Equestria: The Trotting Dead

I must have dozed off, because I opened my eyes to the sound of screams. Remedy and Midnight woke up as well.

“What was that?” Midnight asked.

“Somepony screaming,” I said. I pulled out the Liberator and opened up the tent, only to have a trotter right in my face. I stuck the muzzle in the trotter’s eye and fired, spraying blood and brains all over the tent. I quickly got out of the tent, and I heard gunfire. I ran to the sound, right to Flitter and Cloudchaser’s tent. A dead trotter was near the tent as well as Cloudchaser’s corpse. A large bite mark was bleeding out on Cloudchaser’s neck, and Flitter was crying over her body. It was after dusk. Rainbow Dash pulled a crossbow bolt out of a trotter’s brain.

“What happened?” I asked, sheathing the Liberator.

“Trotter attack,” Rainbow Dash said. “Came in from behind the woods while we slept. Everypony except Cloudchaser survived.”

“We can’t stay here,” Twilight said. “Those shots were surely heard by other trotters.”

“She’s right,” Vinyl said. “If we stay, the trotters will swarm the area, killing us all.”

“We could leave immediately if the camper was in better shape,” Celestia stated.

“What’s wrong with the camper?” I asked.

“There’s a problem with the tube connecting the coolant to the radiator,” Celestia explained. “The engine would overheat within a few minutes if not fixed.”

“I’ll help,” Twilight said. “I managed to get these prosthetics on. I should be able to fix an old engine.”

“Thank you, Twilight,” Celestia said, smiling. “The rest of you should get to work burning the bodies.”

“What about Flitter?” Pinkamena asked. “Are we just going to leave her here?”

“Nopony’s getting left behind,” I said. “Give Flitter her space, and hopefully she’ll be all right by the time we’re ready to leave.”

“Has anypony dealt with Cloudchaser yet?” Vinyl asked, hinting to the fact that her brain needed to be destroyed.

“No,” Celestia replied. “I think that should be Flitter’s job.”

“We should get to work,” I said, grabbing a trotter corpse with my magic. I set it on top of the fire pit, and Rainbow dash threw another on top. As we loaded bodies, I took quick glances at Flitter. She hadn’t moved, but neither had Cloudchaser. I wondered how long it would be until Cloudchaser turned. I saw a pistol and a knife on Flitter’s belt, so I knew that she’d be prepared once Cloudchaser did turn. When all the bodies were loaded, we heard a loud crack, and we whipped around to see Flitter with a gun to Cloudchaser’s head, and a hole through Cloudchaser’s brain. I charged up a fire spell and lit up the pile of corpses. A smell of burning flesh started to waft through the air, causing all of us to cover our muzzles.

“Ew,” Sweetie Belle groaned.

“That reeks,” Midnight added.

“No kidding,” Rarity agreed.

“Let’s go!” Pinkamena called. “The camper and truck are ready!” We loaded our equipment into the truck and got into our vehicles for the trip out. It was around dawn when we set out. We drove away from the area, leaving the burning corpses behind us. Twilight was with us in our car, sitting shotgun to me. Remedy was in the back with Midnight.

“Not to be rude, but what happened to you, Twilight?” Remedy asked. “Last time I saw you was when I traveled to Canterlot 2023 from Canterlot 2042. You looked fine before. What happened?”

“Too many magical mistakes,” Twilight said. “It first started with a spell-gone-wrong in my horn. The magic blew up within my horn, destroying it. I had to replace it with a magic infused machine, giving my magic an electric look and feel. After that, while I was still trying to control my new magic, stray sparks caught my back left hoof, lighting it on fire. That had to be replaced with a prosthetic leg. Some of my mane caught fire, I got a pretty bad cut on my head, and my eye got stabbed with a piece of glass.”

“Geez, Twilight” I winced. “Maybe you should consider taking a break from magic for a while.”

“That’s what I’ve done since the outbreak hit,” Twilight said. “I gave up on learning spells and decided to try and survive instead.”

“I never asked,” I said, remembering something. “Where’s Spike? He was always with you.” Twilight turned away, and I could hear her start to cry. I had a dark thought.

“He didn’t…turn…did he?” I asked. Twilight nodded. “I’m so sorry,” I said. I saw the camper and truck ahead of us stop, so I stopped as well. Everypony got out of their vehicles and walked up to Celestia, who was inspecting the camper. We were in the middle of a highway pileup.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“Well, there’s the matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a broken radiator,” Celestia said. “It overheated again.”

