Equestria: The Trotting Dead

I walked into Fillydelphia, seeing nothing but overturned vehicles and dead bodies. I stayed wary of trotters, since I had no idea where they’d be. The city was a wreck. Windows shattered, buildings falling apart, and ruined streets. I passed a massive tank as I stepped through the streets. As I rounded the next corner, a huge horde of trotters met my gaze. They started to pursue me. I quickly whipped around and ran the other way. Another horde blocked my path. I dove underneath the tank and crawled inside from the bottom. I sealed the hatch shut and breathed a sigh of relief. I turned my head and saw the dead tank operator look at me, growling. I yanked out my pistol and fired into the trotter’s jaw. The shot rang through the confined tank, making my ears ring. Once I recovered, I started to hear voices.

“Damn it, Braveheart,” I heard a voice say. “You’ve sure gone and done yourself in this time. What the hell were you thinking coming out here?” I looked toward the tank radio. I crawled over and picked up the mic.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“The name’s Vinyl,” the voice said. “Now listen closely. Those trotters have surrounded that tank you’re in. However, I’ve managed to sound off a continuous air horn, so a good chunk of the trotters have wandered off. But there are still some there. Exit the tank from the upper hatch, then run to a yellow marked ladder to the right of the tank. Got that?”

“I think so,” I nodded, engulfing my magic around the hatch handle.

“Great,” Vinyl said. “Go!” I opened up the hatch and emerged from the tank. The trotters were snarling and growling, trying to get me. I saw the yellow marked ladder and jumped off the tank. I bolted for the ladder and climbed up. When I reached the top, an orange mare with a purple mane helped me up.

“Thanks,” I said, gun bag in tow. I set it down on the roof of the building.

“No problem,” the mare said. “Name’s Scootaloo.”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of you,” I said. “Rainbow Dash has said some great things about you.” Other ponies on the roof were Flitter, Vinyl Scratch, and Rarity.

“Braveheart?!” Rarity cried. “Thank Celestia you’re alive.”

“Same to you,” I happily sighed. We gave each other a quick hug before hearing a gunshot ring out. We whipped around to see Lightning Dust firing off a sniper rifle.

“Damn it!” Vinyl cursed. She stormed over to Lightning Dust. “We told you that you can’t be doing that!”

“Doing what?” Lightning Dust asked. “Killing off the horde? I gotta practice my aim.”

“We need to conserve ammo,” Scootaloo argued. “The shots also draw them closer.” Lightning Dust jumped down from her perch.

“It’s only a matter of time before we all die anyway,” she shrugged. “May as well get my kills in while I can. Unlike you, you chicken.” At that, Scootaloo raged. She tackled Lightning Dust and the two started fighting. Rarity and Vinyl tried to pull them apart, but to no avail. I suddenly saw Lightning Dust pick up a knife nearby, and I forcefully pulled her away, putting the muzzle of my revolver to her temple.

“We will not, I repeat, WILL NOT, kill the living,” I hissed. “As a member of the royal guard, I will not let harm come to innocent, but in this case, I will not let harm come to survivors.” I pulled out a pair of cuffs and clipped one end to Lightning Dust’s right hoof, and the other to a pipe.

“Hey, come on,” Lightning Dust reasoned. “She was asking for it. She hit me first. Why isn’t she the one in these damn cuffs?” I ignored her and walked back to the other survivors.

“Thanks,” Scootaloo said, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Sure,” I nodded. “How long has she been a problem?”

“Since she’s joined our little group,” Rarity explained. “She’s become quite a bit of trouble since then.”

“That issue can wait,” Vinyl said. “The trotters are bound to break through soon, and we have no way to escape.”

“I’ll figure something out,” I said. I walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down. Trotters were converging on the building, and they were pounding on the doors and windows. I suddenly got an idea. I leapt off the building, much to the horror of Rarity and Vinyl.

“What are you doing?!” Vinyl cried as I fell. I spread my wings and swooped low, trotters following me with their dead gaze. I landed and pulled out my pistol.

“Come on, fuckers!” I taunted. “Fresh meat right here! Come and get some!” The trotter horde hobbled after me. I yelled to the top of the building.

“MAKE A BREAK FOR IT!!!” I screamed. I kept running, buying the others time to escape. I leapt into a car and started up the engine. Using my magic, I put a dent in the car, setting off the alarm. The horn sounded loudly, drawing in the horde. I looked through the rear view mirrors, and I saw the rooftop group gallop down the stairwell. I kept driving, alarm blaring, drawing the horde away.

