Ashes

A young filly walked down the rubble filled streets of the town that used to be known as Ponyville. Her once golden coat and red mane was coated in dirty and disheveled, as it had been months, perhaps years, since she had been able to groom herself properly. Dangling limply from her neck was a small SMG, something the filly had scavenged from a long abandoned police car a week or two ago. She glanced around nervously, looking for any signs of life in what used to be the bustling downtown area of Ponyville. Upon seeing not a soul, she exhaled solemnly and began to sing to herself.

"Ring around the rosie..." she began, before perking up as she noticed something peeking around the corner of a building, then run around the corner. The filly instinctively brought her SMG to her shoulder and switched off the safety, ready for any threats that may come her way.

"A hoof full of posies..." she continued, walking around the corner. The only thing there was the skeleton of a long dead pony, a slightly rusted handgun lying beside the corpse.

"Ashes..." she continued as she knelt down and checked if the handguns magazine was still holding any ammo. "Ashes... we all fall-"

A bloodcurdling shriek pierced the eerie silence that surrounded the filly as something ran towards her. The filly raised her newly acquired handgun and fired off two rounds into the creatures head. The creature fell face first into the ground, a small amount of almost black blood leaking out of the bullet wounds. The filly looked around, checking her surroundings for any other creatures. She was clear.

The filly let out a small sigh of relief as she went over to inspect the creature. Of course, this about the hundredth time she had done this. But during those times, she was with a group, not on her own. Too bad she was chosen to scout out the town.

The creature, in reality, was what used to be a pony, just like herself. But now, it was what survivors came to know as ghouls, or mutants, or zombies, or whatever nickname ponies decided to stick with. The filly liked to call them ghouls, since they reminded her so much of the monsters in the stories she had read.

Ghouls, as stated previously, were previously ponies. However, years ago, a terrible, never seen before virus came to Equestria, infecting over half the ponies inhabiting the nation. Those who were infected would start to lose their coats, then their skin would start to rot, and finally, they would turn into a blood thirsty monster, who had the ability to infect those who weren't infected by the other strands of the virus. These things had managed to overrun Equestria's once proud military, as well as the famed Royal Guard and the Princesses themselves. Strangely, even though the Princesses were long dead or infected (she wasn't too sure which one), the sun and moon continued it's rotation, instead of stopping like it should. The stories of the Princesses, in reality, were likely old mares tales to keep the Princesses in power.

"Come in, Applebloom." A voice from the radio strapped to Applebloom's hind leg requested, interrupting her train of thought, "do you read me, over?"

Applebloom held the radio up to her head and replied. "Ah read ya, Scoots."

"How's Ponyville looking?" Scootaloo inquired.

"Devoid of life. Ran into a ghoul, but haven't seen any others... yet..."

"Roger that. We're rolling in, sit tight."

Applebloom placed her radio back in its holster and turned her attention back the corpse of the infected pony. She placed her handgun inside her saddlebag and trained her SMG on the ghoul, in case it decided to get back up and attack her. They were known to play possum.

Seeing a ghoul up close can be very disturbing, even when they're dead. Nothing of their coat and mane remained, besides a few leftover shreds. All that you could see was the sickly greenish yellow flesh, which was slowly rotting away. But the most disturbing part of seeing a ghoul up close, was the fact you could still see their cutie marks. And this ghoul had a cutie mark that was all too familiar to Applebloom.

It was three balloons. The cutie mark of the former Element of Laughter.

Several years earlier

Pinkie Pie ran an old rag across the T.V. hanging from the ceiling inside, as she tried to clean up the Sugarcube Corner before she opened up. She looked around and checked if she missed any spots. Satisfied she did a good job, she switched on the T.V. and unlocked the front door, placing a sign out front that stated they were open.

She walked behind the counter and began placing out her fleshly baked sweets, while she watched her favorite show on the T.V.

The local male mare, Derpy Hooves, walked in and greeted Pinkie cheerfully.

Pinkie flashed Derpy a huge smile and greeted her back. "The usual, Derpy?" Pinkie inquired.

"Yup!" Derpy replied cheerfully.

Pinkie reached under the counter and pulled out a deluxe blueberry muffin, which she placed in front of Derpy. Derpy placed some bits on the counter and began to dig into the muffin, devouring it much like how a predator would devour its prey. Pinkie turned her attention back to the T.V., where a few cartoon characters were taking turns hitting each other with oversized hammers.

Suddenly, the cartoon disappeared, and was replaced with the logo of the Equestrian Emergency Alert System.

"This is an Emergency Broadcast Transmission." A computerized voice stated, "this is not a test."

Derpy and Pinkie glanced at each other with concerned gazes as the message repeated several times, before the logo was replied by the image of Celestia looking over a large crowd of journalists and newscasters.

