that was when I saw this mare. She looked like she'd been dead for a while...yet she was crawling at me. I didn't know any of the ponies I saw were dead. I just let fear take over, and I rode away. Once I got to the barn, I started to check out the inside. That was when Big Mac hit me with a wooden bat, thinking I was a Walker. That was when I met Applejack and the others."
I stopped for a minute, catching my breath before continuing.
"We ate, talked, washed the dishes, and talked again. Then that Twilight mare-"
"Twilight Sparkle?" Rainbow interrupted.
"Yeah. She called Applejack, trying to say something, but the radio had such a bad transmission, we couldn't hear what she said. I only heard the word 'Baltimare'. I told AJ I had to check it out. She didn't want me to, but I told her we wouldn't know unless we checked. She eventually agreed, and I told her I'd be alright...I am alright. Well, thanks to that bandit."
"You mean the same bandit that shot me?" Rainbow asked, a bit annoyed.
My eyes widened, forgetting the incident.
"Y-Yeah. Hehe..." I chuckled awkwardly. Rainbow then asked a question, changing the subject completely.
"Star Burst said before that you and AJ were...in a relationship?"
I quickly blushed for a moment, stammering for a second. "U-Uh, y-yeah, I guess. Before we went to bed last night, we...uh..."
Rainbow quickly understood what I was getting at, and deeply blushed just thinking about it.
"O-Oh...that..."
"Yeah..."
I decided to change the subject quickly to avoid this from getting anymore awkward.
"So, how did the outbreak happen? Here, I mean, at the refuge center."
Rainbow slowly lifted her head and looked to me, answering the question after a second.
"Somepony ended up getting bit. And they did a hell of a good job hiding it from everyone. Unfortunately, that ended up getting him killed. His wife went to check up on him. Before she knew it, her neck was being torn open by her own husband. That's when all hell just broke loose..."
Rainbow took a minute to compose herself before continuing.
"It...it all happened so fast. Ponies by the hundreds became Walkers within less than an hour. The remaining Royal Guard soldiers tried to hold them back. They managed to hold a number of them back. One of them allowed a few of us to get away. He didn't make it. Eventually, the rest of the guards were overwhelmed...pretty soon...the whole center was overrun..."
Rainbow stopped again, and I thought she tried to compose herself again. But then I saw a tear slowly falling down her face.
"Many ponies I knew...died right before my eyes...my mom...my dad...my sister..."
After she said that, my heart shattered. Rainbow...lost her parents. Just saying it caused tears to quickly flood Rainbow's eyes.
"...and I...d-didn't...help them..."
The news caused her very innocence to shatter. She broke down into tears, and collapsed onto the ground, crying as hard as she could. The others were close enough to hear her, and they turned around to see what the problem was.
"What happened?" Rain asked.
I opened my mouth to reply to him, but Rainbow started yelling, beginning to blame herself for her family's demise.
"They're dead! My mom! My dad! My sister! They're all dead! My family's dead! And it's all my fa-a-a-ult!"
Tears fell down my face as I began to feel Rainbow's pain. I sank down to Rainbow's side and hugged her tightly in my forelegs, trying to calm her down, and whispering into her ear that everything will be okay.
"Shhhhh Dashie...shhhh..." I did my best to calm her down, and it worked. Over the course of a few minutes, Rainbow's crying began to cease slowly, as she let all of her sadness out. Minutes continued to pass onward, but they felt like hours. Soon enough, the cyan pony slowly fell asleep in my lap. To be honest, however, she looked absolutely adorable when sleeping. She looked like a foal.
A couple of minutes after she passed out, the group sat down, waiting patiently, but also resting. When they heard her stop crying, Rain asked, "She okay?"
"Yeah," I replied, "She's asleep."
"Poor Rainbow," Star Burst added. "It's hard...losing someone you're close to, or in her case, three of them..."
It became silent for a moment, and I heard Rainbow's gentle and adorable snoring.
"So, what were you two talkin' about that caused her to break down like that?" Star asked me.
"Well...I asked her how the city got overrun so quickly, how it started and all...then she started talkin' about her parents and her sister...what happened to them...She said it was her fault they died...I guess it was a little too early to be asking that question..."
"It ain't your fault, Lightning. You didn't know how she'd react...you didn't know she lost her family...you were curious and you asked...it's in the past now...and we can't change that."
It became silent for a moment, before I began to hear mumbling. I looked to see Rainbow mumbling in her sleep. I listened to what she was saying.
"N-No...Mommy...don't leave me...please...D-Daddy...N-No...Leave my s-sister alone...stop...please..."
Rainbow's forelegs and hindlegs wiggled adorably, but my heart was shattering from just hearing those words. At this point, tears were falling down Rainbow's face again. With my hoof, I wiped them away, and whispered into Rainbow's ear, hoping she would hear.
"It's okay, Dashie. You're safe."
Slowly, Rainbow's scared look turned to a faint smile, and she snuggled up again in my lap. I hugged her back, whispering again that everything would be okay. She felt so fuzzy and warm. It made it impossible to stop hugging.
"So...what should we do right now?" Rain asked, "We stay right here 'till she wakes up, or do we keep on going?"
"Pick the latter, we've got company!" Wind suddenly responded, and he pointed with his remaining hoof in the direction we walked from. My eyes widened in horror. Numerous Walkers were shambling towards us at a fast speed. However, one of them looked oddly familiar, until Wind called out its name.
"...Berry...Shake...?"
Berry Shake was among the army of Walkers roaming towards us, pieces of intestines hanging from her ripped open stomach, blood dripping from her left hoof, with glass dug deep into it. She snarled and screamed at us.
"C'mon, let's go!" Rain yelled. We all got up, I grabbed Rainbow Dash and made sure she was tightly secure on my back, and we ran in the other direction, trying to outrun the Walkers.
We ran and ran through the long tunnel, trying to get away. However, we could not break free from their sight. Also, these Walkers seemed a bit...faster than the other ones I have encountered in the past day and a half. Had these ones gone through Rigor Mortis yet?
Unfortunately, I was paying more attention to my thoughts more than my hoofing, and I ended up tripping on a hoof, falling to the dirty ground of the tunnel, causing Rainbow Dash to fall next to me. I then felt a pain in my hindleg. I looked to see it had broken from the fall. I tried as quick as I could to get up, but pain in the hindleg made it impossible. It was no use.
A Walker quickly pounced on me, trying to claw at me. But I quickly grabbed its shoulders with my hooves and tried to push it off. However, this one was a little stronger than me, like it still had strength left in its rotting body. I was slowly losing the battle.
That was when I felt a pain in my right hindleg. I looked down to a shocking sight: a Walker was biting deep into my leg, and this quickly threw off my concentration against the pouncing Walker. Losing my strength, the Walker bit hard and deep into my neck, causing me to scream out in pain, only for it to come out as a gurgle. The pain caused me to scream even more, but still, they only came out as gurgles.
I was choking on my own blood.
I slowly looked to my left to see the Walkers begin to pounce on Rainbow, who had awakened when they began to claw and bite into her. Her loud, ear shattering screams quickly began to fade away as I started to black out from the immense blood loss.
It wasn't long before I blacked out for the last time, welcoming death...I wasn't ready to go...
"Lightning!" A voice yelled to me, and my eyes flashed open in an instant.
"Huh?! What?!" I asked fairly quick, and began to look around the location I was in. I was shocked to find myself back in our previous location, just minutes after Rainbow had fallen asleep. I looked down to see Rainbow back in my lap, slumbering as she was before.
"I was dreaming the whole thing?" I asked, unknowingly, out loud.
"Dreaming what?" Star's voice called out to me, chuckling a bit, and I looked at him.
"Oh. Nothing. Just a bit of a nightmare, I guess," I simply replied, still shaken up from the dream. I could still feel a bit of pain in my neck and leg.
I then looked back down to Rainbow to see her snuggling up against me again, almost starting to hug me. A tear fell down my face as the vision of the Walkers clawing at her came back to my mind and burned into my brain.
"...Lightning? You alright, dude?" Star asked me.
I was silent for a moment, looking intently at Rainbow, seeing her smiling, bundled up like a kitten. Slowly, the nightmarish vision perished from my mind. For now, at least.
"Yeah...I'm okay," I replied quietly, leaning down to kiss Rainbow on the forehead. I then began to hug her again, taking in the warm, fuzzy feeling of her fur, but being careful not to fall asleep again. I may not know Rainbow much for now, but right now, she is important to me. I don't want her to end up like the rest of the ponies of Baltimare...or her family.
"So...what should we do right now?" Rain asked, "We stay right here 'till she wakes up, or do we keep on going?"
That question sparked instant Deja Vu in my mind, and in a split second, I raised my head, my ears twitched, and I quickly turned my head to the left, fearing to see the massive army of Walkers shambling their way towards us. But, when I looked down the tunnel, I saw nothing but the dark void, going onward. However, it wasn't entirely dark. There were occasionally potholes that shone light through the tiny holes. They acted as artificial lights that shone down upon us until the sun would set. Good thing it was only 3:30.
"Lightning, what's going on? Seriously, you're creeping me the hell out," Star asked with a bit of worry in his voice.
"What's going on?" Rain asked, a curious look on his face.
I looked at the son and father, silent for a few moments, not knowing what to say in response. I was gonna tell them about the dream, but depending on the location we're in, I guess it'd be best until we're out of the sewer. Better yet, out of the city. I looked upward to see through a metal sewer grate above us to see some buildings, meaning we were still in the city. 15 minutes, and we were still here. I kinda had a feeling we've been walking in circles the entire time, yet the tunnel didn't curve at all. It stayed straight the whole time.
I looked back down to the two, still waiting for an answer.
"Nothing," I simply replied, "Just had a feeling, I guess. Let's keep going. I just don't want to be down here when it gets dark."
"He's right," Wind replied, "The sewers are huge. Plus, we just need to get far enough from the city and the Walkers."
Rain and Star looked at each other for a few moments. Then back to me.
"Alright," Star then responded, "Let's go then."
Star got up from his sitting position and began to walk down the path, his father following him. I looked over to Wind, where his wife and daughter helped lift him up from the ground.
"Gentle now, hon," his wife said to him.
"Be careful, daddy," his daughter added. Wind looked down to his daughter and chuckled.
"Don't worry, sweetheart. Daddy's not going anywhere," he responded, smiling. The daughter smiled back.
After the brief scene, I placed Rainbow onto the ledge I was sitting on, allowing me to get up onto the ground on all fours. Once doing that, the pain in my wound finally returned after a day. It caused me to twitch a bit, but I tried my best to ignore the pain. Luckily, it went away after a moment. Once the pain was gone, I picked Rainbow back up and placed her on my back, where her head rested next to mine. Luckily, her ear was close to me, allowing me to whisper in it.
