Appletine

Appletine:Cutie Mark Crusader Zombie Hunters

        “Today, I have an important announcement to make. I’m assigning a book report that is due next week where you will decide amongst yourselves on what book you’ll be writing about, in teams of no more than three if you choose to do so,” Cheerilee continued with her announcement, “So stay safe out there and make sure to read. See all of you next week!” she waved as her students trotted out of the schoolhouse.

        Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle huddled up next to each other in a circle. “We’re gonna have to search around for a book, though I don’t believe that I have one.” Scootaloo shrugged her shoulders, unaware that she had a Daring Do book in her room.

        “Why don’t we borrow your Daring Do book?” Apple Bloom brought up, tapping her chin.

“Rainbow Dash gave me that book, I’m not giving that up,” Scootaloo pouted and crossed her forelegs.

“Well we need to find something. Sweetie Belle, what about you?” Apple Bloom quirked, raising an eyebrow and staring at her friend.

“I don’t recall Rarity having any books, besides the one that Spike brought her and ate it. You don’t want to know how they got it out.” Sweetie Belle plugged her mouth with a stretched hoof to stop the flow of vomit from coming out.

“The only option that we have is…”

“Twilight’s library in her new castle!” the three adventurous fillies exclaimed together, they trotted away from the schoolhouse to the castle.

As the sun’s light met the reflective surface of Twilight’s castle as it rose over the horizon above the hills, the light shined on the castle. They knocked on the tall doors that stood triumphantly before them, and Twilight swung the doors open with her magic.

“Hey girls! What can I do for you?” Twilight asked, letting the three of them into the castle.

She closed the doors behind them as they walked up the stairs to the library. The library’s book shelves were stocked with new books that Celestia sent to her the day before, to replace the destroyed books in her battle against Tirek.

“We need a book to write a book report for, we’re desperate for any book that you have.” Sweetie Belle’s voice squeaked, flailing her forelegs around.

“Anything that is not boring, of course.”  Scootaloo rolled her eyes and thought of the list of boring books that Twilight would suggest.

“Lucky for you that I have a vast collection of books to choose from,” Twilight pointed her hoof across the bookshelf, where they found books labeled from A-Z.

“Thanks Twilight, we’ll take the last book under Z.” Apple Bloom turned her attention to a large book that had an infected red eye inside of a triangle on the cover; “Girls, give me a boost!”

Sweetie Belle jumped on Scootaloo’s back, Apple Bloom climbed onto Sweetie’s back, and locked her hooves on the side of the book. She felt the weight of the book pull them down as their bodies swayed back and forth. The weight of the book caused them to all crash down on the floor below.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked in a concerned tone.

“Yeah, we’re okay,” They quickly flipped through the contents of the book for something interesting, and a particular incantation came into the view, catching their eyes.

Warn all who read this book,

Forbid those who take a look

This is not for the faint of heart

This may be a work of art

But many have not returned beyond this part

“This is one weird riddle, Twilight do you know anything about this?” They all looked at Twilight, she smiled and her ears perked up.

“It’s an incantation. They are similar to riddles, their sole purpose is to confuse ponies and have them go on a wild goose chase. Also, they can be activated using magic.”

Twilight focused on the book, honing in on the center of her horn. A small magical orb resonated from her horn implanting itself on the page of the incantation, as the orb spun around on the open page and sealed itself inside. “You see, perfectly harmless.”

The irony would soon come to bite her in the butt as a gust of wind blew through the library. Twilight shielded her eyes from the gusting winds as the increasing power from the orb expanded from the page and sucked the three Crusaders. The book closed automatically and left Twilight flabbergasted.

“Oh my Celestia! Girls?! Oh no! I have to get them back!” Twilight ran to find her books of magic, specifically the books that can reverse what happened to the three fillies and bring them back.

A hole in the sky spat the three fillies from the dark, grey clouds and they crashed down the hard ground below. They cracked some of the joints in their legs and necks to rid themselves of the pain, looking around the gloomy world around them.  Rising up on their hooves, they scanned the area, only to see a pony with flesh hanging from her mouth, revealing her exposed jaw.

“Ah don’t know where we are, but this is not the Equestria that we’ve grown up in.” Apple Bloom gasped as the pony approached them slowly, a low moan escaping her mouth.

Scootaloo and Sweetie’s eyes peered at Apple Bloom’s attire: a baseball cap, a dark red shirt covering her chest, with a small purple bag on her back and navy blue jeans. “Apple Bloom, why are you wearing that silly outfit?”

“We can worry about that later. Let’s just get out of here,” Scootaloo added as the rotting pony pounced down on her with its mouth wide open. Snarling and snapping her teeth at the young filly, planning to have her first meal in months.

The sound of a gunshot rang in their ears as a speeding bullet penetrated through the zombie’s skull, leaving a hole where the bullet passed through and blood splattered on Scootaloo’s face. She tossed the zombie’s rotting corpse off of her, retaining the urge to vomit from its unpleasant stench.

        “Thanks for the help, who are you?” Scootaloo asked before getting up from the ground, leaving a small trace of dirt on her fur.

        A young girl with dark brown hair and a similar baseball cap to Apple Bloom’s made her way over to the three friends, picking up her bullet. She inserts the bullet back in the cartridge of her pistol and closed the bolt. “The name is Clementine, and those rotting corpses that are roaming around are zombies. I know that you girls don’t know me and are new to this world, but it’s better to trust someone than to thrive in an environment like this alone.”

        “Thanks for the offer, but my friends and I will discuss this to see if we can trust ya.” They huddled in a circle to speak privately.

        “I don’t think that we can trust this girl, we don’t even know her.” Sweetie Belle questioned, raising an eyebrow.

        “I have to agree with Sweetie on this one. Like Applejack always said, you can’t trust a horse with hay that you leave out in the open.” Apple Bloom added, agreeing with her friend’s previous statement.

        Scootaloo shook her head. “When it comes to old-fashioned sayings that don’t make a lick of sense, AB you’re the winner in that category for sure. Seriously though, if we give Clementine a chance and we get to know her better then we’ll be able to survive here. She said that nopony can thrive in an environment like this alone, especially a foreign environment. So, are you guys with me?”

        They looked at each other and back at Scootaloo, putting their hooves together and raising them high in the air. “Cutie Mark Crusader Zombie Hunters, YAY!”

        Clementine’s ears were ringing from the loud shouting that the three fillies made from the credo chant that they had done since they first met. “Hopefully I can get used to that.”

        They walked together to an empty house that was divided by a wooden picket fence. Clementine approached the fence and, looking through a small hole, she spotted three zombies chewing and ripping flesh off of a mare’s neck as she screamed from the pain. Her scream soon died out, after she had lost a huge amount of blood from her neck.

“I hope that you ponies know how to use weapons.”