Of Pandemics And Ponies

Chapter 6: Hellish Tears of Feathery Death

The train emerged from the underpass and chugged its way through the Royal Guard station. Instead of a buff stallion guarding each side of the track, a giant blood spatter sat, glistening with moisture. Coach felt like he was gonna spew chunks. When the outbreak started on Earth, he was somewhat glad because most of the people he knew that became infected were complete scumbags that didn't deserve to live happily. But here in Equestria, it was a completely different story. These ponies (although some were kinda snooty) were perfectly innocent and didn't deserve any kind of exposure to this epidemic.

Some of the Horde began to swarm around the train when it pulled into the station. The Survivors quickly fixed that problem when they opened the door to leave the train. After spattering the brains of the zombies, the group rushed into a room in the building so they could plan their course of action.

"Alright, so what do we have to do again?" puffed Nick

Lyra said, "We've gotta get you four to the Princess! She'll know what to do."

She'd definitely recovered from the fact that her friend had been zombified. Nick still looked pretty guilty when Coach looked at him. Lyra was reluctant to leave Colgate's body in the train, but the risk of going back was to high.

Everyone nodded at the plan. They took a few moments to recuperate and heal up with some med-kits. After that they quietly opened the door and headed into the city.

Rubble littered the streets. Some fires were crackling here and there. Occasionally, some zombies would stumble or sprint out of alleyways. It almost seemed like a waste of ammo to use a shotgun on one single zombie.

A muffled scream sounded from one of the alleys, along with infected grunts and shuffling noises. The group turned the corner and saw the source of the uproar. Infected, ponies and humans alike, were pounding on a door. The screams were coming from the other side of the door. The armed survivors ran down the alley and started blasting the horde. Coach resented each bullet that pierced a zombified ponies body. The door had some holes were the infected had smashed through. Peering threw them, Coach saw a small group of ponies in the room. A middle aged colt, an old mare, and two fillies, one male and the other female, were all huddled together in the room.

"You guys okay?" said Coach

"Y-yes."stammered the colt

Rochelle appeared next to Coach, "We're heading to the castle. You should probably follow us."

The colt nodded assent and helped the other ponies up. They opened the door and joined the group. Coach realized that they would have to organize themselves so that the civilians would be safe.

Agreeing on a formation, the survivors plowed on. The four humans were on the outside, surrounding the civilian ponies in a compass point pattern. In the center of the group, Lyra trotted along with Spike on her back, calming the civilian ponies and making sure they were alright.

Coach remembered something.

"If we are so clumped up, then we are very vulnerable to a-" he was interrupted from his epiphany when a colorful blur smashed into Rochelle, making her arms flail and smack the small foal.

A Pegasus was pinning Rochelle to the ground. It was a male with dark olive colored fur and a black mane. It's face was obscured by its mane. A thin line of blood was dripping from its lips. It's forehooves were completely covered in the crimson liquid.

It let out a whiny as it began stomping on Rochelle's face and chest with its forehooves. Ellis raised his AK to shoot the Hunter-like pony but was interrupted as he was charged by a (somewhat) human Charger.

Coach turned his attention to the Charger as it began to slam Ellis into the ground. He began firing off the explosive rounds he'd picked up on the train. The Charger lost its grip on the hillbilly survivor as it flew back and skidded on the pavement. It tried to stagger to its feet, but was delayed with the dilemma of a sudden lack of face.

Coach turned around and saw that Nick had killed the Hunter pony. He was currently helping Rochelle up. Coach approached the little filly that was fretting over the foal that was knocked unconscious from the pounce of the Hunter. He picked up the foal's body and draped it over the willing colt's back.

After a moment of recovery from the attack, the group continued on. The group continued down the road, "Mane St.". They entered an open area that was the center of a food vendor plaza. However, many of the tables and chairs had been overturned. Some had blood on them. Some bodies were scattered around the plaza. In the center of the plaza was a fountain. A small pony trotted out from behind a table and turned to look at the group. It then quickly turned and. Angered towards the fountain. It didn't appear to be infected. The group approached the pony, who was now sitting near the edge of the fountain.

