Hope is dead.

Chapters

Watcher
Trapped
Infested
Sanctuary
Vinyls story
No longer a playground
A new plan
Blades clash
So Long
On the road
A dangerous path
House of Misfits
Rage
Time Running Short
A Glimmer
Things Go Wrong
Street of the damned

Watcher

Swift Blade slowly trotted down the dirt path, thinking to himself about what he would do and where he would go once he got to Ponyville. He figured he might as well check Sugar Cube Corner to see if there was any sweets left, it was an idea, at least that would stave off his hunger a little longer so he could search the rest of the town.

Of course, this plan could have its problems, it might just make things worse for him, but it was the only plan he had, and maybe somepony might still be alive in there. Hopefully.

Swift Blades stomach growled, making him decide to quicken his pace. He was so completely focused on getting to Ponyville, and food, that he didn't start hearing the moans of the approaching zombie Pegasus until it was to late.

Swift Blade whipped around and stared up at the sky, this action caused his head to ache and made him slightly woozy, but he snapped out of it when he saw the big group of zombie Pegasus coming right at him. Swift Blades eyes widened in shock, there was no time for thinking, so he ran. He could hear the groans getting louder, and he knew he didn't have enough energy to outrun them forever. He slid to a stop, causing a small dust cloud to be kicked up. he turned to face the horde, eyes narrowing, he drew his sword, the long steel blade gleamed as it pointed at the lead zombie

Swift Blade didn't know if he had the skill, or even enough energy, to take on this many zombie pony's at once, but running wasn't going to save him, he had no choice, even if they got him, he planned to go down fighting, but then a thought struck him.

If he died, what would happen to Equestria? If he truly was the last pony in the world, he needed to live. he needed to survive. These thoughts distracted him long enough for the lead zombie Pegasus to lung at him, rotted mouth stretched open as it aimed to chomp down on the earth pony's face and devour him, leaving almost nothing left, but a skeleton and a longsword.

Swift Blade snapped out of it before this could happen though, and, not allowing the zombie a chance to take a chomp out of him, quickly moving the blade forwards, the blade impaling the monsters head.

Blood dripped down from the wound, and the pony seemed to widen its dead eyes, as some form of intelligence and a spark of who they were came back to it, but then its eyes went completely blank.

Withdrawing the blade with a swift jerk, Swift stared down at the lifeless body, making sure he had killed it. It didn't move.

Two more Pegasus lunged at him, the rest of the horde close behind. Swift leveled his sword at the closer of the two lunging at him, a young filly, with the cutie mark of a flower. He brought the sword back, ready to swing, and cut the small monsters head off.

However, Swift Blades head started to feel woozy , his vision grew hazy, he was going to black out, he had used to much of his remaining strength to skewer the last zombie.

His eyes started to close and the sword dropped from his hooves, landing beside him. He felt himself fall, hitting the ground with a small thud. As he closed his eyes, giving into his exhaustion, before everything went black, he saw the two Pegasus's faces in front of his face, with more zombies behind him opening their mouths to devour him, then a bright light. ''So this is what dying looks like'' Swift Blade's last thoughts were, before he finally succumbed to the darkness.

A white pony stood behind some bushes, watching the blue stallion as he made his way down the dirt road, towards Ponyville. Her horn brushed up against the leaves as she lowered her head, tears of joy forming in her eyes. She wasn't the last pony in Equestria, she wasn't alone!

The tears fell from her eyes like two raindrops, and she raised a hoof and wiped them away. She had to remain strong. Everypony she had ever known was dead, even her best friend and roommate, but now she had found hope. She had to contact this stallion somehow, but she couldn't just go right up to him, not only did he have a sword strapped to his back, she didn't even know if he was even friendly! He could attack her as soon as she stepped out, no, she had to go out there, if there was another pony, there was still hope.

she suddenly saw the approaching horde of Pegasi zombies approaching the stallion, he hadn't noticed yet, she had to warn him. Her legs felt weak, could she really jump out of hiding before a pack of those things to save the life of the only pony she had seen in two days? The unicorn shook her head, yes she could, she had risked her life before to save a pony's life, she could do it again! She took a deep breath and prepared to step out into the open and shout out a warning, but the stallion had already noticed the zombies flying at him.

She watched in horror as he tried to run, but he seemed to be in bad shape, he wasn't going to make it far. She prepared to cover her face with her hooves when they caught up to him and... ate him, but it didn't happen, instead, he skidded to a stop and drew his sword, bravely standing his ground. She watched in awe, as, even in his exhaustion, killed one and prepared to fight off two more, but she gasped in horror as he suddenly dropped his sword and started to collapse.

They were going to get him!

The unicorn stepped out of the bushes, and her horn glowed, a pair of big shades appeared over her head, she levitated them down, and over her face, covering her crimson eyes and a grim smile grew across her lips, ''Time to kick some zombie ass!'' she exclaimed before, adrenaline pumping through her veins, charged the undead pony's as they lunged at the helpless stallion.

Her horn glowed brightly, and a glowing beam of destructive energy lashed out, turning the pony's closest to the stallion into dust. She leapt in front of him, and used the ''Incinerate'' spell she had learned for getting rid of parasprites to blast two more into oblivion.

The mare turned to the stallion's unconscious form and her horn glowed again, a similar glow appeared around his body, he floated up, and straining as she went, turned towards Ponyville, and ran.

Her hooves kicked up dust in her mad attempt to make it to the closest building with the stallion and lock herself in. Her breath came out in short gasps, and sweat dripped down from her mane, she continued to run, her adrenalin fueled her and kept her running, her will to live kept her running. She wasn't going to die today.

Not today.

The unicorn used another levitation spell to turn the doorknob of a close by house, and she dashed inside, pulling the stallion in with her. Gently dropping him, she used the spell once more and slammed the door shut, just as the horde charged the house and met with the door.

Being unable to get in, they started throwing themselves against the door and windows, a sickening crunch heard every time they collided with the wood. the windows were all boarded up, but it wouldn't be long before the creatures smashed their way in. The mare glanced back at the stallion, still lying where she had dropped him. A sad smile grew on her face, before she glanced around the house and headed for where she thought the kitchen was.

She was going to need all the help she could get to get out of this mess.

Author's Note

Next up, the ''watcher is introduced, but you probably already know who it is don't you?

Trapped

Swift Blade's eyes slowly opened, the first thought that popped into his head was: ''Am I dead?''

Things started to get clearer and he could now see his surroundings. He was in a normal looking house, one just like any other in Ponyville, He could hear groaning and banging noises coming from outside as he lifted himself off the ground, a little wobbly at first, but righted himself quickly.

The windows had been boarded up, and the door had been too, helping keep out the creatures outside out for awhile longer. How had he gotten here? The last thing he remembered was fighting off a horde of pegasi, and then blackness. There was only two conclusions he could think of, either he was in hell, or somepony or something had saved him.

Hearing hoof steps coming from the hallway, Swift Blade reached for his sword, but then, feeling nothing where his weapon usually was, started to panic.

Something was coming and he was unarmed and had no place to hide. If whatever was coming meant him harm, he was finished. The hoof steps grew closer, and then the source rounded the corner. upon spotting the source, Swift Blade's eyes widened, and his jaw almost dropped, when he saw the figure as they stepped into view.

It was a beautiful white mare with a blue mane that looked like it had bolts of lightning through it. her cutie mark was a backwards double music note, he had no idea what it was really, he never had been into studying music. The most noticeable thing about her however, was the large sunglasses she wore, covering her eyes.

Slightly taken back that his savoir was this beautiful mare, he just stood there, unable to find any words.

The mare giggled and smiled at him, ''Your awake, that's good, for a while I was afraid that you were dead.''

''Where am I?'' Swift Blade asked with quick look around the house once again. Nothing he could use a weapon, not even a vase.

''We're in a house by the edge of Ponyville, after I saw you collapse in front of the horde, I jumped in and got you out of there. I barricaded the door while you were out, but they aren't just going to leave, so we're stuck in here for a while.''

Swift Blade nodded, understanding the situation. ''So um... I'm Swift Blade, who are you''

''I'm Vinyl Scratch, better known as DJ-PON3 to the public, before this all started of course...'' Vinyl lowered her head as if painful memories were running through her head.

Swift Blade slowly approached her and offered a hoof out in comfort. Vinyl glanced up and took it, a single tear ran down her face. letting go of her hoof, Swift Blade asked her, ''You want to tell me what happened, and do you have any idea why this all started or how?''

Vinyl shook her head, ''I have no idea, and I don't really want to talk about it with somepony I just met.''

Swift Blade nodded again, he could understand.

Suddenly the banging from the outside started getting louder. ''They must be getting close to breaking the windows, we have to get out of here!'' Vinyl exclaimed.

''Where's my sword?!'' Swift Blade cried out, seeing that he needed his weapon.

Vinyl pointed to the kitchen, ''In there!'' She said, slight panic in her voice.

She followed the blue stallion into the kitchen and watched as he grabbed the sheathed weapon and tied it to his back.

''Alright, is there any other way to get out of this house!'' Swift asked the Vinyl.

The mare quickly looked around, eyes scanning the room. ''No, but we could make one. We could break a window and make a break for it, but first we should grab anything of use.''

Swift Blade nodded and snatched up a knapsack from the ground and started throwing canned food and bottled water as well as a kitchen knife that was all lying about on the counter.

Not stopping, Swift thought of something and turned to the DJ with a questioning stare. She noticed his stare and shrugged, ''What, I knew I was going to have to escape this hellhole after a while, so I set all that stuff out just in case I had to make a quick escape.''

Swift Blade nodded and swung the knapsack over his back with his teeth. The bag hit his back with a clang, due to the metal cans in the pack hitting his sword.

Vinyl had already packed up her pack and was standing near a big window at the back of the house. Her horn glowed as she prepared to destroy the window with a spell, but Swift stopped her, ''Don't use up your strength just yet, save it for running'' He smiled at her, cheeks turning slightly red when he accidently looked down at her rump as she turned around.

Thankfully she didn't seem to notice. Shaking away any thoughts of the impure sort, Swift drew his sword and swung it at the window.

The glass chipped as the blade connected with the glass with a loud smack. Swift Blade brought the sword back and swung again and the glass shattered, leaving a big hole in the center. Using the blade, Swift Blade chipped the edges away so that a pony could fit through.

''Time to go!'' Vinyl suddenly shouted out.

Hearing the boards covering the windows break and the door crack was enough for Swift to jump through the window without a pause to let Vinyl through first.

