Infectious

Felicity awoke from her nap from a feeling of the ground shaking beneath her. Drowsily she sat up and stretched her limbs; Just moments ago she had laid down on the floor of an old factory to catch some shut eye before continuing her search for food to bring back to her fallen town. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and much to her surprise was greeted by the image of her brother laying lifelessly beside her. Worse than that, they were both laying down on the inside of a moving cage. She started to look around frantically, trying to find her weapons, but they had been taken. She looked over to her brother's corpse and saw that even his had been taken. This frightened her, they had been kidnapped and disarmed, everything about this spelled trouble. When she managed to recollect her thoughts she noticed something rather odd. The more she looked around, the more she could have sworn that she was seeing colorful horses dressed in fancy clothing staring at her in what appeared to be disgust.

She cocked an eyebrow, clearly confused. She looked to the front of the cage to see a large stallion in golden armor that seemed to be pulling the mobile prison. In fact, the whole cart was surrounded by stallions in the same armor. They didn't acknowledge her, just continued walking. It was almost like they couldn't even see her. The continued their journey until they reached a castle that stood higher than any building she had ever seen. It felt like hours of wandering the castle before they finally reached a large set of double doors that opened with a strange glow that sent shivers down Felicity's spine. Upon entering she saw more stallions that she could only assume were guards of some kind, also two thrones in the distance. Upon one throne was a tall white horse with a horn protruding from its head and a large set of wings on its back. On the other was a horse that looked almost identical, but smaller and colored differently.

"Your highness..." One of the guards spoke, "we have found them." This surprised Felicity more than the fact that they had been captured, part of her thought she had gone mad. How could horses actually be speaking?
The two stood from their thrones and approached the cage. Felicity couldn't help but stare at them, slightly out of worry. However, that worry seemed to melt away like butter as the white horse came close and smiled down at her.

"That will be all, you may go." The guards bowed and left the room, leaving Felicity alone with the two princesses. As the guards left a white unicorn entered and made her way over toward the cage.

"You asked to see me, Princess?" The Princess nodded to the unicorn before speaking to her.

"I did. These creatures were spotted laying in the road and I would appreciate it if you could analyze them quickly to see if they are in good health." The unicorn nodded. This was starting to get weird for Felicity, she figured now was as good a time as any to intervene.

"I can tell you right now that I'm fine." Her words made everypony in the room jump, they must not have expected her to be capable of speaking. The Princesses cleared their throats and took on their royal postures, before the smaller Princess finally spoke up.

"Well, we would like to be sure that you are in good condition. Do we have you permission to provide you with a quick check-up at the very least?" The dark Princess questioned. Felicity sat there and thought about it. These ponies didn't seem to mean any harm, they did shove her in a cage, but she'd probably do the same if she were in their position.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt..." The Princesses smiled, the taller one opening the cage using a strange yellow glow that came from her horn and enveloped the door. The unicorn nervously entered the cage to Felicity who sat still in the corner of the cage. The Unicorn used her magic to levitate a stethoscope to her ears and place the end on Felicity's chest.

"What is your name?" The taller Princess asked.

"Felicity..." She responded, paying almost zero attention to the pony medically examining her.

"A beautiful name. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. This is my sister Luna." She explained to Felicity, who remained silent as the doctor observed her.

"Thank you, Princess." Felicity replied. Luna eyed Felicity, scanning her with her eyes. Felicity was wearing blue jeans, a white shirt, and a brown leather jacket. All of which were covered in red stains.

"An interesting attire..." Luna stated, "What would possess one to wear such clothing?" she asked, staring at the dry blood that decorated most of her cloths.

"I...Where I come from...it's a very dangerous place." She wanted to explain as much as possible, but she would probably have to do it slowly. If she just jumped out saying that her world was plagued with a virus that could bring back the dead and make them eat people she would probably end up being shoved into a quarantine or something.

"I may not be an expert on whatever species you are, but in my professional opinion you seem to be in perfect health." The unicorn said aloud, moving on to the other human that still laid on the cage floor without movement.

"What's the story on that one?" Celestia asked, staring at the body of the boy.

"That's my brother, Ronnie. He protects me..." Felicity shot her gaze to her brother's body. He still looked as he did back in her world. His red pants were covered in old blood stains, as was his black T-Shirt, and black jacket; His dirty blond hair sat atop of his head in a wavy mess. A black cloth covered his mouth and neck and his eyes were being hidden by a very reflective pair of sunglasses. His finger nails were long and jagged, more than capable of tearing through flesh.

"Protects you? From what?"

"Like I said, where I come from is very dangerous. He's all I have left..." Her words made the Princesses take on a saddened expression, which only got worse when the nurse looked up at them with an expression of her own. The nurse made her way back to Felicity.