"My humble subjects, I regret to say that I have some very grave news." Celestia began, "Yesterday, an unknown virus began to spread through several of Equestria's larger population centers, including Trottingham, Los Pegasus, and Manehattan, and is quickly spreading. There are already almost a million confirmed cases, and this number is quickly rising. There are also several members of the royal family that have been infected, including my beloved sister, Princess Luna."

Both Derpy and Pinkie gasped in shock. Princess Celestia herself looked like she was barely holding back tears.

"Under the advice of my top advisers, we will be quarantining the major populations, where most of the confirmed cases are. I have activated the Royal National Guard so we can maintain order and make sure quarantine doesn't get breached. All members of the Royal National Guard are ordered to head to the nearest armory immediately."

Pinkie heard somepony galloping down the stairs and turned to see Mr. Cake hastily throwing on a camouflage jacket, with Mrs. Cake right behind him, carrying their children.

"Honey, please don't go!" she pleaded, "you've seen the photos of this virus at work!"

"Honey, I have a duty to perform. If I don't perform my duties, you could end up like one of them." Mr. Cake said, placing a camouflage cap over his head. He turned around and embraced his wife tightly, kissing her passionately, before letting go and running outside. Pinkie ran over to Mrs. Cake and wrapped her hooves around her, as she began crying into Pinkies shoulder. Looking outside, Pinkie say many other colts and mares dressed in similar uniforms leaving their homes, leaving behind spouses, children, siblings, and parents.

"Every hospital in Equestria will now have a platoon of Guards stationed there, in case of a worse case scenario. My adviser from the CDC, Doctor Red Heart, will now be delivering a briefing on the virus."

A small colt trotted up to Celestia and bowed respectfully, before turning to crowd. "Hello, my name is Doctor Red Heart, the directer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While we do not know much about this disease, we do know it is highly contagious, and fast acting. While we do not know all the symptoms yet, ponies infected with the disease will start losing their coat and mane within the first couple of days. Also, ponies who have been infected for a longer period of time will suffer from symptoms similar to those experienced when infected by necrotizing fasciitis, though much more widespread. Patient Zero has already lost much of his coat and mane, and his skin has began rotting and has turned a sickly greenish yellow color. So far, it appears that antibiotics and other means of treatment are ineffective. The best way to avoid getting infected is to avoid contact with others, especially around hospitals."

Several weeks later

"We are unaware what has happened, but we do know that containment of Manehattan and Los Pegasus has failed. All contact with Manehattan and Los Pegasus has been lost, and all attempts to send somepony in has been met with failure. We assume the worst." A young officer said as he was interviewed on the news. The building shook as a few helicopters passed overhead, causing Pinkie to jump slightly.

"Hold on, Photogenic, I'm getting a video feed from a survivor from Manehattan. Playing it in three... two... one..."

A cell phone video started to play on the television screen, as the pony recording focused on a National Guard convoy as it passed by. He waved at them, and a few of the National Guardsponies returned the wave.

"Contacts!" A guardspony from the front of the convoy shouted. The camerapony turned in time to see a large group of ponies, who have long lost their coats and manes, charged at the humvee in the front. They ripped off the armored doors, pulling out the screaming guardsponies that were inside. The convoy stopped and the guardsponies climbed out of their vehicles, firing their assault rifles at the infected. A dozen more infected charged out from a dark alleyway, followed by even more infected, and soon almost seventy or so hairless ponies started ripping apart the guardsponies alive.

"Fall back! Fall back!" An officer shouted, as he and the few remaining survivors retreated towards the last humvee in the line.

"What are you doing just standing there, you idiot! Run!" One of the guardsponies shouted at the camerapony upon noticing him. The pony ran after the guardsponies, looking back a few times to see a mass of infected running after them.

"Come on! Come on!" Another guardsponies shouted. The ground of survivors scrambled into the humvee, and the pony in the drivers seat pressed his hoof down on the reverse. The tires screeched as the humvee went into a reverse, before it did a 180 and drove off, leaving the infected behind.

"Dear Celestia... what were those things?!" The pony, who was still holding his cell phone and recording, inquired.

"The ponies who contracted the disease. That's who." The officer responded. "They are overrunning the city, infecting those who haven't already contracted the disease, and killing those who are immune, including us."

"Containment is being breached!" A desperate guardspony shouted over the radio, "we need back up!"

"Negative. We're stretched too thin to reinforce your position. All forces, pull out of the city immediately. We're burning this place. You have five minutes."