Following him, Vinyl jumped through the window, but cried out in pain. She had cut herself jumping through the window. Blood flowed from the wound as she limped over to Blade, whimpering. Swift quickly searched through his pack and pulled out a roll of cloth. Ripping it with his teeth, he quickly wrapped the wound.

''You know I could have just healed that with my magic'' Vinyl groaned, a few tears streamed down her face in her pain.

''No time, we have to get out of here!'' Swift said hurriedly, gesturing to the now broken door with the undead pony's streaming through it. Turning to the gate of the back yard, the two survivors, with Vinyl being supported by Swift, made their way as quickly as possible to the gate and swung it open.

The two began making their way into the desolate wasteland that was once Ponyville, the horde not far behind.

Infested

As he supported the DJ, Swift Blade kept an eye out for any threats, meaning anything that moved.

Vinyl groaned, ''Where are we even going, those bucking zombies aren't just going to give up chasing us you know''

Swift Blade stared at her with determination, ''To Sugar Cube Corner, we can get more supplies there, and maybe the Cakes or Pinkie Pie are still alive.''

''You sure Swift? Besides, the candy and other goodies there probably have gone bad by now, so that may not be the best idea''

Swift Blade looked down slightly, she was probably right, but...

He realized something, he wasn't feeling weak or woozy anymore, he hadn't had any time to eat anything while they were at the house, and there was no way it was adrenaline. So maybe... Swift Blade looked back at the mare leaning on him, ''Did you feed me while I was knocked out?''

Vinyl started to respond, but was interrupted when an earth zombie lurched out of an ally way, moaning that sorrowful song that they all sung.

It was a mare, with a red mane and tail, all dolled up. Her mouth dripped blood and some sort of black goop, her eyes were pus white and showed no sign of life, just ravenous hunger for the two pony's who stood in front of her.

Vinyl's horn started glowing, ready to cast a spell and destroy the monster, but the glow flickered, the cut from before must have been distracting her, and possibly was worse then Swift had thought.

Swift Blade slowly stepped away from Vinyl, to let her know he was going to take care of it, and drew his blade, ready to take the undead pony.

The mare lunged forward, teeth bared. Swift Blade brought back the sword, and swung the flat side of the blade into the mares face. A loud snap broke out as the mare fell backwards, blood spurt from her neck. The blow had been so hard it broke the zombie pony's neck.

Swift Blade ran back to Vinyl's side, and she leaned against him

''Lets get the buck out of here!'' Swift said, urgency in his voice.

''Yeah lets!'' Vinyl replied as the undead mare slowly got back to its feet, her head hanging to one side, a bone poking out of the side, blood fell from the wound and splattered on the ground.

Sheathing his sword, Blade and Vinyl continued on, moving as quickly as Vinyl could go on only three legs, due to the fact that the pain in her wound was beginning to get worse.

They cut through an alleyway as they continued their journey to Sugar Cube Corner, stopping every now and then to avoid small groups and even lone zombies, seeing as they wanted to get to their destination as quickly as possible, they had to avoid confrontation's. They passed by many boarded up houses, chewed up and mangled bodies, the poor souls who didn't make it.

Swift stared at one of the bodies they passed in particular. It was Rarity, the owner of the Carousel Boutique, and one of the most attractive mares in ponyville. Now she lay on the dirty ground, something she never would have allowed had she been alive, her white body covered in blood, her entrails hanging out of her stomach, bloodied and partially eaten. Her neck had a huge chunk taken out of it where a zombie must have chomped down on her.

The only reason she hadn't come back as one of them was the wound in her head. Somepony had crushed her head. One eye hung from a thread, while the other lay on the ground. Her purple mane splattered with blood and other liquids. The only other reason besides the mane that identified her was her cutie mark, three blue jewels.

As Swift stared sadly at Rarity's corpse, Vinyl looked at the remains of the seamstress and shook her head, ''Nothing we can do about what happened to her, no matter how sad it is''

Swift Blade looked at his companion and nodded. ''I know, its just...I just wish that everything could go back to normal... everypony would still be alive, and we wouldn't have to live in fear with no hope of survival.''

Vinyl smiled, ''Yeah, there's nothing I would rather do then go to a party and play some heavy beats and hear the sweet sound of wubs flowing in the air again...'' Vinyl's eyes twinkled as she thought of the good old days.

As Swift Blade watched the DJ reminisce, he started to realize just how beautiful she was. Her mane style was so unique and had that shine to it that was gorgeous to him. Her red eyes were something he could gaze into forever, her voice may be a little scratchy, but he didn't mind, and her backside- he cut his thoughts off, what was he thinking, what had come over him!?

''Swift Blade? You okay?'' Vinyl's voice registered in his thoughts and he returned to reality.

''Sorry, just... thinking about the past too'' He lied.

''Well... maybe we should get a move on'' The mare said, moving her gaze to three approaching zombies, one leaving a trail of gore in its wake as its guts slid across the ground as it moved.

Swift nodded and they started moving again, faster this time.

Turning a corner, the two pony's saw the most welcome sight they had seen in a while. Standing about twenty feet from them was Sugar Cube Corner. It looked about the same as ever,but there was a few changes. Now there were boards covering the windows, blocking off any sight of the interior, and a large plank was nailed up to the front door, blocking any exit to the shop. A few blood splatters covered the wall of the shop and stained the ground.

Swift and Vinyl started towards their destination, their journey finally reaching its end, but stopped in their tracks when a groan was heard.

The source was an pink unicorn with half its face missing and an woodcutters axe stuck in its back. Chunks of the undead mares brain hung out of its half face, her jaw hanging limp as it approached.

Vinyl recoiled in disgust and horror, and Swift grimaced, he hadn't seen any that were in this bad of condition. The unicorn started increasing speed as it charged, its groans becoming more frenzied.

Swift moved in front of Vinyl and drew his sword.

The zombie lunged forward, black goop flying from its half working mouth.

Acting fast, Swift dodged to the side and swung the blade down, knocking the beasts jaw off as the blade collided with the mares face. The unicorn flew backwards, blood and brain flying from its head. It hit the ground, and lay still.

the mares jaw fell onto the ground a foot from her, black goop and blood, seeping through the teeth.

Sheathing the weapon, Swift looked back at Vinyl, ''Lets get inside before more show up''

staring at the no longer moving zombie, Vinyl nodded, ''Yeah, lets go''

Swift turned so she could lean on him, but she shook her head, ''Nah, I can walk, I'm good.'' She stated, and started limping towards the shop, determination in her eyes. Watching her, Swift smiled.

Trotting up to the front door, Swift glanced at Vinyl, ''Should we knock?''

Vinyl simply smiled. Her horn glowed a lovely shade of magenta and the axe that had been lodged in the dead zombies back became surrounded in the same magenta glow, then floated up and moved over to Swift. The axe fell to the ground and the glow disappeared. Vinyl gasped a little, sweat fell from her face, ''That... was... hard...'' she panted. she was still weakened from earlier.

Swift Blade stared down at the axe with uncertainty. ''Should I? I mean, what if...''

he was cut off by Vinyl when she glared at him ''Just break the bucking board already!'' she said as her voice raised.

Swift nodded and reached down, picking the axe up with his hoof. He swung the axe back, and brought it down on the thick piece of wood.

CRACK!

The board cracked. Bringing the axe back again, Swift Blade swung the axe down and the board broke off, splinters flying in all directions, falling to the ground at the stallions hooves.

Vinyl whooped and grinned ''That's what I'm talking about! Good swing Swift!''

Swift handed the axe to Vinyl, who stuffed the weapon into her pack.

Swift Blade drew his sword and used the blade to push the door open with a creak, ''Alright, lets find out what's in here.'' He stepped inside the once lively goodie store, glancing in all directions for any possible threats, but the shop seemed empty.

Vinyl followed him inside and looked around, ''This place doesn't look as nice as it used too, not to mention its empty''

''Maybe their hiding!'' Swift Blade argued, ''There has to be somepony here!''

Vinyl simply sighed, ''There wont be, they wouldn't have been able to barricade the front door from the outside unless they left or died and somebody else put that board up to keep ponies from going in, face it. Sugar Cube Corner, is abandoned!'' The DJ said, her tone hasher then she meant it to be.

Swift Blade's face fell, tears formed in his eyes. His head fell and he started to sob, tears falling from his eyes.

''I had to hope, that's all that's keeping me going, hope that there are other ponies out there besides us, hope that maybe there's a bucking cure!''

Vinyl realized how much this meant to him and walked up beside him, putting a hoof around his neck in comfort. ''I'm...sorry, I didn't know what this meant to you Swift...''

Swift Blade nodded, wiping the tears away with a hoof. ''We have to have hope, that's what will get us though this...''

Vinyl nodded, ''Your right, I guess we should still take a look around''

''Yeah, come on'' Swift said.

the two pony's began slowly making their way towards the counter. The lights were dim, and flickered often, causing the room to plunge into darkness every few seconds.

Swift Blade shuddered, a chill creeping up his spine, maybe this wasn't a good idea after all. As he stopped in front of the counter Swift drew his sword and stood ready. Vinyl walked over to Swift and reached into his pack, pulling out the kitchen knife he had snatched form the house earlier. Looking into each others eyes, they nodded in unison, and charged around the counter, ready to strike.

There wasn't anything there though. Swift Blade sighed with relief, and Vinyl lowered the knife.

''All good'' Vinyl grinned.

Swift Blade trotted behind the counter and started checking out the goodies on the shelves of the counter, but he was gravely disappointed. Most of the treats had gone bad, they had rotted due to the fact that they had sat there for two days without any kind of refrigeration.

Swift sighed and stepped away from the counter.

''Well what did you expect? The goods would still be intact after two days of no refrigeration.'' Vinyl said mockingly. Swift ignored the comment and started walking towards the kitchen door, but when he tried to push it open, the door didn't budge.

Vinyl approached the door and turned to Swift, ''Is it locked?''

''No, I can feel the door trying to open, but it must be blocked from the other side, no way we can bust in'' He replied, frustration in his tone.

Vinyl nodded, ''Then we better check out upstairs''

Stepping around a fallen table, the two pony's started climbing the stairs, darkness at the very top. stopping at the top stair, Vinyl's horn started to glow, lighting a small space around them. ''Sorry, I have to conserve energy, so this is the best I can do for now'' She apologized.

Swift shook his head, ''Its not your fault, it will do''

The dim light illuminating some of the small space around them, Swift and Vinyl started towards the Cakes room. the door was closed, Vinyl suddenly stepped back from the door, horror in her eyes. Swift looked down at the spot on the floor where she was looking, and stepped back. A pool of blood had seeped from under the door and Vinyl had stepped in it. Trying to shake the red liquid from her hoof, Vinyl started moving backward, towards the other door, the one leading to the twins room. Her backside pushed against the door, and it opened.