"Hang on tight, Dashie," I said her nickname again.
It took a moment or two, but Rainbow listened in her slumber and wrapped her forelegs around my neck, securing herself onto me. Once she was secure, I started following the rest of the group, who was only about 10 feet ahead.
"Hey, wait up!" I called out, but not too loud to avoid waking Rainbow. Luckily, she still slept. She's been fairly happy since I told her she was safe. Obviously, she is safe.
I caught up with the group after at least a minute, and we were on our way again through the tunnel, hoping to find our way out of what remained of Baltimare. The continuation of the walk showed the same thing we'd seen for the 15 minutes we'd been down here. The occasional pipes, grates, potholes, and other holes that led to other parts of the sewer. However, these holes were so small, only the occasionally spotted rats could go through them.
But as we continued throughout the tunnel, something caught our eyes.
"Hey, check it out," Star said, pointing to the wall on the right. What we saw was a dark red substance, flowing down to the floor.
Blood was splattered on the wall.
Star approached the wall, eyeing the blood, like he was inspecting it. He took a good look at it for a couple of seconds before he looked back to us.
"This blood's fresh. Maybe 'bout half an hour," he said to us.
"So that means there's someone down here with us. Took out a Walker in their path," Wind replied.
"Well if that's the case..." Star paused before looking around on the ground.
"...Where's the body?"
Just a moment after asking that question, a pair of hooves appeared out of the darkness of a small tunnel and grabbed Star, pulling him back. A moment later, he screamed, and we heard a ripping noise.
"Star?!" Rain yelled as he saw his son being pulled back. He quickly ran towards him and grabbed him with both hooves. After a few seconds, Star was successfully pulled out of the dark, and the son and father fell to the ground. At first, we were glad Star was okay, but then a shocking sight caught our eyes. A chunk of Star's shoulder was torn off, and blood was slowly leaking out from it.
Star was bitten.
"No...N-No..." Rain said, his voice cracking up. His son was bitten...meaning...he would soon be one of them .
Suddenly, Rain's face turned from shock and horror, to anger and rage. Quickly, he illuminated a small light from his coat collar towards the area where Star had been just seconds ago. As if answering Star's question, there was a Walker, feasting on the chunk of Star's shoulder.
In anger, Rain took the hatchet from his satchel, got up from the ground, and charge towards the Walker. With enough force, he slammed the Walker against the wall, pinning his neck with his foreleg. The Walker snarled at Rain, trying to get him. Suddenly, the Walker's screams went silent, and blood squirted on the wall and at us, and we had to cover our faces, seeming how we were so close to the two.
We managed to open our eyes at the sight to see the hatchet dug deep into the Walker's skull, killing it for good. However, Rain didn't stop there. He pulled the hatchet from its resting spot, then a second later, dove it again into the head. Then back out, then back in. This process continued for about 15 seconds, with Rain grunting in anger, before he finally stopped. By the time he was done, the hatchet had gone deep enough to possibly split the head in two.
I then looked over to Rain. His face had been covered with Walker blood. However, through the blood, I saw a tear slowly falling down his face. After a few seconds, he finally pulled the hatchet out of the remains of the head, and removed his foreleg, allowing the limp body to fall to the ground with a heavy thud, then a splash.
Rain just stood there, his back turned to us, before he turned back to his son. He quickly headed to him, and kneeled down. He then began to inspect the wound. When he looked, horror filled his old face. A chunk of his shoulder up to his neck was torn off, and blood was quickly leaking out. Star was infected, but he was also quickly dying. Although he was one of the most skilled doctors in Baltimare, Rain knew Star would not be saved. He would die no matter what he did.
Rain began to feel tears fill his eyes. This would be the last time he would see his son. He closed his eyes, shutting them tight, hoping this was just a dream, and he would open his eyes, and Star would be fine and healthy. Suddenly, he felt a hoof on his shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw the same sight. But Star's eyes were open, and he was looking at his father.
"D...Dad...D...Don't feel bad...Don't feel s-sorry...You...tried...It's ok-kay...I...I love you, Dad." He said weakly.
"Don't you say that. Don't you say your goodbyes," Rain quickly replied, feeling a tiny bit of hope flowing through him. "We'll get you fixed up. You'll be okay. I lost your mother, I'm not gonna lose you!" Tears began to stream down Rain's bloody face.
"D-Dad...Look...Look at me...I...got...bit. It ain't gonna matter what you d-do...in a few hours...I'm gonna be one of them...You...can't stop it..." Star began to look a bit pale as he lost more and more blood by the second.
Rain felt the hope quickly slipping away from Star's response. He felt a pain in his chest, his head hurt. He felt lost, with nowhere to go. He had to admit it. Star would die. No matter what, Star...would...die...
"I...I'm s-sorry if...if I w-wasn't a g...good enough s-son al...all those y-years..."
Rain's tear filled face showed a slight state of confusion.
"You were never a bad son....You...You were the greatest thing that happened...to your mom and I. We loved you all those years...and we still love you. I love you, son."
After hearing those words, Star began to smile. However, it was only a weak smile. He didn't know how long he had been smiling, but he enjoyed the warm feeling. Suddenly, Star's weak smiling face started to turn blank, and his eyes closed slightly. His pupils started to enlarge slightly, and they began to look dull...lifeless. Finally, Star exhaled. But the expected inhale never came.
"...Star?" Rain asked. No response.
"STAR?"
No response.
Rain knew what just happened. He just saw his son pass away in front of him. Right before his eyes...
It took a few moments for the events he just witnessed to flow through his mind.
No...it couldn't be true. He can't be dead. He was just playing. In a few moments, he'd take in a deep breath, blink his eyes, and he'd still be alive...right?
No matter how many times he tried to deny it, the truth always came back. Star was dead. He was dead...and he was never coming back. That was when the tears came flowing from Rain's eyes. Slowly, he leaned over his deceased son, wrapping his forelegs around him, and hugged him tightly, crying in his un-bitten shoulder.
He couldn't believe it. No matter how many times it stared him in the face, he couldn't believe it. He just couldn't. But it was true. His son was dead. He was dead and he was never going to come back.
Rain didn't know how long he sat there. It felt like hours, but it hasn't even been more than a minute. The rest of us just stood there, dazed and shocked at what happened. Out of all of us who were surprised and horrified, I must've been the most, possibly even more than Star's own father. Star saved my life by letting me into that storage area. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't even be here right now. I would've never seen Rainbow, and that little filly probably wouldn't be here either.
Speaking of Rainbow, I looked on my back to see her. Surprisingly, she was still asleep, even after the screaming and crying that occured in just these 2 minutes alone. She was definitely a heavy sleeper. But there's one problem...what am I gonna tell her when she wakes up? The question haunted my mind. Rainbow and Star became best friends during their stay at the refuge center. Rainbow having to deal with the news of her best friend's terrible demise...I couldn't imagine it. It was too horrific, but not as horrific as the sight before me.
Only 3 minutes had passed, before Rain finally got up.
"...Rain..." Wind slowly said, breaking the silence. Rain, however, didn't respond. He just continued to look down at his son's lifeless body, the eyes dull.
"...You know what will happen next...right?" Wind added, remembering what will occur. We all knew what would happen. Star would come back...but not as him. He will be one of them . No longer a citizen of the living, but a citizen of the walking dead.
"Yes..." Rain finally spoke up, pausing for a moment to compose himself, before continuing, "...I just can't...he's my son. I can't do that to my own son..."
Tears began to once again form in Rain's eyes. No one could blame him. If you had a son who died and could come back as a walking corpse that does nothing but roam around and eat the living, would you want to stab him in the head?
"But he'll tur-" Wind was quickly cut off when Rain yelled back at him.
"I KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN, DAMMIT!"
The place went dead silent, other than Rain's yells echoing down the tunnels. This was the first time we heard him yell. Well the first time I've heard him yell. I'm pretty sure he's yelled in previous times. Rain just stood there, looking at the three hoofed stallion, pondering on the ongoing situation.
Slowly, his gaze turned away from Wind and to his lifeless son. He stared at him, trying to take hold of the reality that was slapping him in the face. It was difficult. He just couldn't believe it. But it was true. Star was dead. And if he died...then he'd turn.
He just stared at the body for a few more moments before he slowly began to raise his hatchet at his son, ready to do what needed to be done.
"Rain...you don't have to do it if you don't want to," Wind said.
"...If I don't do it..." Rain paused for a brief moment. "...he'll come back."
"Let someone else do it." After that, the whole group looked at each other. This gave Wind and Rain the indication that none of us would be able to do it without possibly breaking down. Rain then turned his head towards Star's lifeless body.
"...He's my son. I'll do it. "
This sentence was enough to cause Wind to slowly back away. Rain then slowly turned his head back to his son. Slowly, he raised his hatchet again, giving him a bit of Deja Vu, from the previous event just nearly 40 minutes ago. He held his hatchet in the air for a couple of seconds, like he wasn't sure if he should do this or not. Finally, he dove the hatchet down, jamming it deep into Star's skull, preventing the future event of being reanimated.
He kept the blade lodged in the skull for several moments, before pulling it back out, causing a tiny bit of blood to splash, but none of it got on us. Rain slowly took out what looked like a towel or napkin, and slowly wiped the blood from the sword. However, instead of just tossing the napkin onto the ground, he placed it back into the satchel, along with the hatchet.
"Why are you keeping that?" Wind wanted to know, as he felt confused, but mostly a bit disgusted at why he was keeping a bloody napkin. Not to forget the blood is from his own son.
However, Rain didn't respond to the question. Instead, he turned his head to us with an emotionless face.
"Let's go. We're losing light."
After that, he immediately began to walk forward. It took a few seconds for us before we began to follow him. The whole time, it was completely silent, other than our breathing and echoing hoofsteps, as well as splashes when we stepped in the water. The young filly I saved more than an hour and a half ago was still asleep, lying not on Rain's back, but this time, on Wind's back. Seeing the current state he was in, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for him to have a filly on his back.
Rainbow Dash still was asleep. I assume she was a heavy one in the past? During the whole time, from after that...nightmare to now Rainbow's forelegs have been wrapped quite tight around my neck. However, I didn't pay mind to it. I'd be here when she needs me. If I was one of her best friends before the coma, I'm one of her best friends now.
Soon enough, it had been 10 minutes since we started walking again. Above us, we expected to hear the moaning and snarls of the Walkers as they endlessly limped with no current objective, until they found a living soul to brutally rip to shreds. Instead, we heard nothing but the muffled chirping of birds.
"Rain," Wind said to the stallion, but he did not seem to hear him. He just kept on walking.
"Rain! I think we're out of the city!" Wind yelled, hoping to get his attention. And it did. Rain stopped, not turning around. Just staring off into the fading darkness ahead.