After driving for a good half hour, I parked the car and got out. The horde was still on my ass, and they were closing in fast. I opened up the hood of the car and yanked a couple of cords, shutting off the alarm. I pulled out the gun bag, drew my pistol, and took a shot at the lead trotter. Blood spewed from the back of the rotting corpse’s head, and it went down. Quickly checking my ammo, I found that my recent shot was my final one in the chamber. I put my pistol away and jumped upward. I spread my wings and flew off, leaving the trotter horde behind. As I flew back to Fillydelphia, I saw a delivery truck driving into a section of woods. On the top of the truck, it read “Follow us, Braveheart”. The paint was still wet, since it must have just been painted on. I dove down to the truck, and it slowed down. The truck stopped, and the group got out.

“That was genius, Braveheart!” Vinyl cried, high hoofing me.

“You still had me scared when you jumped off the building without warning,” Rarity said. I noticed that Lightning Dust was missing.

“Where’s Lightning Dust?” I asked. Scootaloo looked to the ground.

“We tried to break her free, but we couldn’t,” she regretted. “But as we left, I chained up and locked the rooftop access door. No trotter is going to be able to bust through. So we can go back for her.”

“I’ll go do that,” I said. “Where can I find you once I’ve done so?”

“We’ll be at the top of that cliff,” Vinyl said, pointing to a mountain. “We’ve got a camp up there. Just look for the truck with our message on it.”

“Will do,” I nodded. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Please be safe out there,” Rarity requested.

“I will,” I said. “You should probably take these guns and ammo back to the camp. You may need them.” Scootaloo took the bag and tossed it into the back of the truck. The group got back into the truck and drove off, and I took flight back to Fillydelphia.

I landed on the roof of the building, and called out.

“Lightning Dust?” I called. I didn’t get a response. “Lightning Dust?” I called again. Still nothing. I looked around for her, and all I found was a bloody hacksaw and a severed teal hoof. My cuffs were bloody and still hanging on the pipe. I unlocked the cuffs from the pipe and cleaned them off. I slipped them back onto my belt and started following Lightning’s blood trail. I pulled out my pistol and reloaded it, keeping it at the ready. The blood trail ended two floors down, when I found a recently used iron. Lightning Dust must have stopped the bleeding by branding the wound. Discouraged that I didn’t find Lightning Dust, I jumped out a window and flew back to the camp. It wasn’t hard to find, since I could see the truck with the message. I flew down into the camp, and Vinyl met me there.

“Glad you made it back safe,” Vinyl said. “Where’s Lightning Dust?”

“She cut off her hoof with a hacksaw,” I explained. “She ironed the wound to keep herself from bleeding out. I don’t know where she is now.” Vinyl shuddered at a nagging thought.

“Rainbow’s gonna be pissed,” she muttered.

“Wait,” I stopped, upon hearing this. “Rainbow Dash is still alive?!”

“Yeah, she is,” Vinyl said. “She’s out on a hunt though. Won’t be back for who knows how long. Let me show you around the camp.” I followed Vinyl, and met lots of familiar faces. Fluttershy, Celestia, Sweetie Belle, and others. When Vinyl brought me to the tents, I saw somepony I thought I’d never see again. Velvet Remedy turned around, and nearly cried at the sight of me. We ran up to each other and embraced.

“I thought you were dead,” Remedy sobbed. “I thought…”

“Just…stop talking,” I said. Remedy cried, happy that her husband was alive. I looked up to see Midnight Skies come out of the family tent.

“Hey, mom?” she started to ask. Remedy let go of me and turned around. Midnight was in shock.

“Dad?” she asked in disbelief. Tears in my eyes, I nodded. Midnight ran up to me and jumped onto my neck. I kneeled down and hugged my daughter.

“Are you OK?” I asked her.

“I’ve been fine,” Midnight said. “I thought you died.”

“No,” I assured. “I couldn’t die. I had to find you.” I stood up and walked over to Celestia, who was stationed atop a camper van as lookout. Her mane and tail were no longer flowing, instead changed to a bright pink.

“It’s good to see you, Braveheart,” she said.

“Same to you, Princess,” I said.

“Regretfully, I’m no longer a princess,” Celestia said. “After Equestria fell victim to the trotters, royalty status fell, and my mane reverted to a normal state. Tragic, I know.”

“So where’s Luna?” I asked. “Is she alive?”

“I don’t know,” Celestia regretted. “I tried to convince her to come with me, but she refused. She left Canterlot to pursue her own way in the world. But I have a feeling she is still alive. Although I don’t know where.”