Vinyl turned to the now open doorway and recoiled in shock, her mouth hanging open as she tried to say something, anything, but words had failed her, Swift ran to her side and peered inside the room. his eyes widened to the size of saucers.

What he saw inside, would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Inside the dark room, a rocking infant crib stood. Blood dripped from the edges, and stained the walls around it. Partially chewed organs and other pieces of gore lay strewn around the crib, some draping the crib like some sickening form of streamers.

Swift felt like he was going to hurl, quickly turning away from the gruesome scene, he started to sob. Tears falling from his eyes like a waterfall, as he choked and cried. Slowly recovering from the sight, Vinyl turned around and stepped in front of Swift and placed a hoof on his shoulder, tears beginning to fall from her eyes too.

Behind them, the other door started to slowly open, but the two pony's were unaware of this. They continued to cry as the door opened up completely, and a rotting form stepped out, moaning for the taste of pony flesh.

Author's Note

Sorry for the late chapter, I had a lot of stuff going on.

now that was a long chapter, so is it really hopeless, is there really no pony left alive, and of

course, what will happen to Swift and Vinyl? next chapter will answer that!

can I get some more likes? I could really use the support. thanks guys!

Sanctuary

Swift Blade slowly looked up from the floor to look at Vinyl, who still had her hoof around his neck, tears were streaming down her beautiful face like raindrops, her eyes remained closed.

His eyes wandered behind her head, and he gasped. The rotting corpse of Mr. Cake was lurching out of the doorway behind Vinyl, and he could see the intent of feasting on both of them in the former Bakers cold dead eyes.

Vinyl heard Swift gasp and whirled around to find the unwelcome sight of Mr. Cake in front of her. His normally cheery orange yellow color was now a dim lifeless color, his shiny green eyes now a pale pus white, no life in them. his apron was covered in blood, and his square shaped mouth dripped blood and black goop as the creature moaned.

Mr. Cake was no more.

Vinyl screamed in surprise as the Baker lunged at her, teeth bared. She dodged to the side and the zombie pony hit the ground, missing its target. Swift's adrenaline started pumping into his body and his heart beat like a train, he yelled out ''RUN!'' and, letting Vinyl pass him as she started running up the next staircase, followed her a fast as his hooves could take him.
Halfway up the stairs, Vinyl tripped and she hit the stairs, falling on her wound. She gave out a cry of pain and the glow of her horn disappeared.

The stairs were plunged into darkness and Swift started putting one hoof in front of the other as fast as he could, but carful not to miss any of the steps, ''Vinyl! are you okay!'' he cried''

His hoof felt something and he stopped in mid step, ''Yeah, all good.'' Vinyl moaned in front of him.

Swift reached out a hoof until he felt Vinyl's, then he gave it a tug, feeling her stand upright. ''Thanks, now lets get the buck out of here!'' She sounded scared, more then any of the other times.

The sound of hoof steps making their way up the stairs alerted them that Mr. Cake was coming up, now it was time to get out of there. They got up the rest of the stairs as fast as they could, which wasn't easy now that they were blind in the dark, but they made it, running through the open door at the top, where a little light could be seen poking into the room.

Swift Blade slammed the door behind him and stood in front of it, keeping Mr. Cake, who was now banging on the door, from entering.

Mr. Cakes banging started getting harder and more frenzied as he realized he was going to have to break his way in to get at his victims. Swift Blade held him back with all his might, ''VINYL! GRAB A CHAIR OR SOMETHING AND BLOCK THIS DOOR!'' Sweat fell from Swift's face and he started panting.

There was no lock on the door, so taking even a short break would do nothing but let Mr. Cake in, so he kept holding the door. After holding the door shut for what seemed like hours, Vinyl finally appeared beside him and pushed a chair against the door knob with her hooves,

Moving away from the door, Swift stood ready in case the door didn't hold, but the door stood firm. Sighing with relief, the stallion turned and finally realized were they were.

The room, which was dimmed due to the endless dawn outside, was pink and once very cheerful, with deflated balloons lying on the ground. brightly colored streamers hung from the ceiling, and a very large bed that looked like it hadn't been slept in for a few days, stood by a oversized closet. This, was Pinkie Pie's room.

Swift had never been in Pinkie's room before, but he knew this had to be hers. Before the apocalypse began, he had known Pinkie pretty well, and he had come over to Sugar Cube Corner to buy cupcakes from her and the Cakes when he had the extra bits. This was her room, it suited her bubbly party loving personality perfectly.

Vinyl looked around the room, eyes focusing on the closet, ''Maybe there's something in there we can use'' She said, turning back to the swordstallion. She stopped, noticed his expression, one of remembrance. The mare sighed, ''Did you know the pony whose room this was, or was this your room? Doesn't seem to be your type'' She grinned in typical Vinyl style.

Swift shook his head a few times and flushed, ''No, it wasn't mine, it was...an old friends room'' There were no signs of death, like blood, or guts, but considering that the Cakes had been turned, Pinkie probably didn't make it either.

Vinyl punched him in the arm, ''Then snap out of it, we have to get out of here before Mr. Cake busts in here!'' Swift rubbed his arm, wincing slightly, and nodded. They approached the closet and drew their weapons.

Vinyl stepped forward and grabbed the closet door handle with her mouth, then, nodding to Swift, pulled it open. Swift relaxed and sheathed his sword, the closet was empty. Peering in, the two ponies saw many streamers, boxes, toys, and even candy inside, along with a few dresses of bright colors.

Vinyl leaned in deeper into the closet, then reached in and pulled a large object out. Swift stared at the item with interest. It was a spear. It had a long handle made of wood, and a sharp steel tip topped the weapon. The spear was covered in an glowing aura that changed colors every second.

Swift stared down at the weapon with wonder, he had never seen a magic weapon before, it was beautiful. Vinyl made a annoyed sound ''Are you gonna stand there staring at this thing or are we gonna get the buck out of here'' she motioned at the door, which was starting to make groaning noises as the it began to cave in.

Swift reached out to take the spear, but Vinyl pulled it back, ''I'll take care of this'' She started waving the spear around, then gave Swift a questioning look, ''How do you use this, and don't go into detail, we don't have much time!''

Swift quickly explained how she had to point the spear where she wanted it to shoot, then focus, and the spear should fire off a magic blast, but it could only be used once every five minutes.

''How do you know all this?''

''Twilight let me borrow a book about them'' Swift Blade replied.

Turning to the window, Vinyl pointed the magic implement at the glass and focused. ''Lets Rock!'' The blade shot off a green energy ball which collided with the window. The glass shattered and flew everywhere.

Swift jumped in front of Vinyl, turning his head to the side to avoid taking any shards to the face. Sharp stings of pain bit into his side as two pieces of glass cut into his side. The swordstallion grit his teeth in pain as he felt warm blood trickle down his new wounds.

Vinyl stepped back from him, she smiled her thanks but noticed his wounds, causing her smile to fade, ''Shit, your hurt''

She moved to his injured side to take a better look, but Swift put a hoof out, ''I'm fine, I'm just glad your okay, now we better get out of here'' Seconds after those words left his lips the door broke down, sending the chair that blocked it skidding towards them.

With no need for further encouragement as Mr. Cake lumbered into the room, Swift and Vinyl turned together and ran for the broken window. They jumped through the window, Swift ignoring the pain in his side and Vinyl's adrenaline keeping her from noticing her wound.

They landed on the roof with a clatter, trying their best to keep their balance on the sloped roof. The survivors ran toward the edge and peered over. There was nothing soft to land on and nothing to climb down. They were trapped.

Mr. Cakes groaning grew louder as his skinny head appeared in the window, they had only two choices now, they could jump off the building, potentially injuring them worse then they already were, or even killing them, or, they could fight Mr. Cake.

the second option was something Swift didn't think he could do, it had been painful enough killing Bon Bon, killing anther pony he knew just wasn't something he felt he could do again. Not to mention that they were wounded and couldn't risk falling off the roof with Mr. Cake grappling with them.

Swift looked sadly at Vinyl, ''I guess...this is it, if we don't get out of this, I want you to know, you are a very beautiful, and awesome pony'' His cheeks turned slightly red, even in these circumstances. Vinyl smiled at him, returning the blush. ''And you are a really cool pony''

Mr. Cake lunged at them, ready to bite down and end the ponies lives

BOOM!

Right before the baker could reach his prey and tear into them, a loud blast rung out, and something blew his head off. The smoke from whatever blew Mr. Cakes head off started to clear, revealing the zombie still standing, his head gone, leaving nothing but a bloody stump. His body shook, then collapsed onto the roof, sliding slightly towards his would be prey, blood smearing the roof behind him. Swift and Vinyl gaped in shock, then turned to look back over the roof.

A pink earth pony standing next to a cannon watched them from in a large cart, the kind used to carry baskets of apples. She had a crazy mane and tail style, like she had been struck by lightning, and three balloons on her flank, but weirdest of all, she was smiling, not the creepy kind, nor the crazy kind, but a genuine smile. It took Swift less than a second to recognize her, and as soon as he did, a smile stretched across his face.

"Pinkie Pie!''

The pink pony seemed to brighten up even more when she was recognized. ''Hey! Swift its you! How's it going!'' Even in the middle of a crisis, Pinkie still remained positive and happy.

''Real good now that your here. Thanks for saving us!'' Swift exclaimed, as his gaze moved to the pony who was pulling the cart. He was a large red stallion with a blond mane and tail, and a sliced apple as a cutie mark. He had a harness around him attached to the cart.

Vinyl nudged Swift, ''You know them? I think I've seen them before, but I cant be sure.''

Nodding, Swift answered ''The pink one is Pinkie Pie, the resident party pony, but I have no idea who the red one is.''

Pinkie called up to them, her cheerful voice filled with slight panic, ''Um, guys? We'll have fun introducing ourselves later'' The pink pony jumped off the wooden cart and quickly ran to the edge of the roof, pulling out a ladder from what seemed like nowhere.

Propping the ladder up so it extended from the ground, to the roof, Pinkie stepped back and motioned for Vinyl and Swift to climb down. Approaching the ladder, Swift moved aside to let Vinyl down first, the DJ nodded to him in thanks, then slowly made her way down the ladder, trying to avoid putting to much weight on her injured leg.

Waiting until she was at the bottom, the swordstallion followed, gritting his teeth as pain bit into his side. As soon as his hooves touched the ground, Swift ran forward and embraced Pinkie, trying to ignore his pain as he wrapped his front legs around her. Pinkie smiled happily and hugged him back, then let go.

