Equestrian Outbreak: Dead Infection (Part 1)
It started out a normal day, just like any other. I took a shower and grabbed a cup of milk before heading out to the train station and waving goodbye to my loving friends and my assistant Spike. I jumped on board the train, sat down looked to my window and promptly entered my usual day-dream state.
I finally arrived at Canterlot, headed up to the castle and arrived at my study room to see a huge pile of paperwork. I sighed and got started.
As I was deep in concentration on my work, a scream coming from down the hall broke my concentration. I considered going to see what it was but the thought quickly passed. Probably just another hysterical mare overreacting to a spider.
Just as I started getting back to work something else grabbed my attention. I peered out of the window into the town below and to my astonishment saw a scene of utter chaos. Ponies fighting, even killing each other for simply no reason. By this time some of my co-workers had gotten up their stations and joined me in staring out the window...
I tried to get back to my work, but a few minutes later I overheard one of my co-workers talking about a virus that makes ponies homicidal. However I could only make out bits and pieces of the conversation and didn’t learn anything specially useful.
At this point I felt myself entering to a mild shock. It was obvious that whatever was going on was serious, and that a significant percentage of the population were going to be killed or wounded over the course of the next few days.
My thoughts quickly turned to my friends, were they okay? And what about my assistant, Spike? What if these maniacs were near their home?
I knew that sending a scroll to Spike would mostly be an easy way, but then again, if he was away from the rest of my friends and or trapped in the library, what good would that do? I decided not to waste time on doing so. I headed straight home.
I began to make my way through a series of corridors that led to the elevators, the castle built a couple of boxed cubicles all around the place to make the travel from down to up the floors much easy. On my was I noticed a struggle out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see a disfigured colt frantically clawing and biting a young mare’s leg. Blood was already pouring from her multiple wounds. The mare cried out for me to help her.
I began to look for somepony to help but all of my fellow co-workers seemed to be far more interested to saving their own skins. By the time I returned to that place both the crazed colt and the wounded mare had gone. I decided to continue to the elevator.
I arrived at the elevator, but to my dismay it seemed that many other ponies had the same idea. I heard a ping and the magic powered elevator doors slid open. In a split second the large crowd of castle staff pushed and shoved their way into the tiny metal box.
I quickly made my way down the stairs to the ground floor. Sure I was out of breath, but at least I saved time and avoided a potentially lethal situation.
I eventually reached the ground floor and entered the main hall. The scene in front of me was one of extreme violence. The Royal Guards was desperately battling a swarm of infected and they appeared to be losing. I watched helplessly as a guard on the opposite side of the hall was torn limb from limb. I noticed his sword lying on the floor just a few meters away from his dismembered corpse.
I don’t want to risk being seen by those freaks, and just left the hall towards the back way. I managed to slip away without any infected noticing and proceeded towards the rear exit.
I made my way through several corridors towards the back of the castle. As I approached the rear entrance I spotted a hefty padlock across the bolt, which is magic proof because of a special alloy that prevent magic from breaking it making it impossible to open without a key. I cursed my bad luck and tried to figure out my next move.
The janitor would had the key but reaching his office would of required going back to the main hall.
I realized that breaking the door down would be impossible and that heading back would be too dangerous. I would used my teleporting abilities to get out of here quickly as possible, but I might risk of popping in a huge mob of those things outside or in other out of sight places. So I must play safe inorder for me to get out unharmed, so I set about searching for another exit.
I remembered that there was a small window in the female bathroom just a few doors down the corridor. I arrived at the bathroom door and pushed it open. Suddenly, I heard a bestial roar coming from down the corridor. A dozen of infected had spotted me and were now heading in my direction.
I quickly entered the bathroom and spotted the window I was thinking of. However, to my dismay it was much smaller than I remembered. I thought I would probably fit but I knew it’s going to be a tricky maneuver.
Not wanting to waste any time I set about trying to squeeze through the window. A few awkward movements and a lot of pain later, I managed to force my way into the side of the castle and dropping on the courtyard, escaping the infected with only a few seconds to spare.
