The town around me crumbled, the air filled with ash. I pulled my handkerchief over my mouth and nose more, making it snug. Beside me I heard the muffled sobs of Sunny Rose. She was my cousin, a year younger than me at the age of sixteen. She was a lanky, yellow pony with a deep red mane and tail. It was early October in the year 2013. Along the streets of Ponyville lay mangled bodies of the deceased, or the infected. Kick Up, my best friend, rested his hoof on her shoulder and pulled me against him. My sideswept bangs covered my face, keeping the ash from my eyes and making grey and electric blue streaks in my vision.
“Our h-h-home. It’s g-g-gone,” Sunny spluttered, digging at the ground with her hoof. She whirled around, running up to me and pressing her face against my neck, crying.
Almost a year ago the “cure to everything” had been constructed by highly advanced scientists. 200,000,000 ponies were given this cure, hoping their illnesses would go away. As if by a miracle it worked. No one expected it to. There was a flaw though. These ponies started becoming--how do I explain this . . .--animal-like. Many started attacking their families in their homes, dismembering their bodies, eating them. It’s like a case of rabies spread through them, but the only signs of the supposed rabies are the aggressive nature, fever, and the transmission of the infection from saliva to blood. Otherwise they seemed like just normal animals. Not ponies. Animals.
“Sunny, you have to stop crying. The infected will hear you,” I whispered into her ear, nuzzling the crown of her hair.
Her heaves and cries stopped as she gained composure of herself. She pulled back from me, her face dark and blunt. It hurt to see her like this. All the others in our family were killed by infected. We were the only ones to survive. So far, out of the most of Ponyville, us three seemed to be the only ones that lived. Except for Taffy Twist, he was in Manehattan. I’d gotten a text from him a week before the infection hit our town, saying there’s a safe house in Manehattan that we had to get to. The day after, the power cut out. The next day, no cell phones here worked. After that, the infected started pouring into town.
Kick Up had ran all the way to my house that day, taking Sunny Rose and me to his house, into the basement. Before we had left we grabbed any important medical supplies and shoved it into a backpack, taking some blankets for us also. Then we made our way to his house. His parents never came home. We started immediately boarding everything up. Screams of agony and infected echoed outside and we curled up against each other, shaking for the first day. Finally we had fallen asleep and awoke two days later, today.
Right now we were heading over to my Uncle’s, past the high school. Over there no one was home, they were dead in the street outside. When we arrived we only saw their bones. Eerie silence surrounded us and I jerked my head up, looking for any infected. There were none. Carefully, we opened the front door, heading inside. No familiar barking greeted my ears, only the dead quiet and the soft taps of our footsteps.
“The bow and shotgun are downstairs,” I said quietly, making my way down the carpeted steps to the basement. Through the door it seemed like nothing had changed. Fires had not reached this far. In the midst of my search for the weapons I found maps of the Equestria. I tucked these into my backpack and found the case for the bow and magically lifted it with my blue magic into my bag. Grabbing a stool, I took it towards the back, set it down and climbed up, finding the shotgun. Without hesitating I levetated it down and looked at it, in the box held one hundred rounds. Breathing a sigh of relief I headed back upstairs with the supplies.
At the top of the stairs, Kick Up took the shotgun. He looked it over approvingly then looked at me. Worry clouded his gaze and I flicked my eyes towards the bow, hoping he’d understand that I could take care of myself. Briefly nodding, he turned and headed into the kitchen and I followed. Kick set the gun on the counter and Sunny sat in one of the bar stools. She looked disappointed.
“What’s the matter, Sunny?” I asked, walking over to her.
“Why don’t I get a weapon?” she muttered, crossing her front hooves while looking at her legs.
I sighed and made my way over to the pantry. Since I was so short I stepped onto a few of the shelves to reach the top, pulling down a hand gun and bullets with my mouth (sometimes I didn’t think about using my magic). Making my way back to her I saw that both her and Kick were looking at me in shock. My attention was on the gun though. It was smooth, light, and simple. Perfect for Sunny. When I placed it in front of her, her face lit up and she almost looked happy.