As Swift stepped back, he turned to look at the other stallion, but before he could say anything, he realized that the stallion was in trouble. A Pegasus zombie was swooping down towards him, and he hadn't noticed yet.

''Oh Celestia BEHIND YOU!'' Swift shouted out a warning, and the red stallion quickly turned his head to see the undead Pegasus heading right for him, but it was to late to do anything.

Swift could only stare with horror as the beast charged the stallion, but before it could reach him, a shovel blade imbedded itself into the Pegasus's face, knocking it completely off course.

The zombie crashed into the ground, twitching with the shovel still stuck in its head. Swift turned his gaze to the hurler, he hadn't noticed her though because she had been behind a building keeping lookout.

An orange mare with a blond mane and tail just like the red stallion stood there, panting, she had a Stetson hat on her head that marked her as a cow filly, or maybe a farmer.

The mare cautiously approached the twitching zombie and used her mouth to pull the shovel from its head. Switching the tool to her hooves, she reared up on her hind legs and brought blade of the shovel down on the zombies head. slicing right through the scull like it was tissue paper. Vinyl looked impressed, ''Whoa'' She said aloud to nopony in particular.

Swift watched as the orange pony withdrew the shovel once again and trotted over to Swift and Vinyl. She looked both of them over for a second, then smiled warmly and stuck out a hoof, ''Howdy there, a'm Apple Jack, and you'all have already met Pinkie an my brother Big Macintosh. Nice ta meet some ponies who aren't dripping black goop an trying ta eat us''

Swift raised a hoof to shake Apple Jack's, but slightly regretted it when she took the hoof with both of hers and shook it so hard it felt like his leg would fall off.

The shaking also reminded him of the glass still in his side and he gasped with pain. Apple Jack stopped her insane hoof shaking and let go, a look of concern crossing her face. ''What in Celestia happened ta ya?''

Grunting with pain, Swift started to answer, but was interrupted by Vinyl, ''We'll explain later, first off, can we get the hell out of here'' She pointed at Pinkie, who was bouncing around, avoiding two more zombies as they tried to get a hold of her, she giggled slightly as if it were a game.

Apple Jack nodded, then started for the cart. ''Come on sugar cubes, we best get going! Get in!''

With that, Swift and Vinyl quickly followed and hopped into the cart.

''Big Mac, lets get the hay out of here!'' Apple Jack cried to her brother.

''Eeyup'' he nodded, the cart started moving as Big Mac started running towards Pinkie.

Swift pulled out his sword, the steel gleaming slightly, even though it was covered with blood, he held the blade out as they passed Pinkie and her pursuers, the blade passing through the pony's neck. Another Pegasus, who couldn't fly because of the lack of functioning wings.

Pinkie hopped into the cart as the head hit the ground, still smiling. ''That was fun!'' She exclaimed.

Apple Jack rolled her eyes at the pink pony's idea of fun and turned back to Swift and Vinyl ''We're gonna need to patch y'all up, you two have been through a lot haven't cha?''

Vinyl nodded, pain was starting to return to her wound. ''Where are we going anyway'' the DJ asked.

''Back to Sweet Apple Acres, we should be safe there.'' Apple Jack replied, turning her head to look in the direction of a huge orchard just outside of ponyville.

Big Mac dodged past a few zombie ponies as they went and finally made it to the end of the trail, about half a mile from Ponyville.

What stood before them was a large fence, constructed out of wood. If a group of the undead tried to break through, they could. The fence was mostly there to keep them from wandering into the farm.

Pinkie Pie hopped out of the cart and bounced up to the gate, she unlatched the hook and pushed the gate open with a hoof, ''Okiee dokee lokee! Every pony in''

With that, Big Mac pulled the cart of survivors into the orchard and Pinkie closed the gate behind her as she galloped after the cart.

The pony's sat in silence as the cart continued down the dirt path, through the many trees, bursting with plump juicy apples of all colors. The silence was broken when Pinkie let out a shout ''Incoming unidentified flying object coming in fast!'' Swift turned his head towards where Pinkie was pointing and almost let out a sob.

Apple Jack simply lowered her head, tears falling from her eyes and onto the floor. The fast moving blue object was a Pegasus zombie, but she was different then the others, more...colorful... A rainbow trailed after the Pegasus as it flew at them with amazing speed for an undead monster.

This wasn't a normal zombie. This was a pony who had been known all across Equestria, one of he elements of Harmony. It, was Rainbow Dash.

The once element of loyalty now knew nothing of what she had stood for, nor much else. She had only one emotion now, hunger.

Pinkie's smile faded and her mane and tail fell flat, she looked like she was about to cry as well.

Big Mac simply stared, trying not to show emotion, but he was failing.

Vinyl only stared, she recognized the rainbow colored Pegasus from one of her gigs. It wasn't pleasant to see her like this.

The unicorn hopped out of the cart and dawned her shades. She unslung her pack and opened it up quickly, pulling out the axe from before. ''Come on everypony! Friend or not, we have to fight or we all die!''

Apple Jack nodded solemnly and hopped from the cart, her shovel in her mouth and at the ready. Swift followed, drawing his sword.

Pinkie stared sadly at Dash, then her eyes narrowed and she pulled a cleaver out of nowhere and put it in her mouth. She wasn't going to just let her beloved friend suffer as a flesh eating monster for the rest of her existence.

Big Macintosh used his teeth to unbuckle himself from the harness attaching him to the cart and grabbed a pitchfork from the cart. ''Bring it on'' The red farm pony said.

The rainbow colored Pegasus decided to home in on Apple Jack, and dove for her at an alarming speed. Apple Jack readied herself, but shook. She wasn't sure she could kill her friend, no matter what she was.

Rainbow dash passed through Apple Jack's kill zone, but the orange mare did the worst possible thing she could do in this situation, she hesitated.

Dash's mouth opened as she lunged at the farmer, black goop dripping from her teeth, but three prongs stopped the flying Pegasus before she could bite down on her friend.

Big Mac held the pitchfork firm in his mouth, then swung it with all his might away from his sister, the prongs slid out of the Pegasus as she was hurled in the opposite direction, leaving three bloody holes in her side.

The zombie hit an apple tree, the force shaking the tree, and causing several apples to fall from the tree, striking the ground with small thuds.

''You okay?'' Big Mac asked his sister, concern in his face.

''Y-Yeah'' Apple Jack replied uneasily, still shaken from being attacked by one of her best friends.

Swift stood ready again ''Talk later, Dash is still moving!'' As the words left his mouth, Dash stood up again and started running towards the group. She still had her speed that was for sure.

Swift took a swipe at Dash as the rainbow colored mare charged him, but missed and hit the ground as Dash tackled him. he hit the ground with a thud, letting out a moan of pain.

Dash stood over top of him, growling. Then her head swung down, teeth bared, but once again, she was stopped, this time by Vinyl's axe hitting Dash across the face.

Vinyl had tossed her weapon at Rainbow Dash, not killing her, because the handle had hit her, not the blade. Dash paused for only a second, but that was all Swift needed.

Swift Blade swung his one of his front hooves at Dash's muzzle, the blow knocking her off of him. Rolling over and standing up, Swift kept his eyes on Rainbow as one of his hooves felt for his sword. When the feeling of the handle met his hoof, he lifted it.

Vinyl moved to his side, the axe in her mouth ''Lets get emotional over this later!'' She called to AJ.

The farmer wiped her eyes with a hoof and nodded.

Pinkie Pie jumped out of the cart and charged Dash, her now dim colored mane and tail trailing behind her as she ran. Swinging her cleaver, the pink party pony crashed into Dash, who had just stood back up, the blade slammed into the Pegasus's back, causing blood to spurt up from the new wound.

Pinkie let go of the weapon and started yelling ''Dash! Come back! Please, don't make me do this! We're friends! We can still have fun!'' Dash's only reply, was to try and take a bite out of Pinkie's muzzle. The party pony jumped back, tears welling in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash stood up again, then ran, leapt from the ground, and flew at Vinyl. The DJ stood ready, but Swift's blade got to Dash's head first.

The blue stallion had lunged forward, swinging his blade through the Pegasus's neck. her neck now hanging by half the bone, Dash crashed into the ground in front of the DJ and lay there for a second, before she started to get back up. Her action was interrupted by Vinyl swinging the axe down, chopping the Pegasus's neck off completely. ''Take that'' Vinyl grinned slightly.

The grin didn't last long, as Dash's severed head started snapping her rotted jaw, and Vinyl stepped back a little. ''That's way creepy''

Swift nodded solemnly, then turned back to Pinkie, Apple Jack, and Big Macintosh.

Pinkie was sobbing softly, her face buried in her hooves. Apple Jack had dropped her shovel and simply looked down, tears falling from her eyes again. Big Mac simply stared back, keeping his normal blank stare on, but it was clear that he was just as upset, his eyes glistened and his lips were quivering slightly.

Slowly trotting over to the three, Swift spoke:

''Who...Who wants to...deal with Dash...''

Apple Jack slowly shook her head ''I...I cant sugar cube...n-not D-Dash''

''Nope'' Big Mac said with what seemed to be pain in his voice.

Pinkie only sobbed louder ''No! No no no way no!''

Vinyl looked back at the snapping head, then back at Swift, ''Leave it, we'll take care of it when their ready.''

Swift nodded grimly, then sheathed his sword and headed for the cart, using his teeth to strap himself to the harness. ''Come on guys...lets go.''

stepping onto the vehicle, sadness in their hearts, and tears still flowing from their eyes, the pony's complied.

Swift pulled the cart, realizing that Big Macintosh was a strong pony to pull all of them, and thought of Rainbow Dash, a single tear fell from his right eye.

He knew now was the time, so he let it go, and started to cry. The ponies let all their emotions pour out over the loss of their friend, until they reached the farmhouse.

Apple jack suppressed another sniffle, then said softly ''Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres''

Swift could think of only one thing now that slightly raised his spirits.

Sanctuary.

Author's Note

Sorry that took so long to come out, I had a lot of stuff happening.

now, I have a question, which of the Cutie Mark Crusaders should appear in the story who isn't infected?

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, or Scootaloo.

let me know and that's who I'll add to the story!

Vinyls story

Swift Blade sat on top of the big red barn, over looking the surrounding area of Sweet Apple Acres. In the distance, he could make out Ponyville.

The earth pony was munching on some persevered peaches from a can that he had swiped from the house where he had first met Vinyl. He sighed lightly, lowering the spoon in his hoof.

The beautiful DJ was stuck in his mind, he couldn't stop thinking about her. Her beautiful eyes, that carefree attitude. It was all just so...alluring. Swift could tell, he was starting to fall in love with her, something he never thought would happen to him again, not after Flutter Shy, but it had.