"...What makes you say that?" Rain asked for the first time in at least 10 minutes.
"Listen." It became silent once more, other than the chirping from above. "I don't hear any Walkers up there."
Rain finally and slowly turned around to us in order to hear above better. Turns out, Wind was right. He did not hear any Walkers. Rain looked up, through a sewer grate. Expecting to see buildings, he saw nothing but the sky, mostly blue, but starting to get a tiny bit orange.
"We need to check for sure." Rain then began to find a ladder that would lead to the surface. After a few seconds, he turned around, and saw one just a few hooves away. He headed to it. Once he reached it, he held on, then slowly began to make his way up the ladder. The pothole was at least 13 hooves above them, so it wasn't very far up. Once Rain reached the top, he carefully, but quietly, pushed the lid out of the way, pushing it to the side, causing sunlight to nearly blind him. Slowly, the light became dim enough for him to see.
He observed the area around him. They were indeed above a road, but also near a small bridge, with a river streaming under. Behind him was just a path that led to Baltimare, just at least 500 hooves in front of them. We were still pretty close, but far enough. Slowly, but carefully, Rain began to make his way out of the hole, crawling out onto the ground, laying for a few seconds before getting up on all fours. He then walked over to the whole and yelled down to them.
"It's all clear up here. C'mon up."
One by one, we each started to make our way up the ladder. The first one to go was obviously Wind, considering his current condition. Slowly and carefully, he began to make his way up the ladder, having to grip each bar quickly in order to avoid falling off. After about 30 seconds, he finally made it out and stood alongside Rain, then told his wife to awaken the kids. Once the kids were awake, they began to climb the ladder, the daughter's mother following behind the two fillies, one of which who has been very quiet since we were at the storage. There were only four now down here: Rainbow, me, and the mother and son. I decided to let them go first.
"Alright, Banana Cream. Wake up your son and you two go next. Lightning, you wake up Ra-" Rain suddenly stopped speaking in mid sentence. His face turned to the right, towards Baltimare. His eyes widened. I wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. But when I began to hear the very distant moans and snarls, then I knew.
"Change of plans. Get your asses up here NOW! " He yelled. In just a few seconds, Banana's son was awake, but rather than letting him climb the ladder, she carried him in one foreleg, and climbed with the other. Within a few seconds, Banana and her son were out of the sewer, leaving only me and Rainbow, still sleeping in here.
"Lightning, wake her ass up now, or we're leaving you in here!" Rain yelled, and he sounded pretty damn serious. Quickly thinking, I gripped Rainbow's forelegs, and pulled her off of me. I then started to shake her.
"Rainbow, Rainbow! Come on, wake up! Rainbow, wake up, now!"
This wasn't seeming to have any effect on her. No matter how hard I shook her, she did not wake up. How heavy of a sleeper was she?! I tried all I could to wake Rainbow, but to no avail. I shook her, yelled in her ear, anything I could do. Still, she didn't wake up. I knew the Walkers would be here any second. I then had a sudden idea that could wake her up. I just hope she doesn't get too pissed.
I quickly raised my hoof...and slapped it right across Rainbow's cyan colored face, causing a red hoof mark to appear, and causing Rainbow to awaken, yelling in pain in the process.
"Ow!" She rubbed her face with her hoof to ease the pain, then quickly looked to see who the attacker was.
"Lightning?! What was that fo-"
"No time! Walkers! Up the ladder! Now!" I said fairly quickly, but slow enough for her to understand. She looked behind me to see a ladder, and within a few moments, she was climbing. She couldn't fly for two reasons: The hole was too small, and one of her wings had a bullet hole in it.
Once she was a fair enough height up the ladder, I began to climb up after her. The sound of the Walkers were getting louder and louder by the second. Once Rainbow was out, I increased my climbing speed, and was literally "running" up the ladder. In a few seconds, I was, for the first time in almost an hour, back on the surface. I nearly sat down for a moment and wanted to enjoy some relaxation, but then I realized there was a horde of dead ponies shambling our way.
"Let's go, let's go!" Rain yelled to us. Within seconds, we were pretty much sprinting the opposite direction of the horde. As I ran, I turned around to see the horde of what appeared to be about 30 Walkers. Some of them had fallen into the open pothole, one of them becoming decapitated from hitting their head on the concrete. In disgust, I turned back around to focus more on the path in front of me. Seeming how we were much faster than the Walkers, it was fairly easy to get away.
Once we were at a far enough distance, Rain checked behind us to make sure we were out of the Walkers' line of sight. Sure enough, we were. However, to insure they wouldn't end up spotting us again, we followed Rain under a small bridge that was big enough for us to hide.
"Well, now that that's sort of out of the way, which way did they say the camp was?" Wind then asked. I was a bit confused at who they were, as well as what camp they were talking about.
"What camp?" I asked, like I thought, curious.
"The survivor camp," Rain replied. "About a mile or two from the city. Another group, 'bout 12-13, escaped in this tiny as hell RV wagon. Luckily, it was large enough to fit them all in there. Stationed it up in the mountains. In fact..."
Rain paused as he turned around and began to look in his satchel for something. After a few seconds, he took out what appeared to be binoculars. After taking them out, he immediately began to walk out of the bridge, immediately exposing him to the outside. Luckily, there were no Walkers in the area, except for the horde, which was pretty far away, so we weren't in any immediate danger. For now, at least. Rain took the binoculars, put them up to his eyes, and began to look in the direction of a distant mountain area, according to Rain, a mile or two away from our current location. He looked for a few moments, not saying a word, focusing only on a particular area.
"Ah ha." He then said, sounding a bit excited for the first time in...well, that's it. He hasn't exactly been excited since I've met him. Scratch that. Who would want to be excited when it's the end of the world? Well, actually, being alive would be one reason, and finding survivors would also. Forget what I said.
"Found 'em." Rain then took the binoculars from his eyes, looked to me, then motioned me to come to him. When I was near enough, he handed me the binoculars and pointed to the far mountainous area, then told me to look in that direction. I did as he told and put the binoculars up to my eyes, looking in the direction he told me. It took a few seconds, but I finally managed to focus on the location Rain saw. What I saw was, as Rain said before, an RV wagon. I did agree with Rain, it looked fairly small, but that's probably because of the fact that I'm 2 miles away. I continued to look at the location, then suddenly, what looked like a small dot appeared on the top of the RV. I wasn't sure what it was at first. But since I realized I'm extremely far, it was most likely one of the survivors of the group, patrolling the area for any dangers.
"You see something else?" Rain asked me.
"Someone. But I can't see who." I continued looking for a few more seconds before Rain finally took the binoculars back, then put it back into his satchel.
"I guess we'll see when we get there."
Just after he stopped speaking, we began to hear distant snarls once more. We looked behind us to where the city was to see the horde from before still walking in the same direction.
"Shit! Down!" Rain half yelled, and we quickly crouched down. We then quickly began to crawl under the bridge to avoid being exposed even more than we were. Once we were under, we began to hear the sounds of the Walkers passing right over us. Suddenly, the shuffling of their hooves stopped, as if they were no longer moving on their original path. Turns out, that's exactly what they were doing. We just sat here, under this bridge, waiting for them to move again. Had they discovered our scent? Were they trying to find us?
"What do we do? There's more than before, and we can't go anywhere unless we wanna end up swarmed," Wind then explained. I realized he was pretty much right. When I saw the Walkers a moment ago, it looked like the number had increased. I couldn't tell how many were together, but it was definitely more than before.
That was when Rainbow suddenly asked a question. However, it was not of our current situation.
"...Where's Star?"
My blood ran cold. I forgot, she was asleep when that happened. I wondered why she didn't ask it sooner. Once she asked that, everyone's eyes widened, and they started to look at each other. Banana, however, as well as her son, were looking away from us, as if they didn't want to see Rainbow when she found out.
I looked at everyone and realized no one would have the strength to tell her. Not even Rain. That left me as the only one. I looked to Rainbow, then slowly began to walk to her. I looked at her with pain showing in my eyes.
"Rainbow...I'm-"
*BOOM!*
A loud boom and powerful vibration shook me slightly, and a loud high pitched noise rang in my ears. I wasn't quite sure what just happened, but when I looked to my right, a small mushroom-like cloud appeared from about 30 hooves away. My vision was blurred for a moment. I couldn't hear anything except the slightly painful ringing.
Suddenly, I heard a muffled scream. It sounded familiar. It also sounded like it was saying 'come on!', but quietly. A few seconds later, the ringing noise faded away, and I could hear perfectly. I looked back to my right, but the mushroom-like cloud was gone. That was when I began to see Walkers from both sides of the bridge beginning to walk down the hill, and I was about to gasp in shock, but a hoof covered my mouth before I could make a sound.
"Let's go while they're distracted," I heard Rain's voice whisper to me. I then realized. Walkers are attracted to sound. Obviously, because of the little incident in the city. Slowly and quietly, I began to crawl in the other direction, away from the Walkers, following Rain back onto the path, where the others had been. Once Rain and I were back, the whole group began to run as fast as we could, stopping about a minute later, out of breath once more, but far enough and, hopefully, safe from danger.
"What the hell was that?" Wind asked in surprise, not knowing what happened.
"I threw a grenade," Rain replied. The whole group, except me, looked in complete surprise, eyes widened. I wasn't because I had no damn clue what a grenade was. I guess it was what that was back there? Something that explodes?
"You mean to tell me this entire time, you had a grenade in your satchel, and you didn't tell us?" Wind nearly yelled.
"I kept it for emergency purposes."
Wind suddenly stopped. His eye then twitched. His eyes then closed. He squeezed them.
"OUR WHOLE FUCKING SITUATION IN THE CITY WAS AN EMERGENCY!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, causing all of us to cover our ears in slight pain. I looked into the sky to see what looked like birds flying, possibly frightened from the scream.
"Hey, keep it down! You're gonna alert-" Rain was quickly cut off.
"No, I will not keep it down! We wasted almost a fucking hour in that sewer, when we could've used that damn grenade to distract those dead fuckers and get out a lot damn quicker! The fucking outcome could've been different! I wouldn't have lost my damn hoof, and your son would still be alive right now, not sitting down there in the sewer with a chunk of his shoulder torn off and a hole in his head!"
After that, it went completely silent. No one spoke or moved. I didn't really hear anyone breathe.
Suddenly, I began to hear crying. I looked behind me to see Rainbow, fallen to the ground, hooves covering her face, and crying. She knew now what happened to her friend. I didn't expect her to hear it like that.
In a slight bit of anger, I turned around to Wind, and went, "Nice going, asshole," without even thinking it.
