Chapters Princess Celestia was very troubled. Pacing back and forth, she was muttering to herself, almost like a mad pony. "Crime Rate in Equestria has gone up lately," she would say. "What did I do wrong? Am I ruling incorrectly? Did I put the wrong ponies in charge?" She looked back and forth between the door and the window, making sure nopony was listening in on her. Feeling a bit panicked, she went to go and speak with Luna.
"Luna, what does it mean? Why have the Crime Rates gone up so significantly?"
Luna stared at her sister blankly. "What are you talking about, sister?" She was utterly confused.
Celestia was in front of her sister in a matter of microseconds. "Crime Rates in Equestria have risen by over twelve percent, Luna! What does it mean? Did I do something wrong!?"
Luna was taken by surprise when Celestia got up close. Her full attention was on her older sister now, seeing as she was right in front of her. As she heard what Celestia had been saying, she raised an eyebrow. Her sister seemed to be incredibly worked up and stressed about this issue. She looked Celestia in the eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept in some time! Not to mention her mane, which, instead of normally flowing gracefully to a breeze that was not there, had stopped and gained a bit of a grey-ish tint to it. She decided to ask her about it.
"Sister..."
Celestia had turned around again, facing the wall. "What?"
"When was the last time you slept?"
Celestia whirled back around. "Why is that of any importance!?"
Luna stepped back. "Because i'm worried for you, sister." She approached her older sister cautiously, hoping she didn't lash out against her. "You have bags under your eyes, your mane is dull and flatter than normal, and you seem really stressed."
"Well of course i'm stressed, the Crime Rates just went up by twelve percent!"
Luna shook her head. "You're missing the point, sister. When you don't sleep, your brain doesn't function as well. You need sleep, Celestia. Let me take over while you rest."
Celestia was appalled. Her own sister, saying she was unfit to rule? All because she hadn't gotten any sleep? "I'll show you," Celestia muttered, then she trotted out of Luna's room.
She had an idea. An idea that seemed, at least at this point in time, amazing. She decided that she would cleanse Equestria of all the criminals, simply by eradicating the problem at the source. She decided to end life in Equestria as most ponies knew it. There were some, like Twilight Velvet and her family, that could be helped and have the antidote. All the others, though, had to go. An unnecessary piece of a puzzle? Discard it for now. That's exactly how Celestia's brain was working at that point. She trotted into the "basement," which was re-decorated to be a science lab. All her head scientists were in there already, running their mouths on what was happening. Celestia smiled as warmly as she could, and said:
"Today, my little ponies, we will be creating a plague. First one to get it right gets to choose who the first test subject will be."
Author's Note
Well, it looks like the prologue of our first story is finished. It took me a while to figure out what was going to be in it, seeing as the story is mostly based on my OC. Anyway, the first chapter should be out soon. Hope you guys enjoyed!
Chapter One- Our Story Begins
Hurricane wasn't the brightest of stallions. He liked to sit at home, drawing or messing with his turntable. He had a hard time with other ponies. A bit anti-social, he hung out with the same ponies every time he left the house. That all changed when the plague hit.
It started in Canterlot, infecting one pony with it's deadly symptoms and then another, quickly spreading to many places. It was a disease that altered the mind, driving ponies mad with horrible hallucinations and driving them quickly to suicide. The problem with that way out is that they don't always stay as dead as they might have hoped. Thus earning the seemingly undead ponies the nickname 'Zombie-Ponies.'
Hurricane knew that the word 'Zombie' wasn't to be taken lightly. The ponies were fast, unlike the stereotype slow and tripping Zombie. They would be on a whole city in a matter of minutes. He had witnessed this fact first-hoof about a month ago now. They were galloping right through Ponyville, devouring everypony they saw. It was a bloody mess. Now, Ponyville was deserted, the last of the survivors moving on to some of the towns that weren't attacked. Caneighda had yet to experience the Zombie-Ponies, but Hurricane expected that to change soon.