He saw Vinyl as attractive yes, but to fall for her, this was something he didn't see coming.

It had been several hours since they had reached the farm house.

Apple Jack was still inside the house, crying along with Pinkie Pie. Big Mac had gone to patrol, and he had no idea where Vinyl had gone. He really hoped she was okay.

The stallion went back to looking at Ponyville, he could see the large castle that had once been Twilight Sparkle's library and home, the castle looked more like a shiny tree really. It was harder to tell what the other buildings were from this distance however.

Suddenly, a tap on his shoulder jolted Swift out of his sight seeing. He quickly turned, trying not to spill his peaches, to find Vinyl standing behind him, her shades still on, and she was grinning. ''Hey Swift, you feeling any better'' she asked, referring to what happened with Rainbow Dash earlier.

Swift nodded solemnly, mostly he had stopped feeling upset about it, he had accepted it, but it still was sore subject. ''Fine I guess, its more Pinkie and AJ that I'm concerned about, Dash was one of their best friends after all.''

Vinyl nodded, ''Yeah, they were taking it pretty bad.'' The unicorn sat down on her rump next to Swift Blade, and stared out over the apple trees. Swift turned his head to look at her, his cheeks reddening a bit. he looked away quickly when she turned her head, puzzled at why he was staring. ''Um, why the staring?''

''no reason, I just...''Swift quickly thought of something to cover up why he was staring. ''What happened to you when this all started? You know, what was your life like before the outbreak, and what happened to you after it started?''

Vinyl's response was at first to stare sadly at Ponyville, before finally saying ''As I said before, I was a DJ. I played awesome beats at party's and other gigs where I was needed. I lived a great life, with my best friend and room mate Octavia. she was a beautiful earth pony cellist, and a great friend'' a tear fell from Vinyl's left eye, she didn't bother to wipe it away.

''then, the last night that Equestria ever saw was when it happened.'' she took another second to compose herself before continuing.

''Me and Tavi were hanging out at home, just jamming together, doing what we enjoyed you know? Then we heard a scream. Tavi wanted to check it out, but I just wanted to stay inside and let whatever was going on take care of itself, but Tavi could be really stubborn, so she finally got me to come with her, but right after we opened the door, the screams got even louder.''

''Another few seconds passed and the screaming got louder and multiplied. Tavi started galloping towards the cries of distress, calling for me to hurry up. So I followed, she rounded a corner, and I lost sight of her for a few seconds, and when I rounded the corner, I found that my friend had discovered the source of the screaming. Tavi and me just stood there, watching as a bunch of those things were chowing down on a couple of our friends. Bon Bon and Lyra, and one other pony we couldn't identify. They were just...tearing into them, Lyra was crying and screaming at the same time, as she had her stomach torn to bloody shreds, and Bon... she just screamed as they took a bite out of one of her neck. Tavi started crying and screaming at the sight, and I just threw up.''

The unicorn let a few more tears fall from her eyes as she went on, ''The zombies stopped for a few seconds when they heard Tavi scream, which gave Bon enough time to try to escape, but it was sickening to watch her stagger away, blood dripping from her neck. Two of the monsters went back to eating Lyra and the other pony, but the third one decided to come after us. Tavi started trying to reason with it, get it to stop and leave us alone, but I pushed her away from the bastard and we ran for home.''

Swift suddenly remembered the small chunk that was missing from Bon Bon's neck when he had seen her, now he knew what had happened.

''Octavia and I got inside, but a minute later, after we finished catching our breath, the one that had tried to catch us started slamming against the door, trying to get at us. Tavi started crying again, and I ended up barricading the door with my big ass record player. We went to sleep together, as it was the best comfort we could think of. The next day when we woke up, the sun was starting to rise, but the moon was still up, just like how it is now, at first we thought we woke up early, and that the zombie had left, it had, but hours passed and nothing outside changed.''

''What happened then?'' Swift asked, he wanted to know her story, and what happened to her friend.

''We finally decided to figure out what happened, so after a quick breakfast we went outside to investigate, and you know what it looked like... a nightmare. We tried to find help, and we ran into a horde of those things, so we ran. We ended up deciding to head to Canterlot to find the princesses or somepony who could help us, so we headed back home and spent the rest of the day, if you could call it that, packing for our trip. It was pretty hard to leave behind my DJ equipment and Tavi her cello, but we had to travel light.''

The DJ removed her shades, revealing her beautiful red eyes, tears falling from them. Swift put a hoof on her shoulder reassuringly, ''you don't have to continue'' he gave her a comforting smile.

Vinyl shook her head, and continued: ''We traveled for a long time before we decided to stop and set up camp near the everfree forest, which as you know stretch's for miles, b-but...that's w-when....it happened...'' A long silence followed before Vinyl spoke again.

''A...A timber wolf...it just jumped out of the forest...snarling and dripping black stuff all over the ground, I didn't realize it at first, but it had been infected...''

Swift Blade's eyes widened ''It doesn't just effect pony's then...'' he muttered ''Shit.''

''It...leapt at Tavi, with more savagery than normal, and before she could even scream, it bit down on her back, taking a big bloody piece out of my best friend...so...so I incinerated it...I just went pull force and annihilated that bucking thing from existence. When it was over, I packed up my stuff, and supported Tavi, and we kept going, but a horde must have heard the screams and cries of agony she was making when she was attacked, so we got cut off. Tavi...s-she wanted...she wanted me to go, she would distract them, but I knew she wouldn't make it if she didn't, so I refused, but she kept telling me she would slow me down, then she shoved me away from her, her back to the horde, and gave me these last final words:

''Live your life Vinyl, for the both of us, thank you for being my friend.''

''The horde tore into her, but she stood strong as she went down, not letting out any screams as they piled onto her and began to feed on her. So I... I ran...and I kept running until I was far away from the horde. I hid myself in a bush, and I started to cry. I must have cried so hard that I fell unconscious...and when I woke up, at first I thought about just waiting there, for somepony to come and eat me, but that's when I saw you, well...I have a confession to make. You keep saying you have hope, and when I saw you, it gave me hope, hope for the future.''

Swift was about to ask what that meant, but instead found one of his hooves moving to wipe the DJ's tears away from her face. Vinyl smiled at Swift, her red eyes showing hope in them.

''Hope never truly dies, all it takes is a spark, to reignite it.'' Swift stated, his voice calm and comforting.

Vinyl and Swift sat up on the barn for a while, just staring off into the distance, as Swift talked about what had happened to him after the outbreak started, Vinyl giving him some reassuring pats very once and a while.

A scream rang out, interrupting Swift's account, and the two pony's quickly scrambled to their hooves. They galloped to the ladder they had used to get up and hurried down it.

Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie rushed outside of the farm house, the orange farm pony carrying Swift's sword in her mouth and Pinkie had a large cleaver in hers.

''What in tarnation is happening out here!'' Apple Jack tossed Swift his weapon before speaking.

Swift shook his head. ''No idea, but we better find out, wait, where's Big Mac?''

The big farmer appeared from the tree line and galloped up to the group. ''What in the hays going on!?'' He asked.

Pinkie shook her head, ''No idea big guy, but were gonna find out, you can pinkie promise on that!'' Her mane and tail still hung deflated, but her cheery attitude was starting to return.

Swift pointed a hoof towards the direction of the scream, which echoed out again, ''We better find out, before it draws every zombie in hearing radius!'' he snatched up his longsword in his mouth and galloped off, the others following him as fast as possible.

They all headed for a spot deep in Sweet Apple Acres, which had once been a headquarters of sorts.

A tree house, that belonged to a group of three filly's.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Author's Note

now the filly who survived will be chosen, cast your votes for which Crusader it will be.

also, hit that like button some more, and I might consider making some sort of sequel to this book when its finished.

enjoy!

No longer a playground

Pain stung Swift Blade's side as he ran, a reminder of the injury from earlier. The glass had been removed from his side carefully, then bandaged up, but it still stung like hell. Sweat ran down his face as he galloped as fast as his legs could take him, towards the source of the scream, which sounded again.

The others picked up speed, visible sweat falling down their faces and sides.
Vinyl's leg had been tended to better and now she could run better than before, a determined expression plastered across her face as she ran. Apple Jack seemed to be even more determined than the rest to find the source of the screams, almost as if she recognized the scream. Big Macintosh galloped next to his sister, an axe in his mouth. his eyes were narrowed. Pinkie had her cleaver, and almost looked mad. An emotion that Swift had never seen the party pony display.

The screams intensified, getting louder and more desperate, although Swift couldn't tell if it was because they were getting closer or if it was because whatever was attacking the screamer had gotten its prey. Slowly, an old treehouse came into view, and the source became known.

Three undead beasts, two earth pony's and a unicorn, all mares, were gathered around the tree fort, moaning, their heads all pointed upwards as they did, looking at the scared little filly who was trapped up there. The ramp which had been used to climb up to the entrance of the treehouse had been broken off somehow, and now lay on the ground in pieces. Some splinters stuck out of the zombie pony's legs and back, signaling that the filly must have broken the ramp to stop them from getting to her.

The filly was a orange Pegasus with a punk style purple mane and tail, her violet eyes had tears running down them as she screamed.

''HELP ME! SOMEPONY!''

Swift gripped the longsword in his mouth harder as the stallion and his friends reached the base of the tree. The filly's screams stopped and she gasped at the sight of the pony's coming to rescue her, she let out a cry of joy. The zombies turned their rotting heads towards the newcomers, snarling, they started towards the new prey, sounding more ravenous with every step.

Swift answered the challenge by leaping forward, hooves outstretched, aiming for the unicorns face. His hooves smashed into the mares face, causing her to fall backwards and hit the grass with a thud. The mare started to try and stand once more, but Swift interrupted the process by plunging his blade into her scull. Her head hit the ground and stopped moving.

Swift withdrew the blade from the dead pony's head and turned to see one of the earth pony zombies lunging at him, but it was knocked away from him by Apple Jack, who had reared up and kicked the beast in the jaw.

Pinkie Pie quickly dashed up to the zombie Apple Jack had sent flying, and switched her cleaver over to her hooves, she reared up on her hind legs and brought the big knife down on the zombie mares head with a cry of what could have been anger.

Swift looked away from the slaughter and watched as the final threat was eliminated by Big Mac. The red stallion started pulling on the handle of the axe now embedded in the corpses head with his mouth, grunting as he did.

Vinyl slowly approached the treehouse and looked up at the little filly, giving her a reassuring smile. ''Hey up there, its okay now, they're all dead.''