I then turned back around and started walking to Rainbow. I got down to her and started hugging her, instantly triggering Deja Vu in my mind. I wrapped my forelegs around Rainbow to comfort her, and she immediately wrapped hers around me. I didn't speak, I didn't say anything in fear of making the matter worse. I just decided to let her let it out. This went on for about a minute before Rainbow's cries slowly began to become sniffles, and she cried less and less.
"You okay, Dashie?" I asked after a moment of silence.
Rainbow sniffed before she replied, "Y-Yeah. I'm fine...now. I guess..."
I just continued to hug her for a few more seconds before she slowly began to gently push herself off me to allow her to get up from the ground. I got up with her, wrapping a foreleg around her shoulder to let her know I was there for her.
"T-Thank you." She smiled with a tear in her eye. I gently wiped it away. I then looked to Wind with a bit of an angry look.
"We should go now if we wanna get up there by nightfall," I said before turning my head to the path that led to the mountains, and I started walking, my foreleg still wrapped around Rainbow's shoulder.
The group just sat there for a moment, kind of just watching us walk past them, before they began to follow us. As they started following us, Rainbow once again placed her head on my shoulder. It will be a little bit difficult to explain this to Applejack, but I'll think of an explanation. Besides, Rainbow's my friend. And friends are there for each other in the hardest of times...
As we walked, I looked up to the mountain again, up to the survivor camp. Up there, right now, are the rest of my friends, not knowing they're going to be seeing an old face. It will be worth the wait to see them, for me, for the first time.
I made a promise to Applejack I would be okay. Thanks to Star, I am okay. I made a promise to Rainbow Dash that I'd be there for her when she needed me. She needs me now more than ever.
I made promises to my friends...and I'm going to keep them, no matter what.
A promise should always stay a promise.END OF EPISODE 3.
Season 1: Episode 4: Reunited
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Season 1: Episode 5: Risk
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Season 1: Episode 1: Awakening
Remember those large, white buildings in your occasional town or city with those big red plus signs on the front of them?
Yes, a hospital. Everyone knows what a hospital is, correct? The occasional area of treatment for the injured or sick. They were common places, promising to make anyone better, and damn, they did a good job at it. Those who were sick were treated by the best nurses and doctors around, and those injured were...well, you know.
Ponyville General Hospital was no different from the rest. It was one of the occasional hospitals you'd encounter in Equestria. It also had its fair share of sick and injured, and they were treated just like any other anywhere else in Equestria.
But not all ponies arrive at hospitals...well...awake. Some can arrive passed out, knocked out, comatose, or dead, hoped to be quickly brought back to life.
Inside the room labeled '180', there lay a stallion. He wasn't too old, at least. He looked like around the ages of maybe...20? 21? So, he wasn't very old. But one odd thing about this particular stallion was that he was not awake. No, he wasn't sleeping either. He was a comatose patient. Then again, being in a coma is basically sleeping.
Being in a comatose state is far more deep than simply slumbering as you would in the night. This stallion is far too deep, that he could not even hear the shrills and screams right outside his door...Not the cries and trotting of panicking ponies in the village not even half a mile away...Not even...the sounds of booms coming from a quaint city up in the mountains.
...What was happening?
That is for you to find out...
Equestria of The Dead
Created by: I Am The Night
Episode 1: Awakening
When my mind came to consciousness, white was the only thing I saw.
But it wasn't just white...it was a light. A very bright and blinding light. My response to this sudden greeting was placing my forelegs in front of my eyes. I could barely open them, and I was forced to squint and wait for this sudden intrusion to end. Fortunately, the light did not last very long.
It only blinded my vision for a few moments, nearly 20 seconds, before fading. As it finally died down to the point where it could not hurt my sight, I ceased my squinting, and slowly began to open my eyes, beginning to take a good look at my surroundings.
My surroundings were...not that big. It was a fairly small area I was in. Although it's quite faint, I...kind of remember the name of a place with rooms like this. I believe it was called a...hospital? Yeah, that's it. A hospital. From what I remember, hospitals were...places that ponies would heal in? Yeah. Seems right...Wait...why did I have trouble remembering that?
"H...Hello?" I called out, hearing the utter silence of the hospital. There was no response but the echoing of my voice.
Usually hospitals would be filled with voices, beeps of monitors, and even screams. Here, it's just...silent. No voices, no beeps, no screams...nothing. I wasn't sure if it was just my hearing, or if the place was really empty. I couldn't tell. Slowly, I managed to sit up in the bed I was in, when a sudden pain erupted from the side of my body, causing me to hold it in pain. I looked to the side of me to see a bandage; a large one, that is.
What happened to me that gave me this? More importantly...Why can't I remember it?
To better put it...why can't I remember anything ? I can't remember my age, or name, or...anything about me!
I tried my best for a few moments to think of a past event, but nothing. I couldn't remember anything, other than a few things, like the word "hospital". I think this kind of thing was called Amnesia. If I'm correct, that means...memory loss? Yeah, that's it.
Well...I guess the best - and only - way to find out anything is to find someone. After a moment, I began to lift myself off the bed, trying my best to ignore the pain in my side. Slowly, I began to stand on my hind legs. It was fine for a moment, but then my hind legs began to feel very weak. I couldn't stand on them for more than a few seconds before I fell to the ground, smashing my snout on the cold, hard floor.
In pain, I gripped my bleeding snout tightly, wanting the pain to go away.
"Hello?! Anyone? I need some help here!" I yelled out into the silence, but no one came to help me. So I just sat there on the floor for a few moments until the pain in my snout went away. Then I slowly got up on my forehooves, then my hind legs, until I was on all fours. Carefully, but quickly, I headed to the restroom and tried to flick the switch that would turn on the restroom light. It never did. I flicked it up and down, but nothing happened.
Giving up, I looked into a mirror that was inside the bathroom and looked at myself. I was blue, had a brown mane, and my eyes were green. I had some weird tattoo-looking mark on my rear, which showed some weird symbol. I think it stands for music. I also had wings on my side, so I guess I'm one of those pegasi, a pegasus.
I then noticed my mane was a little frizzled, so I decided to wet it with some water to flatten it down. I turned the faucet to turn on the water. Unfortunately, like the light switch, nothing happened.
I became a little frustrated and eventually gave up. The mane did look kinda cool like that anyway.
After a few moments , I decided to look around the room before I left. I didn't see them when I woke up, but there were balloons, deflated, on the ground and cards on the drawers around the bed. Some of the balloons said 'Get well soon!' or 'Feel better!' . One even said 'Happy Birthday, Lightning!'.
Lightning? Who's Lightning? Could that be me?
I headed over to the side of the bed and read the cards. Actually, I looked at the cards. They were pictures of me, but it wasn't just me. There were six females with me, as well. There were two unicorns, two earth ponies, and three pegasi, myself included.
I had no idea who these ponies were, but there were three words above the picture that said, in bold words, 'Best Friends Forever!'
I was friends with these mares?
After a few moments, I set the card down and opened another one. This one had wording, but no pictures.
It had said 'Get Well Soon!' , just like on the balloon, but then it had names under it, and each one had a different color.
-Pinkie Pie
-Twilight Sparkle
-Rainbow Dash!
-Rarity
-Applejack
-Fluttershy
I wasn't quite sure why they all had different colors, but then I looked back to the picture of me and those mares. I looked at their fur color, then the signature colors. I guess these are their names then.
I want to see if I can find these mares, so I look around to see if there's anything I can carry these cards in. Luckily, I managed to find some sort of bag with a strap on it. It looked like a satchel. It didn't really matter what it was, as long as I could put these cards in it. Carefully, I placed the cards into the satchel, then shut it. Once I closed it, I strapped it around my body, just avoiding the wound on my side. I then looked to the wall to see a clock. Unfortunately, the clock did not move its arms, so I had no idea what the time was.
Then I realized: You can sometimes tell the time just by looking at the sun. I then started to walk to the window. Once I reached it, I started looking around for a few moments before looking above me, but I quickly covered my face to avoid being blinded by the sun. However, I could see it was fairly high in the sky, possibly the highest. That must mean it's at least 12:00 noon.
I then began to leave, but a clipboard with a picture of me stopped me for a moment.
I began to inspect it. It read:
Patient: Lightning Flash
D.O.B: 12/23/95
Sex: Stallion
Race: Pegasus
Age: 21
Illnesses: n/a
Disorders: n/a
On 12/21/12, the patient was injured when an unknown projectile was shot into the side of the torso. Injury is not fatal, but surgery is required.
Deciding this could possibly help me find out more about me, I placed it into the satchel, as well. Finally, I opened the door that led me out of the slightly small room. However, for some reason, there were a few beds in front of it. I wasn't quite sure why they were randomly here, but I moved them out of the way and began to walk into the hall. But the beds weren't the only thing in the hall. There were cases, papers, and even clothing, scattered around, like a tornado came through here.
What happened here?
As I slowly walked in the hall, I ended up seeing another paper like the one I found. I picked it up slowly and began to read it:
Patient: Caramel Apple
D.O.B: 8/2/96
Sex: Stallion
Race: Earth Pony
Age: 20
Illnesses: n/a
Disorders: n/a
On 12/23/12, the patient stumbled into the hospital lobby, bleeding from the left foreleg. Inspections show a very deep bite mark in the arm, possibly from an animal. Possible Rabies is present.
"Caramel...Apple...Why does that name sound so familiar to me?"
After looking at the paper, I put it inside the satchel, as well, and continued through the hallway. As I went further, I began to see toppled beds, chairs, as well as more cases and papers. The hallway filled up with debris as I went further and further. After a few moments, I spotted something on the floor not that far from me. It didn't look like any of the objects around me. Instead...it was a pony, lying face down on the floor.
Quickly, I trotted slowly and carefully to him, trying not to cause any pain to my wound.
"Hello? Are you okay?" I said quietly to the pony. They didn't respond to me. Were they hurt? Unconscious?
To make sure, I turned the pony over to see if they were okay, but I quickly looked away and almost screamed when I saw their face. Most of the area around their mouth was literally ripped off. One of their eyes were missing, and...their stomach was...torn open, and most of their insides were either missing or dangled out.
In shock and disgust, I threw up next to me, coughing a few times. This pony was dead. But...they look like they've been dead for a while, maybe a month, noticing the severe decomposition of their body and the flies and maggots that covered it.
After a few moments, I quickly turned the dead pony back over, then got up and continued down the hall. Eventually, the walls and ceiling became more and more wrecked. Tiles fallen onto the floor, wires hanging from the ceiling, and even arrows were dug into the walls.
What the hell...?
I then reached the end of the hallway, and came across double doors that led into another section of the hospital. Above the doors, it said 'Cafeteria' . I looked back to the doors, and saw that they had been chained shut. But why?
After a few seconds, I yelled out, "Hello?" in hopes that someone could hear me.