With one heavy thud, I ended up in the ground a few inches to the window where I escaped from. I looked down to the quiet back mountain pass towards ponyville behind the castle as I decide what to do next. Eventually I came to the conclusion that my best bet was to head to a main road towards the town and get a cart to ride down the mountain, then again, I might as well pull it myself which could waste potential time, I also thought about the bridged pathway behind the castle, but it wasn’t used even once since and it might be already crooked due to lack of maintenance, it was suppose to be just an emergency exit for the princess if we were attacked by something. I thought to myself... this was a potential attack.
I eventually took that path and jogged along the way for several minutes before stopping to catch my breath. I looked up briefly and saw a little filly wandering aimlessly on the other side of the pathway. I wondered to myself, how did she ever find this secret pathway?
I called out to the filly. She slowly turned towards me before looking up, letting a ghastly scream and charging towards me. My instincts told me that she was infected and I immediately began to run in the opposite direction. Luckily her legs simply weren’t long enough to keep pace with me. Within a couple of minutes she had lost my scent.
I was in shock and in utter terror, not knowing that a filly would become one of them, I was back to where I started from, but that soon changed as I quickly saw some infected who caught my scent as well... Several more infected saw me running back here and was now charging towards me, my best bet was with the lone infected.
With one burst of courage, I immediately charged back to the young one and with a quick buck of my hind legs, I pushed her away just in time to jump towards the other side of the bridge and cut the ropes in order for the other infected not to cross... I watched as the young filly drops down the ridge and got impaled by the rocks below.
I eventually arrived at the main road. As I suspected the scene wasn’t pretty; in every direction I could see ponies either trying to fight or flee from the numerous infected. An array of dismembered corpses already littered the ground. I suddenly felt nauseous and within a few moments I was vomiting my breakfast all over the ground.
I wiped my mouth with my hooves and looked up to see a train heading to the Canterlot station. The same one I usually took home. There appeared to be a lot of ponies on board already but I thought I might be able to squeeze in.
But then again, I realized that getting on the crowded train probably wasn’t the good idea. If somepony on board were infected then there would have been no escape.
As I continued down the road I noticed several groups of ponies. Just across the road a group of colts with magic pipes that can shoot magical bolts were having fun shooting the zombies rather than trying to escape. On my right I saw a group of teenage ponies armed with a variety of makeshift melee weapons. A few meters from where I was standing a nurse and a soldier were helping a wounded stallion and as I glanced over my shoulder I saw a group of survivors from the castle heading in the same direction.
I decided that it was probably best to team up with other survivors...
I began to think who was I going with, at first thought it was the ponies with the magic pipes, but then again, the magic in those pipes was limited and if it were to run out we were all sitting ducks, then there was those teenaged ponies, who have a very stable and impressive weaponry selections, but then again, I knew nopony there, so it might be a potential that they might leave me in a sticky situation with no second thought. Then there's the nurse, soldier and the wounded stallion, but he was a potential live bait that may attract infected to us... My best choice was my co-workers... at least I knew those ponies. So I trotted over to my co-workers. They seemed happy to see me.
I told the group that I thought we should try to find some transportation and get out of Canterlot and to Ponyville. One of them suggested we go to the storage area, where the scientist and scholars in Canterlot are creating new kinds of transportation, non-pony operated just located further down the path... We quickly to our strategy and made our way, back to Canterlot Storage Facility.
As we approached the storage area we noticed a few infected wandering idly around the entrance. There was no real way to avoid them... One suggested we use a decoy to lure them away and for the others to go in, but the question now is... Who?
With much debate and discussions later, I eventually volunteered to do so...
I began making much noise as I could, running in circles around the infected. My plan worked, and they began to follow me away from the entrance. The others swiftly entered the storage facility and began searching for a suitable vehicle. I was glad they made it inside but I was still in serious danger. I further lured them away from the storage facility and quickly teleported from one place after another, knowing that I already saw where I was going to pop up and eventually caught up with the others, but I promised myself I’d never volunteer to be bait again.
Inside the building, several not seen vehicles were displayed in various experimental cages, inside one of the cage, were four scooters, just like the one scootaloo used to ride around ponyville, but with a strange mechanical motor on its flank, making it to move without using a pegasus’ wings. Near us was a large carriage made with metal and with that very same motor, a flat looking carriage, and another of what it seems to be a tank.
I quickly suggested the tank and the others quickly agreed. Having the heavy exterior of the thing, and the potential of encountering many of infected along the way, the tank was the most obvious choice.