The filly peered down, her eyes still wet with tears, ''Thank you, I thought they would get me eventually, somehow.'' The orange Pegasus tried to joke, but it was clear that she was really scared.

The group of pony's gathered around the tree house, Apple Jack and Pinkie seemed to be overjoyed at the sight of the filly, looks of surprise and happiness on their faces. ''Scootaloo!'' they both exclaimed.

The filly, Scootaloo, smiled at the sight of the two mares and Big Mac, who followed close behind with a small smile on his lips. Pinkies mane and tail fluffed out again and she smiled widely. ''I'm so happy that your okay!'' She exclaimed, bouncing up and down.

Apple Jack also had a smile across her face, but slowly faded and turned to a look of concern, ''Sugar cube, what happened ta Sweetie Belle an ma sister?''

Scootaloo stayed silent for a minute, so Swift started trying to piece together what was going on, and then it hit him. He had seen the Pegasus filly around ponyville before, with two other filly's, a white unicorn and a yellow earth pony. One of them must have been AJ's sister, and the lack of her meant that she probably hadn't made it, but it wasn't Swift's place to assume or say anything yet. It was up to the little Pegasus.

Apple Jack's eyes started to tear up, and her mouth quivered slightly as she spoke, ''Scootaloo, Where. Is. Ma. Sister?''

Scootaloo, took another few seconds to speak, and she began to cry. Tears poured down her face like a waterfall as she sobbed and wailed, ''They're...Th-They're d-dead!'' She chocked out between the sobs. Pinkie stopped bouncing, her eyes wide with shock, and horror. Her lips quivered, and her mane and tail deflated again.

Apple Jack fell to her knees, the shock to much for her, and she began to wail too, tears falling freely from her eyes.

Big Mac, just stood there, eyes filled with tears, but refusing to let them fall. He approached his sister and leaned against her, trying to show some comfort, but it did little.

Swift and Vinyl, could only watch as their new friends cried and sobbed over the loss of their loved ones. Vinyl stared sadly at them, unsure of what to do, and Swift lowered his head, in respect for the dead. The wailing, sounded out around the orchard, marking the deaths, of Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom.

Swift leaned up against Apple Jack, trying to offer some comfort to the still sobbing farm mare, his face was one of concern and sadness, he may not have known either of the two filly's whos lives had been ended to soon, but it still hurt to know that it had happened, and was causing this much pain to his friends. ''I'm...sorry AJ...'' The mares only response, was to keep crying.

Vinyl stood next to Pinkie, patting her on the back, whispering her reassuring words. Big Mac also leaned up against his sister, trying to remain strong.

Pinkie wailings continued, her tears pouring out like waterfalls. Vinyl was trying to avoid getting wet well also comforting the pinky pony, not an easy thing to do considering she swung her head back and forth, the tears rocketing from her eyes, following her head.

Swift looked back up at the orange filly, Scootaloo, she had calmed down a bit, but the tears and sniffling's still came from her. Swift detached from Apple Jack's side and approached the treehouse again, looking up at the scared little filly.

''Hey there, Scootaloo, I can see what your going through right now, but could you come down now, we should get back to the farmhouse, your probably hungry.''

Scootaloo, slowly nodded her head, wiping a few tears away with a hoof. ''Al...Alright...'' She stepped forward, and looked at the spot where the ramp had once been. she didn't move.

Swift looked up at her, a confused and concerned look in his eyes, ''Scootaloo, what are you waiting for? Come on.''

Scootaloo shook her head, ''I...I cant...''

Apple Jack suddenly spoke up, her voice still shaky, ''S-Scootaloo cant fly...''

Swift Blade turned to face her, mind full of questions, but knew now was not the time and turned back to Scootaloo, ''Alright Scootaloo, we're going to find a way to get you down, try and stay calm.''

Scootaloo nodded, she was used to heights, but being trapped wasn't going to work for her.

Swift turned back to Apple Jack, ''You have any ladders or rope handy?''

She shook her head. ''No, normally ah carry ma rope around, but ah left it back at tha house.''

Pinkie still sniffled a little, she had no solutions for once, and just sat on the grass, her ears flat against her head.

Vinyl suddenly spoke up, ''Maybe I can try to use my magic to get her down.''

Big Mac nodded to the plan, ''Eeyup.''

Swift nodded his head in agreement also, before remembering something, ''Wait, what about your leg, I know its been patched up, but do you think you can concentrate with it like that?'' He asked with a nervous voice.

''Sure, I can handle this, stand back.'' Vinyl's horn began to glow a magenta color, symbolizing she was about to do something...magical.

Vinyl concentration turned to one of the huge chunks of ramp on the ground and it became enveloped in her blue magic. Using her telekinesis magic, she raised the platform up to Scootaloo hooves, ''Get on'' Vinyl smiled. The Pegasus filly complied gratefully and stepped onto the makeshift elevator.

Once lowered to the ground, Scootaloo hopped off and embraced Vinyl with a quick ''Thanks.''

Vinyl's glow around the ramp vanished as she wrapped a hoof around the filly. ''No prob.''

Swift smiled at Vinyl and Scootaloo's hug, but his ears suddenly flattened and the hairs on the back of his neck rose up, he whirled around on instinct, and spotted one of the most horrifying things he had seen since the Cake's place.

A small rotting dog approached from through the apple trees, her fur had been brown and white, but was matted and covered with blood, turning the colors into more of a puke color now. A red collar hung around the small beasts neck, symbolizing that it had once had an owner.

Scootaloo cried out, as the dog opened its mouth wide, dropping some black fluid and a half chewed pony leg on the ground, with a splat.

Apple Jack, Big Mac, and Pinkie all turned to see what the filly had seen, and their jaws dropped in horror. Apple Jack let out a whimper, ''W...Winona...?''

Big Mac stepped forward, his mouth set in a grim line. ''That aint Winona anymore'' The stallion snatched up his axe in his mouth, and stood ready.

Swift drew his sword once more, his eyes narrowed, but Apple jack stood in front of them, ''No! Ah already had ta see one of ma best friends be beheaded, ah cant see ma dog killed too!'' Her eyes were filled with tears, Big Mac tired to step around her, but she moved in front of him again.

Swift started to speak, but was cut off when the mutt pounced, heading straight for the orange farm pony. Apple Jack turned around when she heard the snarl, but didn't move, she saw what was coming.

Swift lunged forward, his blade sliding through the small dogs stomach, and coming out through her back. Swift reared up and swung the sword in the air, the snarling zombie dog coming loose.

The thing that had once been Winona hovered in the air for a second, before a flash of Vinyl's horn sent a blast of energy that tore through the dogs head, completely vaporizing it.

Vinyl panted for a second, the glow vanishing from her horn, and Apple Jack crumpled to her knees. Tears fell, but she didn't sob.

Big Mac sighed sadly, and patted his sister on the shoulder, ''it was tha only way''

Pinkie Pie trotted over to her friend and leaned against her, ''I'm sorry AJ, its just not fair...''

Scootaloo, shuddered and approached Swift, her face still fearful. ''Um...that's some pretty cool swordplay''
Swift looked down at the filly and smiled, ''Thanks, it is my talent after all.''

He turned back to the farm mare, and tapped her with his front hoof, ''Come on, we had better get out of here, all that noise will probably attract more of them.''

Vinyl nodded her head, ''Swift's right, lets get the buck back to the farmhouse and get Scoots checked over, and maybe something to eat as well.''

Pinkie stepped away from Apple Jack and smiled weakly, ''Yep, lets go home.'' Apple Jack slowly nodded, and stood up.

The group of pony's turned away from the treehouse, and the remains of Apple Jack's beloved pet, and headed for the farmhouse, hearts heavy with regret, and sorrow.

The survivors ate quietly, all gathered at the kitchen table inside the Apple family house.

Scootaloo had been checked over, and she had only a few scrapes she had received when she had crashed her scooter trying to escape from a bunch of monsters with her friends. Her scooter now sat across the room, against a wall, she had left it behind a tree and had picked it up on their way back. It made up for her lack of flying ability in her eyes.

Swift sat next to Vinyl, chomping on an apple, while the DJ shoveled hay fries into her mouth.

Pinkie Pie was silent, which was an odd thing for her, and she picked at her food, seemingly not hungry. Big Mac sat across the table next to his sister and Scootaloo, his eyes said it all. Apple Jack took a bite from an apple, her face somber.

Finally Swift spoke up, ''Look everypony, I know what were all going through is hard. Especially for you and Big Mac ,AJ, but there is still hope. There might be a way to put a stop to this endless nightmare.''

Author's Note

alright, now things get really interesting, what is Swift Blade about to say, you might know, but your going to have to read the next chapter to find out.

hit the like button some more and follow me, and maybe i'll make some more really awesome books.
also, a big thanks to Ender Knight for helping me decide which of the crusaders would be in this book, and for adding Swift to his book ''Nights, Darkness Rising'' which you should check out.
enjoy guys.

A new plan

Everypony's ears perked as they listened to what Swift had to say. the swordstallion looked around, making sure everypony was listening, be fore continuing. ''look, before I met all of you, I had hope to find a cure, for my friends and loved ones, only that drive to find it kept me going, until I met you guys.'' Swift Blade smiled warmly, and the others smiled slightly as well. ''the problem is, I don't no if there is one, or where it would be''
''so we could just be getting ourselves into a wild goose chase here?'' Big Mac grumbled. Pinkie Pie shot him a glare before turning back to Swift, ''nothings a wild goose chase, unless your chasing a wild goose'' a huge smile ran across her face, and she almost looked like herself again.
Apple Jack let out a little chuckle, ''well Pinkie, ya always have a way to make us laugh, now go on sugar cube.'' Swift smiled and continued, ''but, we have strength in numbers, plenty of weapons and food, and the determination to find a cure.'' Scootaloo nodded, ''yeah, maybe we can cure everypony who's been infected and save them!''
Vinyl grinned at Swift Blade, her red eyes filled with determination, and happiness. Swift grinned back, his little idea had done it, it had filled the rest with hope and determination to find a cure for the plague. even Big Mac was smiling now, this was a great moment for all of them. Pinkie cracked another joke, and everypony laughed, and soon enough, the house was filled with something it hadn't seen in ages.
Laughter.