Getting back on track to our hero of sorts, Hurricane, the pegasus wasn't all that smart. He was scarlet red, with an odd two tone red and white mane. His left eye was green, and his right eye was red. A lot of his personality traits screamed "not the sharpest knife in the drawer." He liked to argue, even when he knew it was futile to do so. He liked to throw things, especially pens and other writing utensils like that. Drawing is another thing he likes to do. He likes to practice everything he can get his hooves on. On the other side of the silver lining, he loved to watch others suffer mentally. When someone is going through some tough times, he is there to tell you to "Suck it up, kid."
Hurricane's last three months were horrible. He'd watched his whole family, his father, mother, sister and brother, get brutally murdered and eaten right before his eyes. His friends didn't answer when he called, he tried sending letters(obviously failing, seeing as the mailmare got eaten too), so he was pretty much helpless against the hordes of Zombie Ponies out there.
Then again, there was the attic.
Hurricane was never allowed in the attic. Ever. Now that his parents were gone... he could see what was up there!! Realizing this, Hurricane trotted from his room to his parents' room. He had to jump just to unfold the ladder, seeing as his mother and brother were unicorns, they could have opened it easily. After the possibly dangerous task of unfolding the ladder, he climbed up the steps and into the attic. When he saw what was up there, his eyes widened in shock.
A weapons shack? That's what was up here? He saw pistols, carbines, sub-machine guns... almost every military-grade weapon known to ponykind. He trotted around the room, confused on why they would have this up here. He saw one that struck him in particular. It was a medium sized sub-machine gun, one that fired sets of three burst shots. He didn't know how he knew that, "Just intuition, I suppose." Finishing his last thought verbally, he picked up the weapon in his mouth.
It was light, even with a full clip. He looked around the room. A whole lot of weapons stronger than this and he chooses the one that no one would ever choose? Normal ponies would go to the shotguns, seeing as they're powerful. "They suck to reload, though." He was shocked at himself. He didn't know this stuff... did he? He went back down the steps of the ladder. Heading to the guest bedroom downstairs, he was going to search the photo albums. That is, until he heard the knock on his door.
Crack! Crack!
Nervous now, he headed to the door, his gun pointed foward. "Who is it?" He called, his voice slightly muffled because of the weapon in hid mouth.
He could hear ponies talking. "Oh thank Celestia someone's in there. Hello, will you let us in please?"
Hurricane thought for a moment. If he let them in, he would have company. If he didn't they would starve or get eaten. Frowning, he opened the door. Through it he saw a cute white pegasus mare with a long pink mane, a black earth stallion with a grey mane, and a magenta unicorn mare with a purple mane. They all looked like Travelers, ponies who's city or town was completely infected and decided to move away.
"You guys need a place to crash for tonight?"
The white mare spoke up. "Yes sir."
Hurricane scowled. "Don't call me sir. I'm leaving tomorow, so you should get as much rest as you can tonight."
"Yes, mister...."
Hurricane's scowl lightened, as it was the younger magenta mare spoke up this time.
"My name is Hurricane."
It was the stallion who spoke up this time. "Colonel Draft of the former Royal Guard, at your service."
Hurricane could use his training with special weapons like this.
The pink mare spoke again. "Whirlwind. Not quite at your service, but i'm here to help."
The tension level rose a bit. There was a moment of silence. Hurricane looked at the magenta mare.
She smiled. "My name is Stencil."
Hurricane nodded. He turned aside so they could all get in. As they trotted in, he looked them all over once more. The Colonel's Cutie Mark was a blue shield with three swords behind it. Whirlwind's was a green tornado, with leaves flying around in it, and Stencil's was a pad with a pencil. Hurricane looked at his own, almost as if he had forgotten what it was. It was a pair of red and black headphones with a black zigzag line hitting both the earpads. Looking back to the visitors, he nodded. "I have a guest room, my parents' room, and my room. So, unfortunately, one of you will have to bunk with me. Any problems with that? If so, you can sleep on the floor down here."
Author's Note
First chapter done. If anyone would like to help edit and stuff, just contact me and i'll get back to you as soon as I can. It would be most appreciated! Hope you enjoyed!
Chapter Two- Friends? More?