“I’ll help get it fixed,” Twilight said.

“I’ll keep lookout,” I said. “The rest of you should look throughout these scattered cars for supplies. We could use them.”

“Who put you in charge?” Pinkamena said.

“What other option do we have?” I retorted. “We can’t go anywhere without the camper, not to mention we’re stuck in this pileup. Just go get to work.” Celestia gave me her sniper, and I flew up to the top of the camper. I watched the streets as our group searched the numerous cars for supplies. As I aimed the scope toward Phillydelphia, a horde of trotters met my gaze. My eyes widened with horror. I hit the floor of the roof.

“Celestia!” I whispered. She and Twilight looked up, and I pointed to Phillydelphia. They looked, and they quickly ran to each member of the group, telling them to hide underneath the vehicles. I looked down through one of the skylights, and saw Flitter cleaning her dismantled gun.

“Trotter horde incoming,” I whispered to her. “Stay there, and keep absolutely quiet.” Flitter nodded frantically. She picked up her gun pieces and ran into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. I laid back down on the camper and waited. I could hear the groans and moans of the trotters as they passed by. I silently pulled out the Liberator, just in case. I heard a small clang, and looked down to see Flitter trying to pick up her gun frame. I looked to see a trotter walk into the camper.

“Son of a bitch,” I whispered. Flitter didn’t see the trotter, but when she dropped another piece of her gun, the trotter started to push on the bathroom door. Flitter panicked and used her back hooves to hold back the door. The trotter pushed hard, hungry for flesh. I pulled out my knife and stabbed through the skylight screen.

“Flitter,” I quietly called. She looked up, fear in her eyes. I turned the knife over and dropped it down to her. She fumbled with it for a second before getting a firm grip on it. She let her back hooves drop, letting the trotter in. Flitter tackled the trotter and stabbed my knife into its brain. She stabbed the trotter a few more times before dropping my knife. I breathed a sigh of relief. I looked back up. The trotter horde had passed, and the group had started to come out of hiding. I hopped down and entered the camper, where Flitter was crying in fear next to the dead trotter. I took hold of the corpse with my magic and dragged it out. Blood trailed from the head, leaving a blood stream on the floor. I tossed the trotter into a nearby ditch and walked back inside.

“You OK?” I asked Flitter. She managed a nod. I walked back out to see Sweetie Belle running, trotters on her tail. I ran after them. As I caught up to Sweetie Belle, I picked her up. I ran to a small grove of tree roots. I set Sweetie Belle down inside.

“Stay there,” I said. “I’ll be back.”

“All right,” Sweetie Belle nodded. I stepped away from the hiding place and came into view of the trotters.

“Come on!” I cried. “You know you want me.” I lured the trotters away from Sweetie Belle. When I felt that I was far enough away. I took hold of a trotter’s head and grabbed a sharp stick. I drove the pointed end of the stick into the trotter, killing it. The other trotter growled and tried to get at me. I kicked it to the ground. Looking around, I found a large rock. I picked it up and bashed in the trotter’s head. When the head was nothing but mush, I threw the rock down and walked back to Sweetie Belle’s hiding place. When I reached the grove, Sweetie Belle was gone.

“Oh no,” I gasped. “Rarity’s gonna flip.” I trudged back to the highway, keeping a lookout for Sweetie Belle. Upon reaching the highway, I saw the group trying to calm Rarity down.

“Braveheart!” she cried. “Please tell me Sweetie Belle’s all right!”

“I lured a couple of trotters away from her,” I said. “But when I went back for her, she was gone. I’m sorry.” Rarity suddenly turned furious.

“This is your fault!” she raged at me. “You should have stayed with her!”

“How was I to know she would leave her hiding place?” I reasoned. “I told her to stay put, and that I’d come back.”

“Enough, both of you,” Celestia scolded. “We’re not leaving until we find Sweetie Belle. We’ll set up camp here for a while.”

“All right,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “I’ll go on a scouting run for Sweetie Belle. In fact, all of us should.”

“I can’t,” Scootaloo said. “I got a pretty severe cut in my hoof, and it bled pretty badly. I don’t want to risk dying and then turning.”

“I’ll stay with her,” Celestia offered. “Search the cars for antibiotics.”

“Good,” I said. “We’d better hurry if we’re going to have a chance to find her. It’s getting late.” We left the highway and into the woods, spreading out to cover more ground. I swore to myself that I would find Sweetie Belle again, no matter the cost.