Again, silence...until I began to hear something. It sounded like someone, but they weren't talking. They were wheezing, slowly. I then heard another voice, but this one was grunting. Moments later, I saw three hooves slowly reach out from the crack of the door.
"P-Please...I-I need help," I called out to the ponies.
Rather than trying to help me, instead, they started banging on the door, trying to open it. The ponies inside began to growl and snarl like animals. Quickly, I turned in the other direction, trying to see if there was a door that could lead me out of here. As I was looking, I looked down a hallway to see a few ponies shambling around. A few moments later, they spotted me, and began to limp towards me. In fear of what might happen if they catch up with me, I continued looking, but much quicker. Eventually, I found a door that had the word 'Stairwell' on it. Quickly, I opened it and went inside, shutting the door behind me.
Luckily, I wasn't in total darkness. There was light in the stairwell, but it flickered on every few seconds, giving me some limited light. However, I managed to make it down slowly and safely. At the bottom of the stairwell, I found a door. Above it, there was a sign that had the word 'Exit' .
However, before I exited, I looked into my satchel to see if anything fell out. Luckily, nothing did. Suddenly, I began to hear loud banging noises from the door I came in from. Quickly, I hurried and exited through the door in front of me, but I did it too quickly, and I nearly became blinded by the sunlight. I squinted and covered my face with a hoof. After a few seconds, I became used to the light, but not the air.
The air smells of death. I looked down below me, and my eyes widened in shock. There were countless bodies of ponies, all lined up, row after row. All of them were covered in sheets, but only the end of their rotting hindlegs were visible. The stench of death filled my nostrils, but I had the strength not to vomit this time.
Instead, I slowly made my way past the bodies, the stench becoming more and more putrid, but I still did not puke. Continuing throughout the mass piles of bodies, I ended up coming across a carriage, the only one in the whole loading area. Looking closely at it, I saw that it contained a red cross on its side, with white as its outline. I assume this is an ambulance carriage. I believed it was used to carry injured to hospitals. As I got closer to it, I noticed after a moment that the back doors of the carriage was open, and since I was only seeing the side, I only saw a bit of white cloth hanging down.
Being curious, I decided to continue forward, nearing the carriage with each clop of my hooves on the cold, stone ground. Finally, after a few moments, the interior of the ambulance was finally within my sights, and I instantly regretted it.
Unlike the countless adult ponies laying on the ground behind me, the ponies inside the carriage, however, were not adults. Instead...they were children. The white cloth that would've covered them had fallen downward, allowing me to see them fully. There were three children within the carriage. One of them was a young blue filly, roughly 5-6 years old. Her mouth was slightly opened, and her eyes had an extremely dull, lifeless look within them. Not only that, but the filly had slowly begun to lose her mane, decomposition playing the main role within that. Looking at her head, I also saw that she had a horn, which meant that this filly was a unicorn. It broke my heart to know that this filly would never be able to know the magic of...magic.
I knew this filly was adorable in life, and if it weren't for her state of decay, she would still look adorable today.
Next to the filly was a brightly gray colt, maybe about a year older than the filly next to him. Decomposition had not done much to him, but he still had his fair share of maggots on him. Not to mention the putrid smell that came. I wanted badly to vomit, yet I couldn't. Looking at the colt, his almost-black mane was still fairly intact, a few bits fallen off, and it was also slicked back slightly. As I checked lower, going to his torso, I could see slightly opened wings behind his forelegs, meaning that this colt was a pegasus like me. Looking lower, all the way down to his hind legs, I spotted something hanging on one of his legs. It seemed like some sort of tag, and I was surprised to not see one the filly. Deciding to take a look at the tag, I slowly and gently pulled it off, doing what I could to not disturb the dead...much. After a bit of struggle, the tag came off, and I slowly held it up to my face. Reading it, I could only see that there was a name: R. Lane.
I had no clue what the R stood for, but turning the tag around, I could see that there were pictures attached to it, but these pictures were showing the colt that lay in front of me, but instead of in his lifeless pose as he's in now, in the pictures, he is in a happy, cheery mood. A second picture shows him standing next to a grown up pegasus. This pegasus kind of had the same colors as the colt, but in an opposite way. Almost black fur, but gray mane. After observing the picture, I begin to open up my satchel and place the tag in there. I know it's wrong and horrible to steal from the dead, but...I want to see if I can find that stallion. IF I can.
Once I closed the satchel, I began to take a look at the last child in the carriage. But I began to feel my heart shatter inside me, and my eyes begin to tear up. The last child was not as old as the other two...It was a baby. A foal. Unlike the other children, the foal was in a terrible state of decomposition. Most of its fragile, little body was missing most of its skin, some of it even hanging down the sides. Its face frightened me, as most of its little skull was fairly visible. Its eyes were long gone, as well as its mane.
I felt extremely bad and sorry for it. This young foal lost its life before it even started. I could already imagine the pain and suffering that these children might have gone through in their final moments. Or maybe it had been quick and they didn't notice. I wanted to stay here and pay my dear respects to these children and the rest of the ponies around me, but I then decided I had no time to mourn at the moment, and that I could pay my respects to them soon enough, maybe even give them a proper burial. They at least deserve it.
Finally leaving the carriage behind, I continued walking pass the endless rows of corpses that lined up around me. Soon enough, the endless rows finally came to an end...Ironic. As they ended, I felt myself finally clopping on the grass, rather than on the stone. That was when I reached a fairly high hill, roughly 20 or so hooves upward. Carefully, I began to make my way up the hill, one hoof at a time, hoping I wouldn't be met with more corpses. Suddenly, as I got around 10 feet upward, one of my hooves slipped beneath me, and I began to fall down. Luckily, I caught the ground so I wouldn't fall down to the bottom, but unluckily, landed right on the side where my mysterious wound had been. It took much of my remaining strength not to cry out in pain.
"A-ah! Son of a..." I cried as the searing pain coursed through my body, sending painful shocks all over. Everytime I tried to move, the pain would only increase. So instead of trying to move, I sat frozen in place, not daring to make a move in fear of causing more pain. I just patiently waited and waited, patiently waiting for the hurt to slowly fade away. It felt like minutes passed, but it was only moments, but soon enough, the pain subsided, and when I moved, no pain came. Finally, I got up from my resting spot and began to venture up the hill once again.
Once I reached the top, I spotted a small town. Luckily, it wasn't that far away. Near me, there was a dirt road that lead to the town. I headed towards the road and began to walk to the town. As I walked down the road, there was a sign next to it that read:
Welcome to Ponyville!
Population: 102 0
Guess the town is empty. When I looked past the sign towards the town, I could hear no noise coming from it. It sounded empty. As I managed to look further, I saw that nopony was in the streets. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to just take a look anyway, so I continued forward towards the town of Ponyville.
Once I reached it, the stench of death filled my nose once more. The streets were littered with papers, clothing, and even wrecked carriages, some containing the bodies of ponies. I still had the strength not to vomit. I didn't want the putrid taste coming back. I ignored the bodies and continued deeper into the town. As I walked through Ponyville, I looked at most of the buildings. Some windows and doors of some of the houses were either smashed or busted down, and others were boarded up.
Whatever happened here wasn't good.
Eventually, I ended up finding a bakery near the center of town, called 'Sugarcube Corner' . Below the name, there was writing that said 'Bestest treats in Equestria!'
I sure wish I could've tasted them. I'm pretty sure it's all spoiled now. But there was no harm in checking anyway. Slowly, I made my way towards the building, which was just about the only building around me that hadn't been barricaded like the rest. I walked up to the door, which contained a note. Slowly, I grabbed the note and tore it from the door and read it:
Pinkie Pie, if you're reading this, Mr. Cake and I are leaving with the babies to Las Pegasus for a little while. With that horrible disease going around town, I don't want the babies catching it. Hopefully, it won't be too hard for you to work by yourself for a while, deary. Take care and be safe.
Sincerely,
Cup Cake
Wait a second...Pinkie Pie? After reading the note, I quickly opened up my satchel and took out the card that contained the six names. My eyes quickly caught sight of the pink colored name: Pinkie Pie.
I looked at the paper, then the note. The names match! This is the same pony. But who is Cup Cake? I guess another friend of mine? Maybe Pinkie's parents?
I decided I could think about that later. I dropped the note to the ground and proceeded to the door. I moved my hoof slowly towards the knob. Once I felt the cold metal within my hoof, I began to turn it to the left. Luckily - more like mysteriously - it was unlocked, and it opened without restraint.
As I opened it, I slowly made my way inside, taking time to observe my surroundings.
"Hello?" I called out. Silence followed.
Guess this Pinkie Pie isn't here. Would make sense, considering how the note hadn't been ripped from its resting place, which would give me the sense that Pinkie probably hasn't come back here.
Slowly, I started to walk around the main room I was in. Like I predicted, some of the food had spoiled. What looked like cake was now covered in what appeared to be green, fuzzy mold. What looked like cupcakes were engulfed in fuzz. But the cookies and brownies? They looked fine. It looked like they had just been taken out of the oven. I walked over to the counter where they lay. I picked one of the brownies up and took a bite out of them.
...It took me at least half a minute to bite through the damn thing. Extremely crunchy, but still good otherwise. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to take them. I grab around 20 or so brownies and did the same with the cookies. I placed them into an inside pocket in the satchel. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to finish the brownie - more like try to finish it.
Once I finished the brownie, which took about another minute, I exited the abandoned shop and decided to continue through the town. Other than countless homes, I ended up finding a dentist, a clothing boutique, and a library. I searched through the town for a few more minutes, when I spotted something in the tall patches of grass in the town square.
It was a bicycle, lying on its side. But the scene displayed next to it frightened and horrified me. Next to the bicycle lay the body of a pony. Looking at the pony's features, I saw that it was a mare. What creeped me out was that she was ripped in two. Her lower half was missing, her organs spilled out onto the grass. I had looked at so many bodies, I stopped being disgusted by them. I looked at this pony intently, examining its decomposed features. I sighed, looking away from the body of another taken life.
"Forgive me," I said to the body, and I began to grab the bicycle. Suddenly, I heard a noise. It sounded like a struggled groan or snarl. I looked back to the mare...but...it was impossible. She was dead. I didn't see her breathing or moving or anything! She was lifeless. Gone. Dead.
"Hello?" I said to the mare, but she didn't reply. Instead, she growled and snarled just like the ponies back at the hospital. She slowly gripped the earth below her with her hooves and slowly began to crawl towards me, leaving a trail of blood behind her.
"Graaagh!" She growled at me as she slowly crawled to me. I was completely frozen for the moment, but once I became unfrozen, I slowly grabbed the bike and got on it. Quickly, I began to pedal away from the mare.
"Raaarrrggh..."
The snarls of the mare became fainter and fainter, until I could no longer hear her. Just seeing her brought tears to my eyes. But my sadness also came with confusion. How could a dead mare, a body that was torn in two, crawl?