Hurricane got stuck with Whirlwind. Maybe they thought it fitting, or maybe they just didn't want to sleep with him. Not that he wanted to sleep with any of them, especially not Draft, but it did hurt his feelings a bit. Just a bit. So, Hurricane headed up to his room to sleep early. He wasn't expecting Whirlwind to follow him, but she did. Not noticing, he just jumped in the bed and pulled the blankets over him. All of a sudden, he felt somepony else get in the bed. He frowned, and rolled over. He was startled when he saw Whirlwind staring back into his eyes. "Wh-what're you doing!?" He stuttered.
"Well, I was stuck with you, wasn't I?"
Regaining his composure, Hurricane sighed and rolled his eyes. "I guess." He rolled back around.
Whirlwind stared at the back of his head for a moment. The tension between the two was still high. After deciding not to say anything yet, she rolled over too. Unintentionally, she rubbed her flank against his. They both blushed, Hurricane turning a light shade of pink, and Whirlwind turned red. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Hurricane spoke up. "What was that for?"
"I'm sorry... I just rolled over, and..."
"It's fine, it was just... warm. And weird."
The tension that was between them turned into another awkward silence, Hurricane realizing what he had just said.
Whirlwind giggled a bit. "Warm?"
Hurricane blushed an even lighter pink. "Uh...."
Whirlwind rolled over and smiled at the back of his head. Hurricane rolled over too. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment and then looked away. Whirlwind blushed even more, but Hurricane couldn't. Hurricane grinned. "I guess we should get some sleep then."
Whirlwind also grinned. "Yeah, I guess so too."
They rolled back over, the blush slowly fading from their cheeks. They fell asleep slowly, still grinning.
The next day, Hurricane woke up with his mane sticking in different directions. Whirlwind also woke up with a crazy manestyle, but hers was up in an odd cowlick. Hurricane sat up, yawning and looking to Whirlwind. He laughed, pointing at her mane. She also sat up, looking at her own mane. When she looked to his, she laughed too. The awkwardness and tension being completely gone, they both felt like it could be easy to be friends. Hurricane heard somepony trotting down the hallway, pausing right outside the door.
"Sounds like you two are friends now." It was Draft.
Whirlwind rolled her eyes, obviously assuming he had meant something else. "Yeah, Colonel. We're friends now. That a problem?" She said sarcastically.
"No, no. Just checking up ob you two. Don't get too friendly with him, Whirlwind. He's leaving today."
Whirlwind and Hurricane had both forgot about this. Whirlwind looked to Hurricane, with a hint of dissapointment. She got up and trotted out into the hallway, following Draft. It seemed Stencil had been up for a while, because he smelled a hint of eggs in the air. Getting out of the bed, he sighed.
"Well, that was a bit awkward," he said to himself, plainly stating the obvious.
He trotted out to the hallway, looked to his left where his parent's room was, and stared. Contemplating whether or not to go in, he stayed silent. After a few moments, he shook his head and trotted down the stairs. Entering the living room immediately, he turned on the radio like he did every morning. After adjusting the knobs on the front, he heard the voice of a Caneighdian reporter listing all the names of the ponies who had been killed or have been missing. He hoped every day that he wouldn't hear one of his friend's names.
As the reporter listed off the names, Hurricane sat down in his rolling chair(which he conveniently named "Roley") and listened. Staring at the radio, he didn't notice Stencil coming up behind him with a plate of eggs.
"I made you some eggs, Mister Hurricane."
Hurricane raised and eyebrow, spinning around. "Who gave you permission to use my stovetop, Stencil?"
Stencil blinked. Standing perfectly still, she just stared at Hurricane, blinking every few seconds.
"No one..."
Hurricane laughed. "It's fine. You made me breakfast. Thank you."
Stencil levitated the plate in front of him, frowning at his seemingly unpredictable sarcastic jokes. "Y-you're... welcome?"
Hurricane smiled at her, then turned to his eggs. He stared, happy to see someone do something nice to him for the first time in about three months. Inhaling, the radio still playing, he took in the savory aroma of the his breakfast. Now, he was no cooking whiz, but he could almost be one hundred percent sure that Stencil had used paprika or another spice like that. Remaining silent for another second, he scarfed down his food.
Meanwhile, Stencil had gone back to the dining room where Whirlwind and Draft were talking.
"So what happened? How did you get him to lighten up?" Draft asked.
