“Who’s bright idea was it to go to the town square!” Rainbow Dash held a zombie pony off her as it was biting down towards her. A blast of magical energy hit the zombie pony’s head, making it explode in a shower of blood and bone all over Rainbow Dash’s face.

“Sorry Rainbow! It’s the head or nothing!” Twilight cried from several feet away, blasting three more zombies. The group had made it to town hall, but the surrounding area was infested with more zombies than they could care to count. Still Twilight was grateful that there were some survivors left. The blue earth pony Minuette, cream colored earth pony Bon Bon, and light green unicorn Lyra were tossing furniture at the horde from Minuette’s roof.

“Where are they even coming from?” Spike exclaimed. Pinkie fired her party cannon, knocking three zombies out of the way. Pound and Pumpkin let out a wail in unison as several more zombie ponies approached from behind.

“Pinkie darling! Look out!” Rarity cried. She picked up a rock with her magic and tossed it at the zombies. It only managed to hit one, but its neck was weakened enough to make its head fall off, which Applejack promptly stomped on. Lyra waved her hooves at the Mane Six.

“Get out of there! Up here at least!” Lyra screamed. She turned back to Minuette and Bon Bon. “They’re not going to make it!” Bon Bon grabbed her friend by the shoulders.

“Lyra, please. Panicking is not going to help.” Bon Bon pointed at horde below. “There’s no way to get them onto the roof. We blocked off the stairs inside remember? Assuming they could even make it to the house in the first place.” Bon Bon’s voice wavered. Did I really suggest we leave some pony to die? She thought to herself. A latter dropped down from the roof to the town square below. Bon Bon looked over to see Minuette lowering it in position with her magic.

“We don’t do that, Bon Bon.” Minuette sneered. She looked back at the Mane Six below. “Princess Twilight! Climb!” Rainbow Dash took to the air, out of reach of the horde. She looked off in the distance. A group of zombie pegasi was struggling to stay flying as they flew towards town square from behind Minuette’s house.

“Oh come on! Is the sky not even safe?” she groaned. Twilight looked up at the approaching zombie pegasi.

“You might want to get down here!” Twilight exclaimed. Minuette turned back. In desperation she grabbed one of the toothbrushes she was keeping among the furniture, and stabbed it into a zombie pegasus’s head. “Its not a high jump. You can make it!” Minuette could barely believe what Twilight just said.

“There is no way I’m going to…” Minuette tried to argue, before Bon Bon made the decision for her, by pushing Minuette off the roof. She turned to Lyra who was shaking her head.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Lyra said, gleefully leaping to the ground below. A pegasus zombie reached at Bon Bon, who started struggling against its grip. “Bon Bon!”

“Lyra, look out!” Minuette kicked a zombie pony in the face, a zombie that would have bitten Lyra if she had been a second later. Bon Bon lost her footing fell off the roof, collapsing on top of Minuette.

“I’m ok. No really.” She muttered. Spike climbed over the railing and noticed somepony inside town hall through the window.

“Hey! Let us in! We’re stuck out here!”

Derpy, a cross-eyed Pegasus turned to her fellow survivors. A brown earth stallion wearing a green tie the townsponies referred to as The Doctor stepped from the crowd and stood by Derpy’s side.

“Goodness.” The Doctor muttered to himself. He looked outside then turned towards Roseluck, the earth pony at the door and nodded. She was about to remove the wooden bar keeping the door locked, when a pink aura held it in place.

“Don’t you dare let them in here.” The crowd of ponies backed out of the way as a light blue unicorn in a purple cape and wizard’s hat approached the Doctor.

“That is wrong and you know it, Trixie.” The Doctor said as bluntly as he could. Trixie scoffed. “Gathering ponies here is the reason we even came to Town Hall in the first place.” The Doctor’s words made sense to Trixie, but she wasn’t willing to back down.

“Trixie risked her life to get survivors here for you!” Trixie snapped, slamming her hoof down. “If that door is opened, the undead get in too.” The Doctor shook his head. This was not the time to argue. Finally Ponyville’s Mayor emerged from the crowd.