Her eyes glided over the gun, seeming to get a feel for it. After a few moments she picked it up with her yellow magic, admiring the intricate artwork carved into the handle. She then looked up at me, smiling a thank you, then putting her mind back to the gun.
“How did you know that was there?” Kick Up asked, whispering into my ear.
“I used to live here with them remember? I know where all the weapons are,” I whispered back, pressing closer to him. He moved closer to me. At that moment I felt safe, as if the world would magically fix itself and be okay.
We were in love. It didn’t matter that we were best friends. The truth was embedded inside us. Both of us knew it. Neither of us knew what to do about it though. This was one thing we kept to ourselves. There was an aura of confusion circulating around us because of our love. We handled it though with laughter and other things.
“It’s time to go,” I said, my voice seeming to come out in a growl. I intended on making it to at least halfway to Canterlot today, or maybe a little before it, seeing as we were just starting out.
All of us took a deep breath and stepped out the front door. Big mistake. Infected twitched and turned around, looking at us. At least five infected stood on the road in front of my uncle houses front yard. They looked at us with the most intent of hunger. Instinctively, I crouched, gripping the bow in one hand, my arrows already slung over my shoulder, and the dagger hiding in my boot in the other. The other two brought up their weapons, poised and ready for the attack. An infected positioned at the front of their group snarled, and I realized I recognized him. I recognized all of them.
“No!” A single word ripped itself from my chest, signaling to the infected to pursue their instinct of attack.
Motor led the attack, someone whom I hated, once dated, but broke up with. All of my friends had then after hated him for he became a complete jerk. He dove for me and I dodged easily, removing the dagger from the band on my foreleg with my teeth and slicing his back.
When seeing an infected, they are not what is expected from the “norm” of Zombies. They didn’t have the gross, sagging skin. If anything, they were beautiful, with eyes blood red, skin pale white, but still gripping the body. They lose all color from their pelts. The only offset thing about them was the dried blood crusting around their mouths and on their hands.
Wails of fury filled the air as more of ponies I knew stormed towards us, spitting and growling. Black Blade and Beautiful Apocalypse lunged for my cousin, she screamed ferociously, causing my friends to stumble back a few steps. Her gun lay on the ground farther away from her; her left foreleg blocked her face. Without a moment’s hesitation I lunged for Black Blade, the taller of my friends, and drove my dagger deep into her chest. For a moment, I swore her eyes turned back to their blue ice, and she seemed confused, but then her body convulsed and she fell still. In a daze I was taken over by an unseen force. A scent flooded over me that was all too familiar: gasoline. It was Motor. Screeching like a lunatic, I flung him off me, pinning him to the ground in a position that didn’t seem very possible. They aren't normal anyways. Stroke by stroke I sliced his head off, separating the vertebrae with my blade and severing the delicate spinal cord. Blood pooled around me and the body, its smell sickening yet wonderful at the same time.
A confession to make: I used to cut, blood is beautiful.
“Moonlight! It’s Sunny! She’s been bitten!” Kick called out; apparently he had taken out Solar Moon and Defying Gravity. Apocalypse was nowhere to be seen.
Bringing myself back to my senses I leapt to Sunnys’ side. Hesitantly I put my mouth to the bite mark on her neck. The next few moments I spent sucking out blood and the virus and spitting it onto the ground. Truth be told I did not know if this would work but I did it anyways. Eventually she started breathing a little too slowly and I stopped. She fluttered her eyes at me then went unconscious.
Kick Up and I headed into the house again, carrying her. We locked her in the master bedroom, hoping that it being on the second floor would keep her from jumping out the window if she did become infected. However, the two of us made our way to the basement, boarding up the giant windows down there and dragging a mattress near the door that led to the basement. The two of us sat back-to-back, I faced the windows, he faced the door.