Whirlwind blushed a little. "It was nothing. I just got him to talk a little, and he softened up!"
"Just like that?" Stencil chimed in.
Whirlwind chuckled a bit. "Just like that."
It was then that Hurricane trotted in from the living room. He set his plate in the sink and turned to them all. A faint smile played at his snout. "I have a proposal for you all," he stated, raising an eyebrow.
"What is it?" Whirlwind asked.
Hurricane smiled completely. "I want you all to come with me on my journey."
Draft and Stencil looked to Whirlwind. As far as Hurricane could tell, they saw her as a leader figure. He smiled wider. He could get that to change. He had no negative feelings toward Whirlwind, he was just always competing with others for leadership positions.
It seems that he's being genuine, Whirlwind thought to herself. Should I trust him? She thought a bit more.
"We'll take you up on that offer."
Author's Note
Once again, a chapter is finished. If anyone would like to help edit, just message me, I will get back to you as soon as possible. It would be much appreciated! Hope you enjoyed!!
Chapter Three- Heading Out
Hurricane decided to show them the attic. He grinned wider when he heard that Whirlwind and her little gang was going to accompany him, and he turned around. Trotting foward a few steps, he looked back. Nodding his heade, he indicated that they should folow. When they got upstairs, Hurricane had to ask Stencil to get the attic ladder. When it was fully opened, Hurricane headed up first.
"Whoah," marveled Stencil.
Draft was silent.
Whirlwind also stayed silent for a moment. "I'm assuming your family was military, then?" She said after a few seconds.
"Yeah."
Hurricane trotted to the back of the room, looking up and down the walls along the way. He looked at the opposite wall as he trotted back to Whirlwind, Draft, and Stencil. Of all the things in the attic, it was still limited because of space. He knew they didn't have a basement. He nodded, signifying that they could go and search for at least something. In the mean time, he headed down to go get his own saddlebags and weapons. Remembering that he had grabbed a few knives, he wondered when their first shortage would be. He picked up his saddlebags, the gun he had left on the table to open the door yesterday, and his headphones. They were specially made for him many years ago by a friend of his, and they could store music files in the headphones themselves. Most thought the technology was incredible, but it really was nothing. Compared to her level of skill with other musical devices, the headphones were like child's play.
Stencil was the first to get down from the attic. She had her saddlebags near empty with just a 9mm pistol and maybe two or three magazines for it. Hurricane raised an eyebrow, but she simply stated that she always traveled light. Hurricane shrugged.
Whirlwind was next. She came down with her saddlebags full of food from the upstairs kitchen and a semi-automatic rifle. Hurricane nodded at her choice of necessity over preference, but she still should have taken a little more firepower.
Draft was the last to come down from the attic. He looked like a trotting arsenal. His saddlebags were filled to the brim with guns and ammunition, the occasional barrel of a weapon sticking out. Hurricane chuckled at his friend's enthusiasm.
Hurricane trotted to the door and waited. "Is everyone ready?" He called.
"Yep," Whirlwind said when she appeared from the kitchen.
"Ready," Stencil chimed, trotting in from the living room.
Draft just trotted in from the kitchen also, silent and grinning slightly.
Hurricane only nodded and opened the door. Instantly, the smell of rotting flesh and decaying bodies burned their senses, not only smell, but sight and touch. Their eyes welled with tears from the stench, causing their vision to blur. The fur on the back of Hurricane's neck stood on end in reaction to the horrible smell.
"Disgusting..." Hurricane said, not having gone outside since the apocalypse started.
"That's the smell of decaying bodies," Whirlwind said. "You get used to it after a while."
Hurricane rolled his eyes and trotted outside. Scowling at the scene before him, he observed. I guess this is what happened to my family... he thought. He sighed. Depressing to think that happened. It really did, though. He kept trotting foward.
"Where do you think you're going?" Asked Whirlwind.
"I'm exploring."
"This really is not the time to explore, Hurricane."
Hurricane rolled his eyes. He wanted to explore, so he'll explore. There was nothing Whirlwind could do about it. Trotting past a gruesome body, the head chopped off and blood running down the side of the torso, he gagged. He had to stop for a moment to make sure he wasn't going to vomit. During this small time window, his group caught up with him.