“All right,” I sighed. I walked off. Flitter was talking to Cloudchaser (no surprise there), Rarity and Sweetie Belle were doing laundry, and Remedy and Midnight were doing other chores. I decided to get a look of the scene from the cliff. The view was stunning, with green trees and Canterlot in the far distance. I took a deep breath and let it out. I took out my gun and twirled it in my magic a few times. I fancily slipped it back into its sheath and stood up. It was getting dark, and a small fire was being made. I sat down with Remedy and Midnight as we ate. There were small bits of rationed food, and we had to use it sparingly.

“We’re running a little low on food,” Celestia said. “Not sure how much longer we can stay here.”

“I can go make a run tomorrow,” Vinyl offered. “There were still packages of food in the building we left back in Fillydelphia.”

“Surely you don’t want to go back there,” Rarity reasoned. “We barely made it out as it is.”

“I’ll go with her,” I suggested. “Better not to go alone.”

“I’ll go too,” a voice said. We turned to see Pinkamena walk into the light of the fire. “Not like I have anything to do here.”

“Pinkie?” I asked.

“I don’t go by Pinkie Pie anymore,” Pinkamena said. “I go by my actual name. After Equestria went to shit, I stopped my partying ways, and decided to fight back against the trotters.”

“Watch your language, young lady,” Celestia scolded. “We have fillies here.”

“Speaking of which, it’s your bedtime Midnight,” Remedy said.

“Aw, can’t I stay up a bit longer?” Midnight pleaded. “Maybe help Celestia on watch?”

“Nice try,” Remedy said, smirking. “You need your sleep. I think we’ll let your dad help Celestia on watch.”

“I’m fine with that,” I shrugged.

“Off to bed with you as well,” Rarity said to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. “Let’s go.”

“Good night, everypony,” Vinyl said, yawning. Everypony else walked off to their tents, and I flew up onto the camper with Celestia.

“Thank you for the help, Braveheart,” Celestia said.

“Anytime,” I nodded. Celestia gave me her rifle, and I looked it over. It was a DSR-50 bolt action, meant for destructive body shots on the living. Celestia had equipped it with a suppressor and a red dot scope for more precise and quiet shots on trotter heads. I looked down the scope at Fillydelphia below. The lenses were very clean, and the scope would magically focus.

“It’s a really nice gun,” I commented. “Where’d you get it?”

“It was given to me by a friend,” Celestia said. “I kept it hidden in the castle and never thought about it until the outbreak. When everything happened, I took it and fled the castle. Most of the royal guard escaped with me, and most of the lunar guards escaped with Luna. Some of the guards went their separate ways, leaving the service.”

“Well, if I wasn’t shot, I would have stayed in the guard,” I said. “No matter what.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Celestia nodded. “That guard armor you wore, adorned with both yellow and dark blue. I felt that it suited you. You were an influence to many of the guards, and they looked up to you. That’s why I gave you those colors in your armor. You would protect both during day and night.”

“It was quite tiring,” I remarked. I pulled out my revolver. A silver .357 Colt Python with my cutie mark engraved and painted on the wooden handle. I had named it The Liberator. “I’ve had this gun since my first day in the guard,” I remembered. “Luna gave it to me as a gift.”

“She thought very highly of you back when you were a colt,” Celestia recalled. “She often spoke of your potential as an alicorn in the guard. In fact, she would sing on her balcony at night, her lyrics describing you as a kind and wondrous colt.” I blushed.

“Did she really?” I wondered.

“She did,” Celestia confirmed. “I could hear her from my room. I think you were the one thing she truly cared for in a family sense.” I sighed.

“Did she say anything after my accident?” I asked.

“She was furious,” Celestia replied. “She’d go off and sit in your recovery room, hoping you’d wake up. In fact, when the outbreak first broke out, she put you on life support. She wanted to make sure you lived through the outbreak; that you wouldn’t die. And if you did wake up, that you might find her.” A cold breeze blew past, and I shivered. Celestia put a wing around me, and I smiled at her.

“Thanks,” I quietly said. I looked toward the fire. It had gone out from the gust of wind. As I turned back to the horizon, I saw a lone trotter hobbling up the trail to the camp. I flicked on the laser pointer and pointed it at the trotter’s head. The trotter looked up, and I smirked. I adjusted my aim into the trotter’s eye, and the laser pointed into its retina. The trotter’s eye caught on fire, and I took the shot. The bullet quietly whizzed through the air, and the trotter’s head exploded in a glorious splatter of blood. The trotter fell dead on the dirt, and bits of brain fell from the nearby trees. Blood spilled from the dead trotter’s throat, making a puddle on the ground. I hung out my tongue as I flipped of the laser.

“This weapon seems a bit overkill,” I remarked. “I like it.” Celestia smiled and rolled her eyes.

“I have a darker side,” she said. “Lookout gives me a chance to let it out.” I gave a small chuckle and continued watching for trotters through the night.