“Both of you need to stop. Derpy, Roseluck, who is out there?” the Mayor asked. Derpy looked out the window. A Zombie Pony’s head slammed against the window and slid down. Spike then leapt into view.

“Let us in!” he cried. Derpy looked back at the others.

“He makes a strong argument.” Roseluck stated. Trixie slammed her hoof on the ground again.

“And how do you plan to get them in here without getting any of the undead in? Too many ponies go out there and none of them will get back in.” Trixie warned. The Doctor looked back at the door and board keeping it shut.

“We’re going to need more wood.”

By this point Minuette’s group had reached the Mane Six and Spike, and were quickly surrounded. Pinkie bounced around a zombie unicorn, tying three balloons to its tail. She smiled and waved as the zombie was slowly but surely lifted into the air.

“Bye-bye!” Pinkie beamed. Another zombie trotted towards her, its mouth gaping open. Pinkie spun around but before she could react, Applejack lassoed the zombie around its neck with her rope, pulling it to the ground before stomping on its head.

“Ya might want to try to put em’ down this way! Ya will get it done quicker!” Applejack exclaimed. The horde was closing in. Fluttershy and Lyra were cowering in the middle of the group. Rainbow Dash was levitating a few feet over everypony’s head. She looked back at town hall and grimaced.

“That’s it, I’m breaking down the door!” She started flapping her wings aiming herself at the entrance. After building up speed she flew towards the building.

“Rainbow stop!” Twilight cried. “That will only make things worse!” But Rainbow Dash was much faster than Twilight, and started speeding towards the entrance. However at the last second the door opened, slamming Rainbow Dash against the window. The Doctor and Roseluck were pushing a path outside using wooden planks. The Mayor appeared in the doorway motioning with her forehoof.

“Quickly everypony! Get inside!” She exclaimed. Lyra almost tripped over the stairs running towards her. The Doctor slammed a plank against three zombies as Rarity and Pinkie ran past him. However as Pinkie ran, her tail was brushed against the Mayor’s and was quickly entangled.

“This usually doesn’t happen I swear!” Pinkie said. The Mayor resisted with all her strength until her tail was finally free. She stumbled back right as a zombie unicorn trotted towards her.

“Mayor!” Twilight panicked and fired a bolt of magical energy, blasting the head off the zombie unicorn. The Mayor gasped in fear as she ran back into the town hall.

“Minuette! Bon Bon! This way!” Roseluck screamed, slamming her plank against a zombie unicorn, its horn getting stuck in the plank. She let go of the plank as Minuette and Bon Bon ran past. Everypony managed to reach the entrance, with Twilight and Spike as the last ones inside before Roseluck slammed the door shut.

Spike slid off of Twilight’s back gasping from exhaustion.

“We made it. Thank Celestia we made it.” Spike gasped. Twilight nodded in agreement. The Doctor and Roseluck approached and bowed.

“Your majesty. We didn’t know it was you out there.” Roseluck said. Twilight held her head. She hated it when other ponies bowed to her, status as a princess or not.

“Now to be honest, we wouldn’t just leave any other ponies out there even if you weren’t there.” The Doctor was quick to note. Twilight smiled with relief. Rainbow Dash tapped on the Doctor’s back.

“Good thing. Otherwise I might have had to bust my way in.” She boasted. That really wasn’t helping her case. Twilight looked around at the other ponies in the hall. As expected most of them were terrified. Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie had already started moving around through the crowd, no doubt looking for Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and the Cakes.

“Princess Celestia has to know about this. Spike could you write her a letter…” Twilight started to order; only to notice Spike was already in the process of rolling up a piece of parchment.

“I’m on it, Twilight.” Spike replied before breathing fire on the parchment. Twilight nodded, knowing it wouldn’t be long before Princess Celestia, one of the two rulers of Equestria, would respond and hopefully be able to sort out the zombies.

“What were you thinking!” Twilight and Spike turned attention in the direction of the shout. Trixie was pointing at the Mayor, who was holding her neck. Countless other ponies turned to face the two. “You. We’re. Bitten.” Trixie snapped. The Mayor looked around nervously, the faces of the townsponies encompassing her sight. Finally the Mayor sighed and lowered her hoof, revealing a gruesome and bloody chunk of her neck bitten out.