"Um, hello? Are you alright?" asked Coach

When there was no response, Coach reached out to grasp the ponies shoulder. When his fingers clasped around the equine shoulders, the pony tensed under his touch and pulled away hastily. It turned and revealed that it's neck was swollen with vicious welts and boils. It's eyes glowed with infection as it opened its mouth towards Coach.

And then it screamed.

Louder than any siren Coach had heard in his life, the noise caused the football coach to fall over and plant his hands over his pounding ears. The infected pony continued screaming as it began to run away. There was a bang and the infected ponies head dissapeared, silencing the high pitched wail.

Coach picked himself up and rubbed his temples. The screaming was still ringing in his ears.

"What the hell was the point of that?" shouted Ellis

As if to answer him, a distant roar reverberated through the alleys and buildings of the city. From the streets, hundreds of infected humans and ponies began to swarm the group. But in the sky, at least twenty Pegasi were descending upon the group. It looked like heaven was raining down hellish tears of feathery death.

"Um...guys? I think now is a good time to THROW EVERYTHING!!!"

And they did. Ellis and Nick threw a pipebomb in opposite directions, while Rochelle threw a bilebomb into the center of the swarm. Coach took his trusty Molotov, who had gotten him out of a pickle more than once, and hurled it at the swarm. The bottle smashed as the flame began to spread along the ground. The infected at the beginning of the charge instantly caught fire and began running around, unaware of their surroundings. The rest of the infected behind them also ran through the fire. Coach nodded his head in satisfaction and approval. Still a huge number of the ground attack and all of the sky attack were still advancing on them.

"Lyra, can you give us a shield?" asked Ellis, who appeared to have had the same thought as Coach.

"I-I'll try!" she replied. She was pretty overwhelmed by the number of the attackers.

She pointed her horn up and a pale green aura surrounded it. A mint green dome surrounded the group.

"Aw yeah!" shouted Ellis, "Can we shoot through this thing?"

"I think so..." replied the unicorn, who was under the strain of keeping the magic barrier solid.

"Perfect." said Coach as he raised his gun towards the onslaught. The zombies made a funny noise when the ran into the dome. It sounded like when someone walks into a glass pane. But they soon realized that this thing was solid, and it was blocking their meal. So they started pounding on the shield. The survivors opened fire as several of the infected Pegasi slammed onto the top of the dome. It seemed that the barrier didnt stop the blood of the blasted infected from raining down on the group. The pounding from the infected was causing webs of damage to spread across the green shield, making Lyra wince. The old mare saw the pain in the green unicorn's eyes.

She walked over to Coach and said into his ear, "Make sure the others get to safety."

And with that she ran out of the shield.

"Mags! NO!!!" shouted the colt.

The old mare continued running away from the sphere. She began shouting as loud as she could, saying, "Hey you bloody ruffians! Come over and take on this ol' granny!". Several infected spotted the old pony and took off after her. A Smoker on a nearby rooftop turned to face the mare and shot out a sticky tongue. It ensnared the mare and began dragging her towards the building. As she struggled to free herself, several Horde began pounding on her. Coach turned away when he saw blood spattering.

He noticed that there was an obvious difference in the number of infected surrounding the dome. The old mare's sacrifice had given them some leeway.

"Lyra, we need to get these ponies out of here." Coach said, addressing the civilian ponies.

The unicorn was staggering to the ground, her face covered in beads of sweat. Spike was attempting to keep her conscious. Still she looked at Coach and nodded. She called the three ponies together and huddled them around her. She then shrunk the shield so that it only surrounded them and moved away from the crowd of zombies.

The infected that were stunned by the sudden shape change of the shield, staggered to their feet and glared at the survivors.

Ellis then growled, "C'mon you ball eatin' sons of bitches, CHEW ON THIS!!!"

He pulled up his AK and unleashed a malestrom of bullets on the Horde. Coach pulled out his chainsaw and revved it up. Then he ran into the crowd and started swinging. Feeling the resistance of meat when he swung the power tool turned weapon, he began screaming.

"Die fuckers!! DIE!!!!"

Soon the swarm disintegrated into a giant, bloody puddle. Coach stood and stated at the crimson as his chainsaw burned the last of its gasoline. Lyra and the other ponies trotted over. The civilian ponies were crying. Coach didn't blame them, he thought he would burst out at that exact moment.

And without a word, the group continued on, towards Canterlot Castle.