The tank is made up with a spacious inside, and a wheel to steer the thing to where it was going, there are four wheels and a heavy kind of bumper to its front and back, there is also a slot for a horn to amplify the magic and use it as a full blast cannon. Five times powerful than a regular unicorn magic blast.
We approached the jeep and peered inside. To our dismay we saw a pair of infected inside, desperately clawing at the windows in an attempt to escape.
I made my suggestion to use other form of transportation but the others didn’t listen... They really wanted that tank and a few zombies weren’t going to stand in their way.
The others immediately flung open the doors and started trying to drag the zombies out. However they were having a serious trouble and it seemed like they most be likely end up dead if I didn’t intervene.
I tried once more to convince them to leave the tank and go with with me to the other vehicles, but still they won't listen... I headed over to the scooters and didn’t look back...
I climbed aboard my chosen vehicle and sped away from the storage area onto the main street. By then the road was littered with bodies and several cart wreckages; it was all I could do to avoid them... The way to ponyville was much farther than I thought, and had to avoid some of the infected walking around. Everywhere I looked I could see only scenes of carnage. It seems those not already infected were fighting a losing battle. My thoughts quickly turned to my friends and Spike. I tried to tell myself that they would be okay but that didn’t stop the horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew I had to get home as soon as possible.
I continued down the road before taking a turn towards the main road leading to ponyville, ever since the technology age came to Equestria, the roads going in and out of ponyville and Canterlot had been changed, and several buildings had been set up... and was literally changing our landscape. It wasn’t long before I noticed a mass of carts and carriages blocking the road ahead. The combined sound of all the honking, shouting and screaming was deafening. Nopony had kept to their lanes and carts were packed so closely together that not even a scooter can squeeze through. The blockage extended so far down the road that it was literally impossible to discern what the cause was.
I decided that there was no point to wait for the traffic to clear, and that without the tank driving off road was just too dangerous. I headed back the way I came and turned off the road at the first turn. I soon found a safer, albeit less direct route home.
As I sped down the disturbingly quiet back road my mind began to wander. without the distraction of imminent danger I began to remember the horrific scenes I had witnessed just an hour ago. Images of mangled corpses flashed before my eyes, and my head began to spin.
I aimlessly drove my vehicle ahead not noticing a cart pulled down on the concealed turn. I tried to stop in time, but it was too late to avoid a collision. Amazingly I wasn’t seriously injured, by my ride was badly damaged.
I realized that without my vehicle I would have to walk the rest of the way home. Not wanting to waste any more precious time, I continued my journey on hoof...
After a half an hour of walking I began to recognise my surroundings and knew that I would soon be home. There were several different routes I could take...
First, along the main road, then towards the train line... or I could take a shortcut to the cornfield... or to the orchards...
I decided to get off the main road, as it would be undoubtedly be dangerous in such a heavily populated area, taking a shortcut or going to the orchards pose a dangerous risk. I decided to follow the train line instead, since it was not far from my library and would be totally deserted. Sure enough, I didn’t see another soul.
I finally arrived in ponyville, exhausted. I knew that my house was just a little further down the street, but the area was swarming with the infected. Most of them were distracted by what few survivors remained, but I know it was just a matter of time before they noticed me. I quickly looked around, looking for any familiar faces among the infected from afar, one by one, I quickly named each and every one of them, but none of my friends were among them... It gave me a bit sigh of relief, knowing that they might actually be safe for the time being.
I made my way towards the back end of the houses, trying to be stealthy as possible, avoiding any contact with the infected... However, as I passed a large tree an infected old stallion stepped out of the shadows and tried to grab me.
I turned and quickly gave him a buck at the face and throwing him backwards, narrowly escaping being bitten.
I had bought myself valuable time, but it wouldn't take long before the creature regain its balance and come at me again. Just then I heard a roar behind me, a group of infected had followed behind, trapping me in the center... Without a second thought, I teleported safely towards the other side of the high wall behind the restaurant I was previously in and escaping the infected with only a mere second to spare. Some of them were pegasus, that can literally fly and just pounce on me, but it seems that they couldn’t. It was absolutely lucky of me for them not being able to fly.