I was too late. Twilight thought to herself.

“Somepony get Nurse Redheart!” A voice cried out. Trixie scoffed.

“That won’t do any good. She’s going to become one of them.” She said. Rainbow Dash flew right into Trixie’s face.

“Now hold up! You would throw our Mayor under the cart because of a nibble by one of those things.” Rainbow Dash argued. Trixie stared back defiantly. “She’s one of us. She means something to this town.”

“She has meant nothing to your home. Not since….” Trixie found herself hesitating. “Trixie can not believe she is about to say this.” Twilight looked back at her.

“Since when, Trixie?” Twilight asked.

“Since you! Even before you became a princess. Everypony knows you’re the real power in this town. Trixie once thought she was the great and powerful one. Then you saved me from my own arrogance, and Trixie’s eyes were open to the truth. You’re precious mayor is nothing.” All eyes were on Trixie and dumbfounded. Nopony had ever been so callous towards the Mayor, not even her rivals in previous elections. The Mayor’s cough eventually broke the silence. She started to collapse and was quickly caught by Fluttershy and the Doctor. Nurse Redheart, a white earth pony with a pink mane emerged from the crowd carrying a first aid kit in her mouth. She quickly took out the bandages and began to cover the wound.

“You don’t need to listen to her ma’am. We’ll keep you alive as long as we can.” Redheart reassured. The Mayor started breathing heavily.

“You know I’m right about this.” Trixie argued. The Mayor shook her head.

“I want to talk to Princess Twilight. Privately.” The Mayor muttered. Fluttershy started to tear up a bit.

“Miss Mayor it’s ok. We’ll help you.” Fluttershy muttered. She looked at the Doctor and Redheart.

“I told you. I want to talk to her. Please. Take me to my office.” The Mayor ordered. Twilight stepped forward but felt a sharp grip against her back hoof. She looked back seeing it was Spike hanging onto her. He shook his head. Somehow Twilight could tell what Spike was suggesting.

“It won’t come to that Spike.” Twilight said. The look in his eyes alone made Twilight’s stomach turn. If the Mayor wanted her to do what she thought she did, and Spike was thinking the same thing, Twilight was going to be sicker than before. She nodded to Fluttershy, who let go of the Mayor. Everypony watched as Twilight and the Mayor slowly trotted out of the hall and up the stairs. Spike ran after but stopped at the stairs.

The Mayor laid her head on her desk. By now the bandage was completely red with her blood. Twilight was standing opposite her breathing heavily with worry.

“Mayor please, don’t make me do this.” Twilight begged. The Mayor looked up. Her eyes were duller, her face had started to sink in, and her coat was molting. “Trixie is wrong. You have always meant something to Ponyville.”

“And what about this?” The Mayor motioned to her neck. “Am I going to become one of those horrible undead?” Twilight didn’t answer which was all The Mayor needed to see. “I can’t become one of them. I don’t want Ponyville to see me like that.”

“I get that ma’am, but why me?” Twilight asked. Her heart sank at the thought of having to be the one to put the Mayor out of her misery. Twilight didn’t think she could ever go through with doing something like that even with the alternative.

“Because I trust you. All of Ponyville does. Your majesty. Take care of them for me.” The Mayor muttered. Twilight started to pace back and forth. “I can’t do this.” Twilight thought to herself. A zombie was one thing but a living pony? The Mayor let out a deep breath. “Please. Make it end.” Twilight’s eyes widened.

Spike ran towards the Mayor’s office. He reached for the door only for it to slowly open before he could do it himself. Twilight emerged from the office crying, her hooves covered in blood. Spike lowered his claws. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you do that…” Spike started to say, but was quickly interrupted as Twilight hugged him.

“I won’t let this happen to you, Spike. Not now or ever.” Slowly Spike wrapped his arms around Twilight.

Author's Note

As you can probably guess by now, each update will be weekly. I'll see you next week.