Next to me sat my bow and dagger and Demetris’ shotgun. Before I knew it I was shaking so violently that when he grabbed hold of me, he shook as well. His hoof stroked my mane and he murmured gently into the crown of my head. He repeatedly told me how much he loved me and that he would be here for me no matter what. It was then that the tears escaped from my eyes, drenching the front of my shirt.
My head started to spin and I slouched against Kick, all cried out. At that moment I felt the warmth of his lips traveling precariously towards my own, and I accepted it. I felt the demand in his kiss and let what happened after that kiss happen, knowing it felt good but also calmed me, bringing me out of this Hell. When I came to my senses again I was on full alert, wrapped up in a blanket. Kick pulled me back against him, his skin was hot against mine and we fell asleep for almost two hours.
After I woke up I forgot where I was. Everything was calm and the cold bite to my bare shoulders felt familiar and I shivered, causing Kick to pull me back against him. Only then did I realize the cold truth: I killed my friend and we were fighting for the rest of our lives. My eyes squeezed shut and this unpony noise reverberated from the back of my throat. In an instant Kick was sitting up with a foreleg protectively across my chest and his shotgun levitating towards the door. He found out then that it was me making the noises, set down the gun, and pulling me into a strong hug.
Both of us jumped to our hooves when the basement door opened. A shaking Sunny Rose stepped forward, rubbing her eyes, looking pale. Behind me Kick Up sat back down in the tumbles of blanket. However I moved forward and pulled Sunny into a neck against neck embrace, hugging her. She felt ice cold even though my skin was frozen too. Her movements were jerky, seeming like the infected’s movements.
Pulling away from her I walked back to Kick and stretched, picking up the bow and Dagger. Never did she look at us. Something seemed odd about her, the way she carried herself, the way her breathing sounded irregular, or the way she twitched when a sharp noise sounded.
“Sunny?” I asked her faintly, slightly touching her shoulder. She shrugged me off violently as if I were an infected myself.
“I’m fine. I just feel queasy. Can we get going soon? You said you wanted to reach Appleton by the end of the day yesterday,” she said, her voice scratchy and strained.
“You’re right. C’mon, let’s head out,” I said, grabbing my weapons and marching upstairs. This time I made sure to grab my backpack with medical supplies, which reminded me that I hadn’t grabbed it before. You haven’t had water for awhile either; actually, none of us have had liquids in a couple days. For good measure I took myself to the bathroom and drained my bladder, making sure I was still capable and my ureters hadn’t clogged from in-use form the whole situation.
Water. . .
Subconsciously I stuffed a bunch of water bottles into my backpack. When I lifted the bag, bow, and arrows I nearly fell over. I only stood about 8 and three fourths hands. With a somewhat irritated sigh, Sunny snatched the backpack from me. Taken aback a bit I stopped before I telekinetically grabbed the doorknob. Grunting, she slung the backpack, more properly called a saddlebag, over her shoulder and opened the door herself, stomping outside into the chilly air. It could only be about seven in the morning at the moment. For hours we walked in silence, sometimes seeing infected, but none attacked us luckily.
That was until now.
From a distance the single infected one looked like a mere child. It startled me for a few seconds until I completely recognized her. A sly smile spread across my lips. This particular infected one was my English teacher from sophomore year, whom near everyone hated. Kick Up and I shared a satisfied glance. He took aim with his gun while I positioned myself with the bow and arrow. She writhed in place, then took a dead run for us. My arrow released before Kicks’ bullet, but the two met her body at the same time. Straight into her heart flew my arrow, and into her skull went the perfectly aimed bullet by Kick. Instantaneously she fell to the ground, seizuring, then falling still, dead.
A hearty laugh erupted out of Kick Up and I laughed as well in strange pleasure at killing her.
All of us seemed to be in a lighter mood after the kill. What didn’t make sense was why Sunny Rose was so happy too, but I let her be because for a while I thought she would never be her old self again. Here she was though, as normal as a person can be in a situation like ours.
“You’d have thought the infected would be too annoyed by her to even bother to bite her,” Kick Up snorted.
“Maybe that’s the reason they did bite her,” I responded back, laughing hysterically.