"Shit!" The guardspony sitting beside the camerapony cursed. The driver stomped on the medal, as the humvees engine roared like a manticore. In the distance, they could see one of the cities exits, where the guardsponies who were stationed were getting into their vehicles. Suddenly, something jumped on top of the humvee and pulled the pony manning the humvees turret out of the vehicle, throwing him to the road. The guardspony sitting beside the camerapony fired through the roof, causing a bleeding infected pony to fall off, dead.

"Fuck! My ears!" Somepony cursed. Their humvee crashed through the exit and screeched down the highway leading out of Manehattan. The camerapony looked back at the city, his camera managing to catch multiple F-35's dropping napalm on the city.

A few days later

Pinkie walked out of the Ponyville Hospital, her mane deflated. Mrs. Cake had just attempted to take her own life, upon hearing the news of her husbands death. Mr. Cake had died as he and his squad had attempted to evacuate civilians in Los Pegas, but they were ambushed by infected, or ghouls, as they were now known as. Mr. Cake then gave his own life so the rest of his squad and the civilians could escape, which earned him Honor of Valor. But that wasn't all...

The Cakes children, Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, were diagnosed with the virus. And so were a lot of the ponies that lived in Ponyville, slowly rotting away alive. Rarity had been killed by a ghoul the other night. Sweetie Belle was now in the care of Applejack, as was her friend Scootaloo, who lost her parents to the virus. Fluttershy, who was convinced long ago by a recruiter to join the Army Reserve, was deployed to Canterlot a few days ago. And Twilight was evacuated by Princess Celestia, and was escorted by a full platoon of Royal Guards. And Rainbow Dash... nopony has heard from her ever since this whole mess began.

"Miss, we need you to get home. Night's falling." A guardspony told Pinkie. Pinkie nodded in acknowledgement, as she started to trot away. She looked around nervously, looking around for Ponyville's ghoul population.

A shriek that Pinkie had become familiar with in the past couple days came from behind her. She quickly turned around to face the threat, only to be tackled by the ghoul who was attacking her. Pinkie screamed, trying to escape the ghouls grasp. But the ghoul was too strong for her. Pinkie watched in horror as the ghoul bit down deep into her chest.

"Ghoul!" Somepony shouted. Pinkie heard somepony run up, and then heard a burst of gunfire. Blood splattered all over Pinkie and the pavement, as the ghoul went limp and fell off of Pinkie.

"Shit, we're too late. Get a medic!" A guardspony shouted, as she examined Pinkie Pie. Pinkies eyes burst open in shock as she recognized who it was. It was Rainbow Dash.

A week later

Pinkie looked around the hospital room she was in, the slightest movement hurting more than her encounter with the ghoul. Her coat and mane has long since faded and fell out, and her skin was already the sickly yellowish green color of a ghoul. All that remained of what she used to be was her cutie mark.

Suddenly, Pinkie felt an intense pain in her brain, causing her to shriek in agony. A nurse came in, trying to calm Pinkie down. But Pinkie felt something down inside of her she had never felt before. A desire to kill, to murder, to cause suffering to all in sight. And she couldn't do a thing about it.

"Code twelve! Code twelve!" The nurse shouted desperately, as Pinkie jumped up and tackled the nurse. Deep down inside her, Pinkie knew this was wrong. That she didn't want to do this. But when she tried to stop... she found she was no longer in control of her own body. Something else controlled her movements, her vocal cords, everything. All she could do was watch as she bit down into the nurses neck, before slamming her hooves down on her face, breaking the nurses nose and knocking her out. Pinkies ears perked up, hearing the call of her companions. There were ghouls in this building that needed her assistance to carry out their purpose, and she had to answer it. Pinkie charged out of the room, pushing a guardspony who was responding to the nurses cries for help out a window, and ran down the hall.

Applebloom's ears perked up as she heard the engine of the JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle) that her group had been using for past year. She turned around and walked out of the alley, to see their vehicle waiting for her.

"Clear?!" A colt called out to her.

"Clear!" Applebloom called back. The JLTV engine switched off, as it's occupants climbed out. The driver of the vehicle, a former member of the Wonderbolts named Soarin, walked up to her.

"How's the area look?" He inquired.

"Ah ran inta one of em, but no more then that." Applebloom responded.

"Alright. Applejack, Applebloom, go check around for supplies. Me and Scootaloo will go check out the police station and check for any weapons and ammo. Sweetie Belle, stay inside the truck, and call us if you see anything."

"Right." Sweetie Belle responded, climbing back into JLTV and close the door behind her. Applebloom watched as Scootaloo and Soarin walked off, before she went over to her older sister. Despite the years of hardship they have been through, Applejack still looked like she did before. She even wore her signature Stetson hat, even it had a few tears in it.

"Ready sis?" Applebloom asked.

"Ya betchya ah am." Applejack responded, loading a few shells into her shotgun, then cocked it. "Let's go."