Swift stood outside by a apple tree, a bucket next to him, he stood in front of an apple tree, the fresh fruits sitting up on their branches, gleaming in the half light of the eternal dawn. his gaze was focused on the apples, as he stared at them hungrily, he may have eaten just earlier, but those apples were just so juicy looking, he couldn't help it. Apple Jack watched him, with an amused smile, ''just rear back and kick the trunk of tha tree, it aint hard.''
Swift glanced back at her, ''I know, I'm just admiring the apples before I knock them down.'' he turned around, and reared up on his front legs, his back legs tensing up, then he lashed out. his hooves connecting with the trunk of the tree, causing it to shake from side to side, causing the apples to fall from their branches and into the bucket.
Apple Jack stomped her hooves in applause, as she smiled at him. ''nice job sugar cube, now lets get that back to the farmhouse and store them.'' Swift nodded, and AJ helped hoist the bucket onto his back, he then helped her hoist her own two buckets onto her back. then the two pony's turned and headed back the way they had come.
the two were harvesting apples for their long journey ahead, and were finished now, they would harvest a few more just in case later. a pink figure in the distance could be seen bouncing from through the trees, a welcome sight to the weary earth pony's.
''Howdy Pinkie'' Apple Jack grinned at the pink party pony, who was playing with Scootaloo, a game of tag, Swift believed. Scootaloo was riding her scooter to keep up with the incredibly fast party pony as she chased her around in circles. Pinkie stopped bouncing and smiled widely at her friends as they approached, ''Hi! how was apple harvesting!?''
Swift answered for Apple Jack, ''fine, we got enough to make a few apple pies I think.'' he grinned and chuckled, and Pinkie bounced up and down with glee at the statement. ''YAY! apple pie!'' Pinkie exclaimed with glee. Scootaloo stopped her scooter with a screech, and grinned.
''apple pie? that sounds great!'' the little orange Pegasus stepped away from her scooter and approached, still grinning.
''oh Pinkie...?'' she said in a sing song voice, Pinkie perked her ears and turned around, ''Yeeees?'' she asked the filly, who had a smug grin on now, ''Your It!'' before Pinkie could react, which was a first, Scootaloo had tapped her with a hoof and was running as fast as her little legs could carry her away from the party pony, Pinkie let a little giggle and bounced after the filly. Swift Blade and Apple Jack watched for a second, turned to look at each other, then smiling, headed for the front door. opening the door, the two pony's stepped inside and the door closed with a click behind them.
''so where should we put these?'' Swift Blade asked, unsure of where AJ would want to store the delicious cargo on their backs. Apple Jack pointed a front hoof towards an open door across the kitchen, leading into darkness. Swift nodded slightly, slightly unsure of himself, he knew there wasn't anything in there, but he was still slightly cautious. he slowly made his way over to the doorway and put a hoof into the room, ''hold your horses!'' Apple Jack interrupted him. pausing in mid step, Swift Blade turned his head to look back at the orange farm mare, ''what?'' Apple Jack opened a drawer with a hoof, and carefully balancing her cargo, she reaches in and withdraws a lantern, which she clenched between her teeth. she lowered it to the ground and reached back into the drawer, retrieved a match, and struck it against the counter, the head of the match lit up, the fire going upwards. Apple Jack lowered the candle and lifted the lid of the lantern. the mare lit the candle at the bottom of the lantern and lifted her hoof back out.
she blew the match with a quick puff and tossed the match into a nearby trashcan. Swift closed the lid and took the lantern in his mouth. he turned around and started back into the room, Apple Jack following close behind, the lantern lighting the room up around them as they went.
the room wasn't large, so they reached the back in about ten seconds of trotting. ''ohright, just set im down here'' Swift nodded, carefully laying his basket on the ground. he moved over to Apple Jack and grabbed hold of one of the baskets, then lifted it up and lowered it gently to the ground. lowering the other basket of apples to the ground, Apple Jack smiled at the swordstallion, ''thank ya kindly.'' ''no problem'' Swift smiled back.
a hoof step alerted Swift Blade and Apple Jack of somepony's presence and they whirled around. Big Mac stood there, his eyes devoid of emotion, ''come on, Vinyl wanted to speak with us all.'' Swift nodded, ''what about?'' the red stallion shook his head, ''she'll explain once we git there.'' Apple Jack nudged Swift's side with a hoof, ''come on, lets go then.''

Vinyl Scratch watched the three pony's step outside with her red eyes, she smiled slightly when she saw them. Scootaloo and Pinkie Pie were already there, standing a few hoof steps away from Vinyl. ''alright everypony, listen up!'' Vinyl raised her voice, just make sure that her friends were all listening, ''I know we're all really busy, getting ready for our big journey and stuff, but, I had an idea.'' ''ooh! what what what!?'' Pinkie bounced in anticipation, her eyes gleaming. ''don't leave us in suspense sugar cube, spill.'' Apple Jack said. ''alright, so, we're going to need a lot of stuff to keep us going, and maybe some more weapons, we cant survive on apple forever, no offense, so some of us should head back into ponyville and gather some more supplies. not everypony should go, just a few''
her ears flattened, afraid everypony would reject the idea, and for a minute, it looked like they would, when Swift Blade suddenly spoke up, ''I agree with Vinyl, we need more stuff if we want to travel, stuff that's light and non perishable, and I have an idea of where to get weapons, so I volunteer to go'' Vinyl grinned, ''thanks Swift, your the best.''
Swift grinned back, and turned to the others, ''I'll go!'' Scootaloo raised her front right hoof in the air, her wings flared and ready for action, Apple Jack and Big Mac shook their heads, ''nope.'' Big Mac said flatly, ''sorry sugar cube, this isn't a job for little filly's.'' the little orange Pegasus sat on her rump and crossed her front hooves, pouting. ''not fair...'' she grumbled. ''sorry Scoots, maybe next time'' Swift smiled gently at the filly.
Pinkie patted Scootaloo on the back before turning back to Vinyl, her face still cheery, but something was...off, about her, Swift noted. ''I'll stay here and watch over Scootaloo and the farm, nothing will get by me and my party cannon, she reached out to the side of Everypony's vision with both front hooves and retrieved her blue cannon, just to prove her point.
''ohright then, ah'll go, you'll be okay right?'' Big Macintosh turned his head to look at his sister, ''sure thang Big Mac, somepony's got to watch Pinkie, so ah might as well.'' she gave him a warm smile, then stood next to Pinkie and Scootaloo.
''well then, that's settled, we have our team.'' Swift announced, grinning, but slightly uneasy, something was definitely wrong with Pinkie, he just couldn't get his hoof on it though, for now, he would just have to trust that Pinkie was just acting strange due to stress or something and nothing would happen.
Vinyl held out a front hoof to Swift Blade, ''hoof bump!'' Swift grinned and bumped her hoof with one of his, his cheeks reddening at the contact with her, but she didn't seem to notice thankfully. Big Mac rolled his eyes slightly, then turned for the farmhouse, ''come on ya'll, lets grab our gear and head out.'' the red stallion, turned and headed for his objective, and Vinyl and Swift glanced at each other, then turned and followed.

the swordstallion, DJ, and strong farmer stood in front of the wooden gate, separating them from the outside world, which, in an instant, could change, due to a zombie attack, or even the chance of a bandit raid. Swift's longsword was strapped to his back, along with a saddlebag containing a few rations, a few apples, and a can of something Swift Blade could not be sure of, as the cans label had been worn away due to age possibly, a small lantern from AJ's house, and a few bandages, just in case.
Vinyl had no visible weapons on her, as a unicorn she had magic, so she had little need for one, but just in case, her pack had a kitchen knife stored inside, along with rations of her own.
Big Mac carried his woodcutters axe in his mouth, the wooden handle gripped tightly in his teeth, at the ready in case of an ambush. his saddlebag's carried the same things as Vinyl, his gaze was pointed at ponyville, his eyes filled with determination, which Swift was happy to see.
Pinkie suddenly stood next to the trio, catching them by slight surprise, ''oh, sorry, I couldn't resist seeing you off, I'll just open the gate here for you.'' the bubbly mare giggled and bounced over to the latch of the gate, pulling it out with a hoof, letting the gate swing open. ''thanks Pinkie'' Swift nodded at Pinkie, before shifting his gaze back to the open gate.
before anypony could react, Pinkie jumped in front of them, her party cannon by her side, she grabbed hold of the fuse and pulled, the cannon blasting the undead earth pony mare, a yellow pony with a green mane and tail, away completely with a loud-
BOOM!
Vinyl grinned at the party pony, before turning back to the two stallions next to her, ''well, come on, we don't have all day.'' she started trotting out through the gate, pausing to let them catch up, Swift and Big Macintosh were slightly stunned, but followed none the less. ''Buck, that was fast.'' Swift thought to himself, it was amazing how fast Pinkie could move, to fast. it made him wonder, ''what would happen if that mare snapped and came after us, after Vinyl...'' he shook that train of thought out of his head, and continued on, hearing the gate close behind them as they walked.

behind the departing pony's, Pinkie smiled wide, her smile running so far across her face it looked like it would break physics and grow past her face, her ears flattened, and she giggled, and a few locks of her poofy pink mane fell across her face. her left eye twitched, and Pinkie, began to laugh.

Author's Note

and now, what do you think will happen?

is Pinkie crazy enough to do something?

find out next chapter. comment on my story and tell me how I'm doing, and if there's anything I can improve. thanks so much, and enjoy.

Blades clash

His eyes opened slowly, pain suddenly shooting throughout his body and especially around his head. Swift tried to reach up to hold his head, but realizes he is unable to move his forelegs, or any of his legs.

''What the...'' Swift croaked out, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light. ''Vinyl...'' He moaned out, his eyes searching for the DJ, spotting her after a few seconds.

Several more bruises covered her beautiful face, and more cuts ran down her then before, their attacker had decided to work on Vinyl some more while Swift was unconscious.

Swift struggled against the rope that had him tied up, but soon gave up, he was bound to tightly to wiggle free.

The throbbing in his head increased, and something warm trickled down the side of his head, blood.

He hadn't noticed it before, but now he realized he was bleeding. Whatever the pony had whacked him with had been heavy.

Swift began to struggle again, he had to get to Vinyl, he had to find Big Mac, but the ropes weren't going to let him go that easy. After a few minutes, he stopped struggling. ''Erg...this is useless, maybe if I find something sharp I can cut myself free...''

Swift started scanning the room, looking for his longsword, but his weapon was nowhere in sight. ''Damn it...'' Swift muttered.

Suddenly, the sound of hooves approaching filled his ears, and they perked up, their captor was approaching.

Swift grit his teeth, and watched the door, waiting for the pony to step out into the light, and reveal themselves so he could beat the shit out of them when he figured out how to get free.

Finally, the pony trotted into the room, but stayed in the shadows, the pony seemed to have a scalpel clutched in its mouth, and Swift began to hyperventilate, this didn't look good.