Even Sunny giggled at my joke. Unable to help myself I smiled at her in delight, but faltered when I saw her teeth as she grinned back at me. They were razor sharp, like canines, but all of them long and deadly. Instead of commenting on her teeth I made a face at her and she laughed, gleefully. Feeling as if we were on top of the world I started singing, not very well may I comment, one of my favorite songs by Patrick Stump. After a few moments Sunny Rose joined. When the rapping part came along I was the only one to do it being as I was a good rapper.
To my surprise we had made it all the way to Canterlot at about nine at night. All the windows and doors were barricaded aside from those that were smashed and stained with blood.
Giving Sunny a boost up with her magic, we made our way to the top of the building, hoping it would be somewhat safe at that height. For good measure I moved some of the broken cement in front of the door that led into the mall on the roof. Sunny helped me, easily maneuvering the heavy cement in front of the door without using her magic. Something was definitely happening to her and I had a theory it might be from her bite. Whatever it was though, I could not be too sure.
Eventually she fell asleep; snoring so loud I thought more infected would try to get up here. Amazingly enough no infected seemed to be around. In fact, they seemed to stay more into the wilderness when it became dark out. Seeing as there was no wilderness around here, there wouldn’t be very many, maybe a few stragglers.
“Is there something up with Sunny?” Kick asked me later that night, staring at the stars.
“I believe so,” I said quietly, then returned back to star gazing. “There,” I said, pointing to the little dipper in the sky near the North Star. “I told you I could find the little dipper anytime I wanted.”
At that moment we both reacted to the scratching sound. Both of us jumped to our feet, aiming our weapons at Sunny, but she wasn’t facing us, she was staring at the edge of the building. My gaze followed hers and I heard the scrap of horseshoe against brick.
“Whoa!” A voice echoed through the still air and I hesitantly walked to the side of the building, peering over the edge cautiously.
Below me I saw a very frustrated colt stuck in a tree. The sight made me giggle and his head jerked up, glaring at me, his face flushed with embarrassment. He looked about a year older than Sunny, maybe a little less. His shoulders slouched and he looked at me pleadingly. Inwardly sighing, I set my weapons aside and made my way down the building until I stood on a window ledge next to his tree (when I was a younger filly I used to practice climbing complicated things until I became good at it).
“Well, are you gonna help me or what?” he still frustrated. He was just a plain pony. His coat was light grey and his mane was a burnt orange.
I shook my head and he seemed angry, so I quickly explained to him the plan. “Get your butt over here and I’ll show you what to do. If you do that then you should make it up the building.” Before he could protest I started climbing back up. Shuffling leaves and cracking branches reached my ears and then I heard him climbing the wall after me. Relieved I wouldn’t have to pull him up here I pulled myself onto the roof. Finally, he arrived as well.
Immediately Sunny Rose marched forward, placing herself between me and the boy. She seemed to be investigating him. That’s when she did the most curious thing, she sniffed the air. Once she did that she seemed to calm down and sidestepped, allowing me to talk to the boy.
“Who are you?” I asked, then stated, “I’m Moonlight water,” pointed to Kick and said, “This is Kick Up,” then pointed to Sunny. “This is-“
“Sunny,” she cut in. “I’m Sunny Rose.”
“Hi Sunny, I’m Sand Dune,” he muttered, blushing and scratching his foreleg, glancing at Sunny. His orange mane dangled into his face, making his green eyes look greyer.
Something warm pressed against my side and I realized it was Kick Up. He pushed me away from the two blushing, younger teenagers. When we were on the far side of the building he smiled down at me, this time not in a joking way but a true, loving way. My heart nearly melted into my hooves. It was a long time since he had looked at me like that. Feeling light-headed I leaned into him, pressing against him as close as possible physically and pulling him even closer mentally.
Slowly, we started swaying to a song unheard, but heard by both of us. Again, the real world melted away and we danced on the roof, spinning and twisted in complicated patterns, but making it work all the while. Eventually it became a fun game and we ended up on the ground in hysteria. When the giggles went away we fell asleep.