That's it. I need to stop. I don't want to go on anymore. At least, not right now, after all that's happened. Luckily, a few moments later, I spotted a barn up in the hills, surrounded by...I think those are apple trees. I guess I should head there for now. I looked into the sky to see the sun begin to set. I quickly began to pedal towards the farm area. I ended up pedaling by a sign that said 'Sweet Apple Acres - Freshest apples in Equestria!'
After about a minute of pedaling, I finally reached Sweet Apple Acres. The house looked abandoned, and the barn's paint was slowly chipping away.
Painfully, I got off the bike and sat down on the ground. I just needed to sit down after all that's happened. I slowly sunk to my rear on the ground, leaning on a fence. I then buried my face into my hooves and began to cry. That's all I could do right now at this point. Cry. After seeing all of those bodies: the hospital, Ponyville...that mare...it all just made me want to...
*creak*
I stopped crying instantly the moment I heard the noise. I slowly turned around to the house behind me. I didn't see anything, but I know there's something...or someone, hiding in there.
Slowly, I got up on all fours and began to slowly walk towards the porch of the house. I was trying my best to be quiet. After a few seconds, I made it onto the porch. I was just a few hooves away from the door.
I tip-hoofed slowly to the door, and then reached my hoof out to it. I then slowly, and carefully, began to open it...
Once it was opened, I looked inside. Nothing. I sighed to myself and began to shut the door. Guess it was just my-
WHACK!!
2 hours later...
"O...Ooh...." I slowly moaned as I began to gain consciousness, all while feeling an extreme pain in the back of my head.
As I opened my eyes, I found myself once again in a bed. It's the hospital all over again. Luckily, I wasn't back in the hospital, but rather in a bedroom of a home. The only lighting in the bedroom were candles. Apple scented candles. But surprisingly, I wasn't the only pony in the room. There were two others, one, a young, yellow filly, and the other, a large, red stallion. The stallion had one of those tattoo things on his rear as well, but for some reason, the filly didn't.
"You're awake," I heard a voice say to me. I turned to see the red stallion looking at me.
"Ah was afraid I'd done killed ya," he said in a southern accent.
"Wait a minute, you were the one who-" He began to quiet me down.
"Shh! Keep it down. Do ya want them ta hear ya?" He whispered to me.
My eyebrow raised in utter confusion. "Who's "them" ?" I asked, a bit bewildered.
"The biters. Ya want them ta hear us?" He replied.
The stallion looked like he was going to say something else, but a rather feminine voice stopped him from doing so.
"Big Mac."
We both turned to the doorway of the bedroom to see an orange mare wearing a cowboy hat, looking at us. She seemed to be staring at the stallion known as Big Mac with a bit of a worried-but-more-serious face. She then looked at me. As she did, her eyes opened a bit more than they had been. She stared at me for a couple of seconds before turning her head towards the small yellow filly.
"Apple Bloom, why don't you go on into the living room with Big Mac here and talk to Granny Smith? I need to talk to Lightnin' for a moment."
She knows my name?
"Alrighty, Applejack," the little filly named Apple Bloom replied to Applejack and smiled.
Wait a second...Applejack. Wasn't that the name of one of the mares in the pictures? Is this her?
Apple Bloom then walked out of the room, Big Mac following her, but not before whispering something to Applejack. Fortunately, I was close enough to hear.
"He doesn't know what they are," Big Mac said to Applejack.
Applejack closed her eyes for a moment before replying. "Ah know."
Finally, Big Mac left the room, leaving only me and Applejack alone. It was silent for a little bit. Neither of us said anything to each other at all. All Applejack did was just...stare at me. Even though she's beautiful, she's creeping me out. What creeped me out more was that she was slowly walking towards me, like she was inspecting me or something. I was afraid of what could happen next. Finally, just at the side of the bed, she stopped.
The only thing I could hear was her breathing. She didn't do anything at all...until she suddenly pulled me into a hug. Confusion was all I could think about. Why was she hugging me?
She sniffled for a second before speaking up. "Ah th-thought you were a g-goner!" She cried, but silently.
After a few moments, Applejack pulled away from me. There were tears in her eyes. She was crying.
"Are you...are you Applejack?" I asked her.
She looked a little confused through her tears. "What, can't remember one of your friends?"
As much as I didn't want to admit it, I nodded, but explained why. When I woke up, what happened as I went through the hospital, how I got out, and how I got here.
"So...ya can't remember anythin'?" Applejack asked me, sounding heartbroken.
Sadly, I nodded. "No...I'm sorry, Applejack."
She smiled slightly at me, and rested a hoof on my shoulder, making me blush slightly, though she couldn't see it. "T'ain't your fault, partner."
I smiled back at her. Suddenly, her smile slowly faded, but then she asked me something else.
"But...ya know 'bout the dead ponies...right?"
I nodded to her again. "Yeah. I saw tons of them...All over the ground...in the ambulances..."
"No...not those dead ones..."
I looked up. "What do you mean, "Not those dead ones?" "
She looked afraid for some reason. Slowly, she sighed. Then she began to explain to me.
"After you ended up in the hospital...somethin'...started goin' around. A flu. But it wasn't any regular flu. Days after it started spreading, there were news reports of dead ponies...risin' up and attacking anythin' and anypony they could get their hooves on. They swarmed Equestria within days. The Royal Guard couldn't even stop them..."
Applejack stopped for a minute before continuing.
"After a few days, ah went outside...hopin' ta find mah friends...there was this one filly...she...she was so young and scared...and defenseless. Ah saw those...monsters...g-grab her...a-a-and..."
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She broke down and began to cry. She covered her face with her hooves and sobbed right there in front of me. I couldn't just stand watching her cry, so I wrapped my forelegs around her, and began to hug her gently and lovingly.
"Don't worry, Applejack...it's okay. Don't cry...please," I whispered to her, trying to calm her down. Eventually, she did. Her cries soon ceased, and she pulled away from me, a faint smile on her face. However, she wasn't done explaining things. She didn't want me to stop her, so I didn't. She simply continued forward.
"Things...things always went from bad to worse once the sun went down. Those who were dead...changed. During the day, all they do is just...limp around...l-like they're hurt or somethin'. But...once night fell...they got...faster...stronger...deadlier...Anypony caught outside at night was...t-torn apart by those...things in a matter of seconds. It spreads quicker then. That...that's why we always keep quiet during the night, and we keep the lights low."
Applejack stopped to catch herself for a moment.
"Yer lucky you woke up and came here when you did...Had you been out any sooner...especially at night...w-well...it's...it's just good that yer okay." Once again, Applejack smiled to me. After a few moments, she got up from where she was sitting.
"Alright. A-Ah think it's time ya got out of bed," she then said to me less shaken. I then proceeded to get off the bed, but then she stopped me.
"Whoa, now. Slowly. Don't forgit, ya got hit pretty hard, partner."
She's right. I need to take it slow after getting hit with a 4 hoof wooden bat. Slowly and gently, I got out of the bed, with Applejack carefully assisting me. All of a sudden, the sharp pain from the side of my stomach erupted once more, and I fell back to the bed. I almost cried from the sheer pain of it. I thought it would've at least stopped hurting after recovering that whole time.
"Thunder? You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply to her, grunting a bit, "I-It's just my wound...don't worry, though. I'm fine."
"Are ya shure?"
"Y-Yeah...don't worry." I looked up to Applejack and smiled faintly. She wasn't sure whether to be worried or not.
"Well...alright. Ya can stay in here for a few more minutes if you want." She then begins to walk out.
"Where're you going?" I ask before she leaves.
"Ah'm gonna help mah granny get dinner ready. You can stay here for now and Ah can come git ya once it's ready."
"No, that's okay. I'm gonna head into the living room with Big Mac and...uh..."
"Apple Bloom?"
"Yeah, Apple Bloom. Hehe," I chuckled, making her giggle, which made me blush yet again. What's with me blushing lately?
Once Applejack leaves the room, I sigh silently, and look at my wound. It's bleeding a little, but it could be worse. By what Applejack told me, I could be a mindless, shambling corpse.
Once the pain stops, I look around to see if my satchel is in here. Luckily, I see it sitting on a table with a few pictures on it. I slowly get up, and this time, there's no pain. I then slowly walk over to the table, grab the satchel, and wrap it around my back. I then look back to the pictures. They're pictures of Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom. Two of the pictures showed Applejack and Apple Bloom as adorable looking foals.
Another picture showed the three with an older looking mare.
"I assume that's Granny Smith," I say to myself, inspecting the old mare. I looked at the pictures for a few more minutes, before heading out to the living room. When I arrived, Apple Bloom was laying on the floor, coloring something. She looked up and saw me, then smiled.
"Hi, Lightnin'."
"Hey, Apple Bloom."
I sat down in a seat next to her, and asked her, "What're you drawing?"
"A picture of me and mah friends." I felt a little heartbroken. I hope her friends are okay.
"Are your friends...okay?"
"Yep. We managed to get a message from them on our ol' radio."
"Where are they?"
"They're in Baltimare. Mah sister says them Royal Guard ponies put these things called barricades around the city, and ponies from everywhere are stayin' inside there. Mah sister says in a few days, we might be able to leave to go see 'em!" she says quietly, but happily. Then her smile becomes an adorable looking pout, and she sort of picks at the wooden floor with her hoof adorably.
"But...Ah kinda don't wanna leave here. Ah grew up here. It's mah home." She then looked like she was about to cry. I can't see another pony cry again, so I pick her up and hug her.
"Hey, don't worry. Maybe you won't have to leave home. I have an idea. Maybe we can get your friends to come here instead. That way, you won't have to leave." I move her in front of me so she's looking at me.
"Really?" she asks excitedly.
"Maybe. I'll have to ask your sister later on."
"Alrighty then." I then set her down so she can continue coloring, but then she asks me another question.
"Lightnin'?"
"Hmm?"
"Is it true what mah sister said? How you can't remember anythin'?"
"Yes, sadly, it's true," I replied, depressed.
"Will you be able to get your memory back?"
That question didn't really ring into my head until she asked that. Can I get my memory back? I didn't know the answer to that, but all I could reply was, "I hope so, Apple Bloom."
After saying that, I heard Applejack's voice.
"Soup's on, everypony," she says to us.
"C'mon, youngins! Get it while it's hot!" Granny Smith added.
"Finally! Time ta eat!" Apple Bloom said happily.
"Eeyup," Big Mac only said. The three of us headed into the dining room, where there was a pot of soup in the center of the table. We all then sat down, and Applejack opened the pot, allowing steam to pour out. A smell filled my nose. But it smelled familiar.
"Apple Soup?" I asked.