"You could've gotten yourself killed, Hurricane," said Stencil.
Hurricane just rolled his eyes again. Now that his group was with him, they could explore together. If you could really call it 'together.' Whirlwind was off to one side to protect the trotting arsenal and Stencil. Draft and Stencil were both in the middle, or as close to it as they could get. Hurricane was off to the opposite side of the two, his eyes wandering forever around.
They came up to SugarCube Corner without a single hiccup. No zombie-ponies, no crazy Travellers trying to kill them for food, and nothing else. It looked like an average day in Ponyville. That is, until the fog came. Now, fog isn't considered a hiccup in their little journey, but it still made travelling a bit more difficult.
Hurricane initially ran face first into SucarCube Corner because of the fog. He stumbled back, shaking his head. "What in the name of Celestia was that?"
"It's a building, Hurricane," Whirlwind giggled.
Hurricane rolled his eyes once again. "I meant what building is it," he mumbled. Squinting and trotting around the building, he found the door. Opening it, he immediately wished he hadn't.
Half eaten cupcakes littered the floor. The walls were covered in stains of what looked like blood. Rotten bodies were in the corner, piled up, with chunks taken out of them. On the counter, the words "HELP ME" were written in pink cake frosting. He gagged at the smell. The stench of rotting flesh and cupcakes was disgusting. It burned his nose, making him tear up. He looked at one of the cupcakes on the floor, then to a body that was laying next to it. The pony's fur used to be bright green, as far as he could tell. He looked back at the cupcake. It was lime green, with a cutiemark on the wrapping. He gulped.
"What's in there, Hurricane?" It was Draft.
"N-nothing, Draft... it's fine."
"Doesn't sound fine to me."
Hurricane backed out of the destroyed SugarCube Corner slowly, closing the door behind him. He was absolutely digusted. When he reached the group again, he shook his head.
"What's up?" Stencil asked.
Hurricane just shook his head again, this time he trotted away into the fog.
"Well..." Whirlwind began, "I guess we should follow him, huh?"
As they trotted after him, Whirlwind found herself thinking about the last night. I had gotten him to lighten up, even if it was only a little, she thought. I wonder what he'd be like happy... I guess I'll never know for- her thought was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot. It had come from the left, and they hadn't caught up with Hurricane, so they galloped in the direction of the sound.
Hurricane had also noticed the sound, and he looked in it's direction. "Where am I?" He mumbled to himself. Trotting toward the sound, he tried to scan his surroundings, but the fog was way too thick. He began to gallop toward it. He heard more gunshots, and galloped faster.
Then they all heard the pony scream.
Author's Note
Third chapter done! Thank you all who have been following my project here, it's all much appreciated! Hope you enjoyed!!
Chapter Four- Three broken souls.
Chapter Four- Three broken souls.
Chapter 4- Three Broken souls
***
Meanwhile...
Ashes fell silently from the sky, peppering three broken ponies as they blindly trudged through the fog.
"So what, you're just gonna give up like a little bitch?" Spade said, not sugar coating anything. "They didn't die for you to be reckless!"
A few blocks away, hundreds of scavenging mutated ponies crawled through the town, searching every area for left over meat.
The leader hissed in delight and galloped away towards the noise, his chewed ears flicking in excitement.
"So yeah, we should give up!" Sarcasm yelled, standing up defensively.
Author's Note
Chapter Four is finished! Thanks to Spade_The_Pony for writing it for me! All the credit goes to her! Hope you enjoyed!!
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Chapter Five- Things That Happen Because They're Supposed to Happen that Way
Hurricane galloped at full speed toward the sound of the pony screaming. He was nervous, seeing as he hadn't been found by Whirlwind and the rest yet. When he came to the scene, he was greeted with a horrid sight. Six or seven mutated, bloody zombie-ponies were surrounding the broken corpse of what used to be a blue mare. He screamed, and the zombie-ponies turned to him. One of them had a chunk of the mare in it's mouth, so it let the meat drop with a splat! He turned and flew off as fast as he possibly could.