I ran further down the back way, and back to the streets. When I looked over my shoulder, there were no signs of my pursuers. I could see my house now, just a hundred feet or so away. My heart sank when I saw yet another group of infected wandering aimlessly between me and my goal.
I decided that it was too dangerous to carry on down the street. I went around the back of one of the neighbor’s houses and over the fence into their garden. It was tiring, but I carried on scrambling over the fences until I got to my own backyard.
I approached my library, but as soon as I went for the back door, I noticed that it was slightly ajar, and the windows are all broken... I fear for my assistants safety.
I realized that whoever had broken to my library could still be in there, with my horn on ready I went for the door. Before I could enter, I discovered why the back door had been left ajar. A teenage looter emerged from the house carrying my small coin box, where I was keeping my savings for the entire year, obviously intent on profiting from the crisis. WHen he saw me he dropped my box and pulled out an equestrian sword.
At that moment I couldn't tell which one of us was more afraid...
I told the looter that I wasn’t going to hurt him and that he could my box and leave. He didn’t bother picking my box back up, and instead he ran over the nearby fence and climbed over to the neighbors garden.
Having dealt with the looter, I picked up my box and took the money in it. I don’t know why, but the thought inside me told me that I might need it...
I walked in through the back door. I was relieved to finally be safely indoors, but I couldn’t rest yet. Not until I was certain that my assistant Spike was okay.
I quickly shut the back door and locked it, then looked around for some furniture to wedge in front of it. It took me a few minutes to properly secure the entrance, but at least I knew nopony would be able to force their way in.
I began searching the ground floor for Spike. As I came to the living room, I saw that Derpy from next door standing there. She had her back to me, and was completely oblivious to my presence. Her coat was covered in red stains.
I called out to her, to see if she was okay but she didn’t reply, I threw a small object at her making her turn and face me... My eyes widened as she showed her blood shot eyes and disfigured face to me, it was then I knew she was infected... Without thinking I blasted her with a magic blast making her fall backwards. I took a blunt object and repeatedly bashed her head until I made sure she was dead... It tore my heart killing one of the ponies I knew... But it had to be done.
As I went to go upstairs I noticed a note had been left for me by the door of my room. I recognized it as Spike’s claw writing immediately. The note said that he couldn’t wait for me any longer and that he and my friends gathered up and was going to Appaloosa.
As I read the note my heart sank. I prayed that he and my friends would make it to Appaloosa in one piece, but knowing how hard for me to get here I couldn’t help to wonder if they were still alive. When I realized I may never see them again, I began to feel tears rolling down my cheek.
I pulled myself together and resolved to keep searching. I needed to be sure that my house was secured before planning my next move.
As I climbed down the flight of stairs I heard a sound coming from my basement... I didn’t know if it was my friends, Spike, a looter or another infected. I slowly opened the door and stepped in turning on the lights as I go...
The scene that greeted me will haunt my nightmares from years to come. My loving friends and my assistant spike was cornered in the basement with only a metal cage holding back four infected who was clawing at them... Rarity tried to keep the bars apart, in order for them not go lose balance and put their hooves near the creatures from biting them, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash using two metal rods helping Rarity on her defensive act. They could barely keep the creatures at bay and if I didn’t act immediately, they would surely die!
Wasting no time, I took four sets of metal rods levitating them and shot them towards the four infected ponies. I was lucky enough not to hit my friends by mistake but at least they’re alive.
I was finally reunited with my friends... Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Spike... In that moment I hugged them all, as tight as I could I was happier than I could ever been yet the feeling would not last long...
We all soon heard banging and scratching from above... I peered up to my basement door and saw Infected found their way into my library. I quickly shut the door and barricaded it, telling my friends to help me block the door up.
After an hour, Me and friends spent quite some time discussing what to do next. We realized that we couldn’t stay in the library forever, as it was too dangerous this close to civilization. We decided that our best bet was to leave this place and head out to the countryside, towards Appaloosa.
With that set in done, I teleported us back outside, checking the surrounding area if its clear or not... We dropped by at Sugarcube corner and barricaded ourselves in there but not before checking the place if it was clear of infected. It was already nightfall when we finished the sweep and barricading the place. We decided to spend one last night together in the place before hitting the road. I don’t think all of us slept that night, but it was better traveling in the dark.
We left at dawn... (To be continued)