"I'm sorry dear, but it seems that your brother is...he's gone." The Princesses gasped. Felicity couldn't help but smile. They all looked at her in confusion.

"I know; He's been dead for over a month now." She explained, still smiling. The ponies were beginning to get uncomfortable. "That doesn't mean he's gone though." The nurse exited the cage and made her way to the Princesses.

"I think she's gone delirious, she may be dehydrated. That or she's put up a mental block on her brother's death, it could be either or..."

"I can prove it." Felicity heard the nurses failed attempt at speaking to the Princesses privately. "But we need to go somewhere private..."
It took a lot of convincing but the royal sisters finally caved and allowed Felicity to prove to them whatever it was she was trying prove. Naturally they started thinking that she was just struggling to accept her brother's death, but Felicity knew better. Ronnie never liked crowds; He prefers small groups if not complete isolation. He had managed to hold on to a lot of his habits even after death. The guard led the group to an empty room, one where they would have total privacy. One of the guards seemed more eager to get there than the others; likely because he had a cold corpse laying across his back. When they entered the room the gaurd carrying the body happily dropped the lifeless husk to the ground.

"Is there anything else, your highness?" He asked as he bowed down before Celestia.

"That will be all for now. Now please leave us." The gaurds obeyed and exited the room.

"What exactly is it that you are trying to convince us of?" Luna asked Felicity

"I'm sorry, but we had to get out of the eyes and ears of the public. This isn't something a lot of people have accepted in the past" Felicity seemed worried as she spoke and Celestia noticed it immediately.

"What is bothering you?" She asked with a loving tone that only a mother could have.

"Where do I start?" She asked with a sigh.

"Try from the beggining." Luna added with a stern voice.

"My brother and I are not from here. Where we're from is a cold heartless place with little to live for. Years before I was born a virus broke out and started infecting everyone. The virus was spread commonly by being bitten by someone who was infected. The infected weren't human, they were mindless beasts who spent the rest of their existence trying to satisfy a never ending hunger for living flesh." She paused to make sure they were still following and despite the serious expression they both held, she could tell they heavily doubted every word. "Those who became infected would become nauseous, they would vomit blood, and finally their heart would stop and they'd become a monster. Growing up I lived by codes set by the leader of our town and was assigned to be a scavenger with my brother. My brother was the only one who looked out for me and he was always there when I needed him. He trained me; taught me how to survive and how to fight...then it happened." The princesses raised their brows to each other.

"What happened?" Luna asked, still holding the sternness in her voice. Felicity grabbed Ronnie's right arm and showed them what appeared to be a bite mark.

"He was bitten by one if the infected." The royal sisters cringed at the sight before Felicity released the arm and continued. "After that he ran. He didn't want me to watch him be executed by the town. He told me to tell them he was dead, so I did. A lonely tear found its way down Felicity's cheek, " Then one night he came back, he came back for me. We kept it a secret for so long. He would protect me from the infected and make sure when I left town that I would get back safely."

"Pardon my interruption, but you said those who were bitten became mindless monsters, did you not?" Despite having little faith in the truth of this story, Luna was still curious about how Felicity would react if flaws were pointed out and if there was an explanation for it.

"You're right, I did. I don't know how it happened or even why, but he was different. He IS different. All he ever wanted to do was protect me and even after he died that's all he's ever done."

"You do understand that this story is very farfetched. I assume you brought us up here privately because you have some sort of evidence?" Luna was starting to get tired of these stories and by the look on her sisters face she could tell she was to.

"He doesn't like big groups. He prefers small groups if not complete isolation." She walked over to her brother's body, pulling the cloth from his face as well as the sun glasses. The sisters stared at his face, almost vomiting. It was pale with dark veins protruding from beneath his skin, from his mouth to his neck there was a dark red liquid that had long since dried, his dead eyes were wide open and looked like rotten milk behind two glass orbs. He was in great condition for an infected, most would have already been missing chunks of skin and flesh, but for some reason he wasn't decaying like the others. However, to these ponies he was nothing more than a corpse aging on their floor. "Ronnie, get up. It's okay, they're not going to hurt us." The body left out a low groan as its arm started moving. He planted his hand against the ground and forced his body into a sitting position. The sisters stared at the body in shock and awe, eyes wide a mouths agape. Felicity stared at the sister with victory plastered all over her face, and Ronnie stared at the sisters with a smile glued to his pale features.

"What are you?" Celestia asked the creature with fear filling her lungs. His smile vanished as he stared at her before finally speaking in a hallow, raspy voice.

"Dead..." He smiled again and let a long miscolored tongue slide out of his mouth and lick at the dried blood decorating his chin. Felicity wrapped her arms around Ronnie and he did the same in turn.