"Yep. Bestest soup we've had." Applejack then took the empty bowl in front of Apple Bloom and filled it with soup. Tiny slices of Apple with liquid was poured into the bowl, which was set back down in front of Apple Bloom, who was going to take a sip of the soup until Applejack stopped her.
"Not until everypony has soup, Apple Bloom," she simply replied.
"Oh, Okay then," Apple Bloom said disappointingly, and looked quite impatient while waiting, licking her lips. Applejack then took my bowl and filled it up with soup, then placed it down back in front of me.
"Before the accident, whenever you came to help me at the farm, Ah invited you to have dinner here. Sometimes we would have Apple Soup. You weren't quite fond of it, until you tried it. Since then, you've always had Apple Soup when you ate. Hehe..."
Eventually, after about a minute, everypony's bowl had soup in it. Applejack then closed the pot and sat down.
"Alright. Dig in, everypony," Applejack said, and everypony at the table began to eat...or drink...or both.
I looked at the soup. It had only chunks of apple in it, with what looked like apple cider.
"Lightnin'," I heard Applejack say to me.
"Huh? What?" I replied.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. Still just a bit dazed. Heh," I chuckled a little nervously. Slowly, I picked up my spoon, collected some of the cider looking soup with a small chunk of apple in it, and put it in my mouth. After swallowing the soup and apple chunk, I smiled in delight from the taste, and had more of the soup.
"Heh. Looks like you still enjoy it," Applejack said to me, causing me to chuckle.
About a half hour later, Big Mac and Apple Bloom were sitting in the living room, while Apple Bloom and Granny Smith washed the bowls out. I walked into the kitchen. Applejack saw me and smiled.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey. Hey, Granny Smith."
"Why, hello there, sonny."
Applejack looked to her grandmother and asked, "Granny, why don't you go on into the living room to rest?"
She then looked to me. "Lightnin', you don't mind if you help me, do ya?"
I blushed slightly, and not knowing it, my wings sort of...opened up for some reason. "I'd be glad to."
"Heh. Ah see that," she replied, giggling. What did she mean? I then look to the sides of me. I saw my opened, stiff wings, and blushed, causing Applejack to giggle again.
"Well, Ah'll leave you two lovebirds alone in here then," Granny Smith replied to us, which ended up making Applejack blush deeply.
"Granny!" Applejack said, embarrassed. All Granny Smith did was chuckle, and she walked out of the kitchen to the living room. Once she left, I walked over to the exact spot she was standing in. I grabbed a random bowl and placed it into the huge bucket that was in the sink. Since there was no power, they couldn't use the sinks, so the bucket is the closest thing to a sink, I suppose.
As I was cleaning the dishes, I noticed at the corner of my eye, Applejack was looking at me, but once she saw me looking back, she looked back to the dishes. I could even see her faintly blushing.
I simply shrugged and continued to clean the dishes. A few minutes later, Applejack and I were in the living room, sitting down by a dim lantern that gave the room a faint glow. The other three had gone off to bed. For the past few minutes, it was nearly silent despite the crickets chirping. Occasionally, the two of us glanced at each other every now and then. Finally, after around five minutes, I spoke up.
"So...about Baltimare..." I began, but quietly.
"Yeah?" Applejack replied.
"Well...Apple Bloom talked to me about that, and...she said she didn't want to leave here. She said it's where she was born, where she was raised."
"Ah know...but her friends are there. Wouldn't she want ta see them again?"
"Wouldn't you want to stay at the place you were born and grew up at?" I replied.
Applejack opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and closed it, looking a bit depressed.
"Ya gotta point," she quietly says, "plus, we do have a food supply, literally an endless one."
It was silent again for a few moments, before I spoke up again. "...so?"
Applejack looked to the floor for a few moments, thinking the whole problem through. Finally, she looked up.
"Ah...Ah don't know. We might have an endless food supply, but they have better protection. Plus, there's another problem..."
"What is it?"
She looked up and pointed upstairs. "There's not enough bedrooms. We only got beds for me, Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith. What about the others?"
She's right, I guess. I then began to think of a place they could stay. That was when I looked outside, to the barn. I smiled.
"How about the barn? I think it'd be big enough to hold...uh, how many ponies?"
"Eleven. The 5 girls, Apple Bloom's friends, the Wonderbolts, and Shining Armor."
Wonderbolts? How come I've heard that name before...doesn't matter.
"So what do we do?" I asked her.
"Well...we can-"
Suddenly, we heard a strange noise not that far. It sounded like a static noise, like from a radio. That was when Applejack and I looked to the radio on the coffee table. It was on.
"A-a-ck," a voice said on the radio. It was broken up, however, like its signal wasn't strong.
Quickly, Applejack got to the radio, picked up the communicator on it, and pressed the button.
"Hello? Who is this?"
After a few seconds, we just heard static. Finally, a voice spoke.
"Applejack!" The voice cried.
"Twilight! Is that you?" Applejack replied.
"Yes....m...h..p...s..." the voice replied, breaking up again.
"Twilight, are ya okay? What's wrong?" Applejack asked, worried. Even though I didn't know Twilight, I, too, was worried.
"Balti...ru...bi..." the voice became more and more broken up, only saying fragments of words, but the one word I could partially understand was "Baltimare".
"What about Baltimare?"
Static.
"Twilight? Hello? Twilight!"
Still, nopony replied. The radio was just static once more. Applejack and I waited and waited for a response, but it never came. Finally, after a few minutes, Applejack flicked the switch to the radio and turned it off. For the first few moments, it was complete, utter silence.
That was, until Applejack began to sob.
Applejack dropped down onto the floor, her back against the wall, and began to just cry with her face in her hooves. I looked down to see her weeping silently, as to not wake the others.
I then sat down next to her and looked at her. Finally, I wrapped my forelegs around her and hugged her gently.
"Hey..." I whispered in her ear. "It's okay...don't cry...please..."
I knew she was worried about them. Of course, they were her best friends. Why wouldn't she be worried about them? And even though I don't really know them yet, I'm worried about them too.
"Don't worry...they're fine....okay?" I kept whispering to her, slowly rubbing her back with a hoof, trying to calm her down.
Slowly, it began to work. Finally, her cries ceased until they were sniffles. I pulled away from her enough to see her face. It had tears dripping down. Gently, I began to wipe away the tears with my hoof.
"How?" She asked after a few moments of silence.
"How will we know...? We're right here, and they're all the way over there! How do we know they're safe?"
She's right. How will we know if they are okay? I could...no. It'd be risky. I'm not sure she'd agree with it at all.
...But...there's no harm in suggesting.
"I...I can go there. Check it out."
Right after I said that, Applejack looked up to me, her eyes with an extremely confused look to them, observing me like I was some sort of strange creature from another world.
"Y...Yer crazy. It's dangerous out there. Ya might not come back!" She replied very worriedly.
"It may be dangerous...but it's worth a shot...right?"
"N-No. Ah've finally seen ya fer the first time in a month, and Ah'm not gonna let cha go back out there and get eaten! Please, don't do this! It's crazy!" She nearly yelled, but not too loud to wake anypony up. By then, tears were falling down her face again.
"Applejack...if nopony goes there, we'll never know. And if I don't go there, who will? The others need you to look after them, Apple Bloom's too young, Granny Smith's definitely out of the question, and Big Mac probably won't dare to leave this place, and that leaves me. I know I've been out of the loop for a while, but I want to do anything I can now. And now, I want to help my friends."
Applejack then became silent, not moving. Her face that showed she was in deep thought came back. She wouldn't look up at me for a few moments. Even her loud breathing went silent. Soon enough, however, she finally looked up to me, and I waited for her answer.
"O...Okay..."
That was when the tears in her eyes began to form again. Once more, I simply brushed them off.
"Hey, hey...don't worry. I'll be okay. If I was lucky enough to go through Ponyville without becoming one of them...and meeting...you..." I blushed, and this time, Applejack could see it, making her giggle silently.
"...Alright, then..." Applejack replied. I smiled and wrapped my forelegs around her once more. As I was hugging her, I slowly brushed her mane with my hoof. It felt silky, like a blanket. It was amazing. Slowly, I lowered my hoof down her mane to the bun.
"Y'all can let it down, if ya want," she whispered.
I blushed again, but listening to her, I took the bun out of her mane, letting it flow down freely. I slowly pulled away to get a look at her. I nearly fainted at the sight.
"Y...you l-look...beautiful," I said to her, causing her to blush.
Just then, at that moment...something happened. I don't know what it was, or how it happened...but the next thing I knew, my lips were perfectly against Applejack's. I was kissing her. Suddenly, I pulled away from her, blushing deeply, and my wings popped out like before.
"I...uh..." I was completely speechless, and so was she.
We both just stared at each other for what seemed like hours, but it was only a few minutes. We just continued to stare...
...that was, until Applejack kissed me back. It completely took me by surprise. Slowly, however, I gave into it, and slowly wrapped my forelegs around her, holding her as we embraced in a passionate moment, which seemed to have escalated very quickly.
Just then, I could see one of her hooves reach for one of my stiff wings. I don't know why she was reaching for my wing, until a sudden burst of pleasure sparked through me. And another burst. And another, and another, and another. I looked to my wing to see Applejack stroking it.
"I-I uh...h-hah...Applej-..." I couldn't seem to speak normal. The pleasure was literally coarsing through my body. This was completely new to me. I never knew you could get pleasure from your wing being stroked. Well, maybe I did before...you know, the accident and all.
"Applejack?" A voice called out, and we instantly stopped what we were doing and looked to the doorway to see Apple Bloom standing there, rubbing one of her eyes in a cute way.
"U-Uh, Apple Bloom! What're you doin' awake at this time?" Applejack asked.
"Ah was wonderin' if y'all were still awake. What're you doin' with Lightnin'?"
Quickly, Applejack had made an excuse.
"Ah was just, uh...teachin' him how ta kiss!" Applejack then smiled sheepishly.
"R-Real good, that is," I replied, sort of correcting Applejack's lie, which made her blush faintly.
"Well, what was she doin' to yer wing?" She then asked.
"Oh. Well, when Big Mac hit me, and I fell on the ground...I kinda...fell on my wing. She was...massaging it. You know, trying to make it feel better!"
I then somehow bent my wing a little to make it look more like it was broken to convince Apple Bloom.
"Yep! Just massagin' it!" Applejack replied, putting her hooves back onto my wings, and I tried to sound like it was painful, but feeling good at the same time.
"O...kai...W-Well...G'night, Applejack. G'night, Lightnin'," Apple Bloom replied, convinced, then headed back to her bedroom.
We waited until we heard the closing of a door upstairs. Then we sighed in relief. Applejack then looked at the clock which read "11:26 pm".
"Whelp, we best get ta sleep right now if yer gonna head on out in the mornin'."