He ran into Stencil, and they tumbled over one another, Stencil getting thrown of into the direction of Draft, who was checking out an advertisement for an armory that they had seen. Whirlwind saw Hurricane streaking toward them, and she had moved clear of his path. Slowly getting up, he looked at them all, fear clouding his eyes. "Guys, we've gotta get outta here! They're coming!"
Now of course, the rest of the ponies had no idea what he was talking about, but they had no reason not to trust him. She they set off at full gallop in the direction Hurricane was headed. That just so happened to be the direction of Record Skyscraper.
These zombie-ponies just so happened to be incredibly quick on their hooves. One of them, a dark orange unicorn, was ahead of the rest of the zombie-ponies. She snarled, and pushed ahead faster.
This particular unicorn was a track star. Normally, you would see earth ponies, maybe even the occasional pegasus, doing track. This orange unicorn, on the other hoof, was incredibly fast. Her cutiemark was a gold medal, symbolising her love and success in sports.
She forged ahead, snarling and snapping at the group's back hooves, almost yapping with delight when she nearly took a chunk out of Draft's leg.
"Gah!" Draft yelled as he saw what used to be a normal pony take a snap at his left hoof. Being the trained and highly skilled guard, he took out one of the guns he had taken and put a few rounds into the zombie's head. The zombie-mare crumpled, and the others faltered. They stopped over the dead pony, and, even though she was their apparent leader, began to rip her bloody carcass to pieces.
They devoured her in a matter of seconds, much like a pack of pirhannas. They resumed the chase.
Hurricane's eyes got wide and he picked up the speed. He grabbed Draft by the saddlebags and lifted up into the air. Whirlwind saw this, and she followed suit with Stencil. They took off higher, and scanned for a place to hide the night, which was approaching fast. Hurricane considered Record Skyscraper, but he decided that it would be the first place the zombies would look, seeing as it was so big and easy to get lost in. He found a nearby building, tall but not wide, and decided to set down there. Absolutely exhausted, they tumbled onto the roof of that building and lied there, trying to regain composure.
Little did they know, the pegasus zombies could still fly.
Hurricane was the first to see a flying zombie pony. He then did something he hadn't needed to do in a while. "Damn it all," he said. "They can also fly?"
Whirlwind looked at him in despair. "You're lying. They're mutated. They couldn't be able to fly."
Hurricane pointed at a blue pegasus mare flying their way. "We might want to get going, guys."
Draft stood up, looking fierce. "No," he said. "I'm gonna take 'em on. You can go if you want to, but i'm staying!"
Not surprised at his will to fight, but at the moment he had it, Hurricane shook his head quickly. "Draft, you know we can't stay-"
Draft cut him off. "Go, then, Hurricane! Leave me be! I want to fight!"
"Draft, seriously-"
"No! I'm staying!"
Hurricane at that point had enough. "Damnit, Draft, you can't stay here! They're going to kill you!! Can't you see!? If we don't leave now, we're all going to die, damnit!"
Draft stayed silent for a few moments. Whirlwind trotted over and put a hoof on his shoulder. "He's right, Draft... we can't stay."
They all heard a snarl and spun around to face it. The blue pegasus mare had reached them. Her torn snout contorted into what looked like a smile. She, or, "it," ran toward the four, laughing in a hyena-like way.
Hurricane, Whirlwind, and Stencil were too slow pulling out their weapons. Draft, on the other hoof, was not. He pulled out one of his guns and just littered the mutated mare with bullets. She stopped dead in her tracks, and fell down. Brown, infected, rotting blood poured from her wounds.
"I want to fight," Draft said. "If you try to stop me, I will have no trouble putting you in hell like that other one." He pointed to the pegasus mare.
Hurricane looked down, solemnley. "Draft, are you serious?"
Draft pointed to the pegasus mare again. "Dead serious."
Hurricane scowled, turned around, and took off toward Record Skyscraper. It didn't matter to him whether or not they followed him, but he did feel a bit worried. He shrugged his worry off and found a busted window to fly onto.
What he found was way worse than any number of zombie-ponies.
He found Spade, Sarcasm, and Trock.
Author's Note
How'd ya like it? Leave a comment if you did or didn't, it would be much appreciated! Criticism is also encouraged. Hope you enjoyed!!