"Huh?" I asked, confused for a moment, until I realized I was headed to Baltimare tomorrow.
"Oh, right! Right. So, uh...where do I sleep?" I asked.
"Well, y'all can sleep with me, if y'all wanna."
That was when my wings sprung open again, and I blushed deeply once more.
"Um...sure," I replied. Applejack giggled at my wings and blushed, then she began to walk up the stairs to her bedroom. I followed her up to it. When I reached it, she was laying down on one side of the bed. Slowly, I walked up to the bed and got inside, laying directly next to Applejack. Once I was fully in the bed, I turned and looked at her. She was staring back at me with those gorgeous eyes.
It's funny, I wake up in a hospital, with no memory of anything from before, and now I'm in a bed with Applejack. This escalated very fast.
"Are ya..." Applejack began quietly. "Are ya shure ya wanna head up there?"
"They're our friends, aren't they? Of course I want to head up there. I don't want to leave you guys...I really don't...But after some of the things I've seen today, I want to do all I can and help," I replied.
That made Applejack smile.
"Well...if this is gon' be yer last night here for a while..." She then put her face right in front of mine.
"Ah'll make sure it's a good one," she finished rather seductively. Finally, she placed her lips onto mine again, causing me to give in once more to the kiss. Throughout the night, we kissed and cuddled...and did something even more beautiful...all without making a noise to disturb the peace of the night.
The next morning...
It was early in the morning when I had awoken. It was a bit blurry, but I began to remember everything that happened last night. Every single bit of it. It was incredible. As I remembered, I felt something squirming slightly between my forelegs. I looked to see that Applejack was held in my forelegs, sleeping soundly and peacefully. Dear Celestia, she looks so beautiful. It's quite odd how we managed to make no noise during our little event last night, but it was a good thing.
Slowly, I could see Applejack awaken to turn her head to me.
"H-Howdy, partner," she said tiredly, causing me to chuckle a bit.
"Hey...sleep soundly?" I replied and asked.
"Yep." She then smiled at me, warming my heart. Slowly, I reached in and kissed her once more, and she gladly accepted it. We did this for a few minutes before heading downstairs to make breakfast. Together .
By noon, when the sun was highest in the sky, Applejack led me to the barn for something she said was important for my journey.
"What did you want to show me?" I asked her.
She didn't answer me until we reached the barn door. She opened it, and what was inside was not quite what you would expect to see on an apple farm. It was a wagon. But it wasn't just any wagon. It was an electric wagon, powered by an engine that could propel it forward just by stepping on a pedal on the inside.
"How long have you had this?" I asked.
"Few months. We got it before everything went to Tartarus. Haven't found a mighty good reason ta use it. Guess since yer headin' up there, guess it'd be a good time as any," she replied, opening the driver's door of the wagon.
I looked inside the wagon, which contained a steering wheel and a pedal. There was also a compartment above the driver's seat for the keys to start the ignition. I looked inside the compartment. The keys were there.
"Lightnin'?" I heard Applejack speak from behind me, and I turned back to her.
"Yeah?"
"Uh...Can ya...Can ya please promise not to forget me while you're there?"
"Applejack...I'm heading there for you and Apple Bloom. I'm definitely not going to forget you anytime soon."
Hearing the response made Applejack smile, then the smile slowly faded after a few moments.
"W-Well...Just in case...Ah..." She paused for a moment. In that moment, her hooves reached upward, up to her hat. She clutched it with her hooves and slowly removed it from her head, finally holding it towards me.
"Ah want you to take mah hat."
"What?" Slowly, I grabbed the had from her clutches, examining its detail.
"Are you sure? I mean, last night, you said you and this hat are literally inseparable."
"Ah know...But Ah...Ah just want you to keep it...to...you know...remember me a little bit more." Applejack blushed heavily, also smiling.
I was still having a tough time wondering if I should take something Applejack's worn for maybe years. Examining it, I could see the initials A.J. embedded within its material. I stood for a few moments, looking at the hat. After what seemed like forever, I finally came to an answer.
"Okay." Slowly, I placed the hat onto my head. Perfect fit, and a comfy one too. Suddenly, Applejack walked up to me and hugged me, and I gladly accepted. We just sat there, hugging each other for a few moments before we separated. We then stared into each other's eyes for a moment, before we pulled each other again into a final kiss. I knew that this would be the last kiss we would share for a while, so I savored every moment of it.
During the kiss, I slowly and gently pushed my tongue into Applejack's mouth. She was bit surprised for a moment, but then accepted the foreign object. She then placed her tongue into my mouth, and I gladly accepted it. As we kissed, our tongues danced around in each other's mouth, twisting and twirling in bliss. The action had actually made Applejack moan, a soothing tone to my ears.
Eventually, we pulled away from each other, leaving a trail of saliva between us. Eventually, that trail split. Once we stopped kissing, we began to take breaths, as the kiss had taken some energy out of us.
Once we caught our breath, Applejack looked up to me.
"Stay safe...please?" She asked me.
"I will...I promise," I replied. I then got into the wagon and was about to shut the door when Applejack spoke three meaningful words to me.
"Ah love you."
My heart stopped. I then smiled and looked back to her.
"I...I love you too, Jackie," I replied with a nickname for her, which she liked, knowing by her smile. I then closed the door of the wagon, placed the keys into the ignition, and turned it on. It purred like a beauty.
Slowly, I placed my right hind leg on the pedal below, and the wagon began to move forward. Eventually, I reached the entrance gate, which Big Mac had opened up. I waved to him, and he waved back. The wagon then exited the gate. Once it did, I turned the wheel to the right, heading towards Ponyville. Before I leave...there's just one more thing I need to do.
Eventually, I found myself back in Ponyville, at the town square. I exited the wagon, and began to walk to the grass patch from yesterday. The body of the mare was still there, decaying like it had been for a month.
The moment I closed the door of the wagon, the mare's head slowly looked up to me, and began to snarl once more.
I slowly began to walk towards the mare, who was beginning to crawl to me. I looked around me. On the ground, I found a hoof long knife. I slowly picked it up and looked to the mare.
"Graaagh!" She growled at me.
I just stared, a tear slowly falling down my face. Slowly, I raised the knife. But before I did this, I looked intently at the mare. Even though she was in a horrible state of decay, she still looked beautiful. I assumed she looked even prettier when she was living.
"I'm sorry this had to happen to you..." I said to the mare. With one swing downward, I dove the blade into the mare's skull. There was a growl and snarl for only a few seconds, then it was silent. It was over. The mare's undead life was over.
Once it was done, I pulled the knife out. I then wiped the tear away from my eye and headed back to the wagon, not looking back at the mare. Once I was back inside, I began to drive once more to the road on the opposite side of Ponyville. Eventually, within a few minutes, Ponyville was at the horizon, far from me. In my rearview mirror, I took one last glance at Sweet Apple Acres, before it disappeared from sight.
I sighed in sadness, knowing I was leaving Applejack behind. Like I said before, it's funny how I wake up in a hospital with no memory, and by the end of the day, I'm in bed with Applejack. And now...I'm leaving her. Just knowing that made the funny dim quickly.
I know I might get killed on this mission...but for Celestia and Applejack's sake, I'll try my hardest to make sure that doesn't happen...no...I'll make damn sure it won't happen...
2:42 pm
City of Baltimare
With the help of the so called GPS I had recently turned on, and after hours of listening to nothing but the sound of the tires rolling on the dirt roads below, I began to see something on the horizon. It wasn't an illusion or anything like that. No...it was a city. An enormous city, hundreds of buildings, side by side.
"Baltimare," I said to myself.
I was amazed by the sheer size of it. There were countless buildings bunched up all together, some connected in the middle. I was curious to know what was going on inside that city. Maybe nothing happened at all. Maybe radio transmission was weak. Still, I'm not going to stop until I get there, especially if my friends are here.
But as I got closer to the city, I began to see what looked like smoke rise from one of the buildings. Maybe there's some kind of smokestack on top?
...Now I feel stupid...
A few minutes later, I was inside the city...but it was far from what I imagined. Inside the city, it looked just like Ponyville: Crashed carriages and wagons, dead bodies, and papers and clothing everywhere...
I then stopped for a moment to inspect the bodies. These bodies weren't like the mare at the town square, or the stallion at the hospital. These bodies weren't badly decomposed. They were fresh, about maybe a day or two. As I got closer to inspect them, I noticed several bite marks and most of their body torn apart. I now knew what happened to Baltimare...
"Biters."
Suddenly, the wagon pushed slightly to the left. I looked to the right side to see a biter standing there, banging on the passenger door, trying to get in. In fear, I stomped on the pedal...but the wagon didn't move. I stepped on the pedal again. Once more, the wagon didn't budge, other than the biter moving it. Again and again, I pressed it, but nothing happened.
I looked around in the wagon to see if anything was the problem. I found it right behind the wheel. It was a meter. A meter for gas. The arrow pointed at the letter E on the meter.
I was out of gas.
"You've gotta be shitting me," I said to myself. Suddenly, the wagon pushed further to the left. I looked to the right to see a few more biters pushing against the wagon. That was when I looked in front of me. My eyes widened in complete horror. There was a horde of these things slowly shambling towards the vehicle.
Once they reached the wagon, they pushed it with enough force to send it tumbling onto its side. I slammed into the window of the left door, causing the glass to shatter from the impact, but I was spared being stabbed by the glass.
I then looked around the sideways car. There were biters swarming it. I couldn't tell how many. That's how many there were. They showed no emotion but anger. They just snarled and yelled at me through the windows.I knew that within a few moments, they would break the windows, barge in, and kill me...or worse...turn me into one of them.
No...this can't be happening. Not too quickly. This is too soon. I promised Applejack I'd be safe...that I'd be careful...
I...I failed her.
I knew there was no way out of this. So I began to reach for the knife in my satchel. Once I grabbed it, I slowly brought it up to my neck.
"Applejack...I'm so sorry." A tear fell from my face. I was not ready to end my life so soon, but I had to do it...or else they'd do it for me.
Bang!
Suddenly, the banging of the wagon ceased. The biters all seemed to stop once they heard the noise. What was that? It sounded like a loud boom.
A few moments later, the biters began to just...pass right by the wagon, like they had completely forgotten about me, like I was invisible to them. Eventually, they were gone from sight, following the noise. I was completely frozen for a few moments. I would've died right there, right then, but that mysterious noise saved me.
"Hey!" a voice rang, which brought me out of my daze. I looked around to see where it came from.
"You! In the sideways wagon! What're you doing? Get out of there, now! Before they come back!" I looked up to see a radio similar to Applejack's radio, placed next to the steering wheel of the wagon. I picked up the communicator, pressed the button, and spoke into it.
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Dumbass, did you hear me?! GET. OUT. NOW!!"
END OF EPISODE 1.