Slowly, the pony stepped out of the darkness, standing in the dim light of the stone prison Swift and Vinyl were trapped in, and when Swift realized who it was, his pupils dilated, and his brain started trying to come up with reasons of why this couldn't be right, it just couldn't be.

Standing out in the open now, a grin filled with malice stretched across his lips, was Big Macintosh.

''No, no bucking way...Mac, You Did This!?'' Swift gasped, angered and shocked that the farm pony would do this, Pinkie he could understand, but Big Mac doing this was something he never could have imagined.

The red stallion chuckled, ''Eeyup, its me.'' His eyes glinted evilly, and he let out another chuckle, somehow keeping the scalpel clutched firmly in his mouth.

Swift's eyes narrowed, and he tensed up, wanting to lunge at the pony who had kidnapped and tortured Vinyl, but still couldn't move, so he merely moving an inch from where he was. ''WHY!? Why the hell would you do this!?''

Big Mac's eyebrows raised in amusement, and he moved closer to Swift Blade, giving the bound swordstallion a look of sickening joy, the look of a complete madpony. ''Why? Because I want ta, I coulda done this ta anypony, but I find mares to be the best victims, they scream the most, and it wouldn't feel right to rape a stallion.''

Swift's mind felt like it was going to break, he had thought of this monster as his friend, and he had trusted him, not realizing that there was a monster in their ranks. ''But why Vinyl!? Why her of all ponies!''

Swift wouldn't have wanted Big Mac to do this to anypony else, but seeing it happen to Vinyl was the worst.

''It wouldn't feel right to torture ma sister, at least not yet, and Pinkie is just a little to crazy an unpredictable to grab just yet. Scootaloo's back at tha farm, which just leaves you two...'' His voice filled with malice, and his grin stretched wider across his face, holding the scalpel in his mouth like it was a piece of wheat.

Swift Blade stared back at him, his mind focused now on only two things, freeing Vinyl, and beating the shit out of Mac, but it didn't seem like he would get his wish.

Swift began struggling again as Big Mac turned away from him and advanced on Vinyl, who spotted him and gave him a hatful glare as he approached. He merely scoffed, and held up the scalpel in one hoof, his eyes turned joyful, and he began cutting a long slice across Vinyl's forehead, blood slowly seeping down from the cut, as her eyes teared up, and she began to sob, the pain so agonizing it made the calm collected DJ lose her grip on her normal personality.

Macintosh, still slowly running the blade across her head, chuckled gleefully, and pulled back, watching as the blood fell down Vinyl's face and coated her white coat with the dark red substance.

Swift began, yelling, rage building up to a climax at the sight of Vinyl being cut open for no real reason. ''YOU BUCKING ASSHOLE GET AWAY FROM HER!''

Big Mac laughed, and made another cut right down Vinyl's cheek, receiving more sobs from the unicorn.

She could have teleported her way out, or blasted Big Mac with her magic, but a special headband Mac had forced onto her head, which he had gotten from the black market before the outbreak (he had been doing this for a long time) which negated a unicorns magic when worn, made any hope of escape using magic useless.

Swift's screams of rage began to quite down, as Big Mac stepped away from Vinyl, and turned towards the doorway, ''Don't worry, I'll be back, and then we can have some real fun.'' He sneered, a combination of malice and seduction in his tone.

Trotting out with scalpel in his mouth, the red stallion left Swift Blade and Vinyl alone, with the only sounds being Vinyl's sobbing, and Swifts deep breathing.

''Don't worry Vinyl, I will find a way to save you, I promise...'' He tried to sound reassuring, but his fear betrayed him. He had hope that they would get out of there, but first he had to find a way to free himself, if only he could find something sharp, anything would do.

Unfortunately, Big Mac had removed Swift's longsword from the room, and everything else that might have been used to cut himself free.

Swift let out a small growl, before he heard small, quiet hoofsteps approaching, and he glanced at the doorway. Was Big Mac coming back already?

The little orange filly who poked her head through the doorway however, wasn't Big Mac, but a very welcome sight.

''Scootaloo!'' Swift hissed, trying to alert the filly of his presence, without alerting Macintosh of the intruder.

The filly looked around again, searching for any sign of the voice.

''Scootaloo, over here!'' He hissed again.

Scootaloo turned in his direction, and quickly galloped over as quietly as she could, ''Swift! What the heck happened to you guys!'' She asked with slight panic, as she noticed his bounds. ''You guys were gone for a day, that's what AJ's clock said anyway.''

Swift quickly tried to explain, ''We got attacked by a horde, so we came here, and then Big Mac attacked us... Wait, how in Celestia's name did you find us here!?'' He whispered, taking a quick glance over her shoulder.

''I got really worried, so I snuck out of the farm and followed your trail, I was listening when you were discussing where you would go you know.'' Scootaloo said with a grin, which quickly faded, ''Wait...Big Mac attacked you!? Why? And where's Vinyl?''

Swift knew it was better if the little filly didn't see the state Vinyl was in, and shook his head, ''I'll explain later, first, find me something to cut myself free with, but be careful, Big Mac's in there somewhere...'' He cautioned her.

Nodding her head, and thankfully not noticing Vinyl strapped to the wall, Scootaloo quickly snuck out of the room.

After what felt like hours, but in reality was only a minute, to Swifts great relief, Scootaloo returned, struggling to balance Swift's longsword on her back.

Swift exhaled, letting the breath he had been holding in out, ''Thank Celestia.'' A thin smile creeping across his lips.

Scootaloo gently lowered the blade to the ground, and then picked it up again in her hooves, her small muscles struggling to hold the sword up, she shakily lowered it to the ropes holding Swift and looked at him uneasily.

''Just be careful...'' Swift said, slightly worried that the little filly might slice him open.

As carefully as she could, Scootaloo began rubbing the blade against the ropes, slowly slicing through them with ease.

Every few seconds, Swift would glance towards the doorway, hoping with all his might Big Mac wouldn't suddenly appear there and begin tearing the filly saving him to pieces. However, Scootaloo finished cutting through the ropes without incident.

Feeling the last of the rope fall away, Swift stood up, stretching his legs, feeling the blood flow back into them. He turned to his rescuer and smiled, patting her on the head, before taking his sword from her little hooves and twirling it, rage returning to his mind.

Swift turned to Vinyl, and Scootaloo followed his gaze, her eyes widened, and she let out a little gasp. ''OMC! What has Macintosh been doing to her!'' Her voice was to loud, and bounced off the walls.

''Shit'' Swift's brain thought, and hoofsteps began running towards them.

Turning quickly to Scootaloo, Swift quickly said ''Find a way to get Vinyl down! I'll hold Mac off!''

Swift faced the doorway, and Big Mac appeared in it, he looked slightly shocked to see Swift free, which gave Swift the time to begin swinging his blade wildly at the stallion, not really aiming, just simply swinging at the red stallion to hold him back or if he was stupid enough to charge, turn him into diced meat.

Big Mac finally recovered from dodging enough to swing the woodcutters axe he had carried with him at Swift's blade, sending Swift off balance and disarming him.

Swift staggered back, and Mac took the opportunity to bring the axe up and swing downwards at Swift, intending to chop his head clean off.

Dodging quickly to the side, Swift lunged and swung his right foreleg straight at Big Mac's face, connecting with a dull whack!

Macintosh fell backwards, dropping the axe onto the floor. He let out a little groan, and turned to face Swift again.

Swift's hoof met him again, driving itself into Mac's face, sending the stallion back towards the doorway.

Swift's hoof met the handle of his longsword, and he lunged once more, aiming the blade at Big Mac's chest, but Mac jumped out of the way, and his back hooves met with Swift's injured side, sending him flying, colliding with stone doorway and onto the ground. He let out a gasp of pain, and began to groan, as he tried to stand up and keep his hold on the longsword.

Big Mac wasn't going to give him a chance though, and one of his forelegs connected with Swift's head, sending back down again. Mac grinned evilly, and grabbed the combat knife he had pulled from Spike's head earlier from off one of the boxes littering the room.

Stilling grinning, he raised the dagger over his head and spoke, wanting to savor his victory. ''You know, since I wont have ta listen to your annoying screaming, its going ta be really fun when I rape and cut Vinyl to pieces, and as for Scootaloo, well, she will get to experience the same thing.'' He began to laugh, and brought the blade down, but Swift had heard enough. This asshole didn't deserve to live.

His sword, which he had managed to hold onto, clanged against the dagger, stopping it before it could be plunged all the way into Swift's chest, but some of the blade managed to cut into his flesh, making him groan in pain.

Sparks flew, showering between the two combatants, as the blades remained locked for a few more seconds, before Swift sent the bloodied dagger twirling through the air, out of Big Mac's hoof, hearing the blade embed itself into the floor somewhere to their right.

Swift's back legs lunged out, bucking Macintosh, sending him staggering away from Swift, giving him the chance to stand up.

Swift Blade let out a groan, ''My sides on fire'' his mind shouted at him, but he ignored it and charged Big Mac. However, the farm pony was ready for him, dodging to the side and taking a big swing at Swift's side with an old pipe. The pipe connected and shot showers of pain through Swift's body.

The swordstallion's eyes closed for a second, so he didn't see Big Mac swing the pipe again, but he felt it when the heavy piece of metal bashed into the side of his head, sending him end over end, slamming against a wall.

He lay there for a few seconds, his blood seeping from cuts on his face where the pipe had smashed into him, and more blood trickling from out of his chest where the knife had cut him.

His longsword was a few hoofsteps away, but he couldn't find the strength to stand. Was this it?

Now Swift remembered how it had come to this. Now he knew why this was happening.

Big Mac stood over Swift's limp, injured body, the woodcutters axe in his hooves again. His bruised and battered face could still sneer however, and he laughed at Swift. ''Say howdy to Apple Bloom for me, and don't worry, I'll take good care of the mares.''

Swift's mind broke, he was going to kill him, rape Vinyl, and torture and kill her and Scootaloo, and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

This was to much, his mind seemed to dim, and slowly, the only thought left in Swift Blade's head were: Death.

Big Mac got ready to bring down the axe, cackling louder as he did.

A loud, primal scream suddenly rocked the room, as Swift's thoughts faded to black, and Big Mac brought the axe down.

Silence.

There was only silence in the room he was in, no sounds of screaming, or fighting, just an empty silence.

The blue stallions eyes slowly opened, and he blinked a few times until his eyes adjusted. He was still in the basement, but there was nothing in there, other then a few boxes, and some other objects he couldn't make out.

''Was it all just a dream?'' He thought to himself. ''Did I just knock my head on something really hard and I just dreamed it all up?''

Swift Blade sighed happily. That had to be it, he must have just hit his head on the doorway or something, and none of that horrible nightmare ever happened.

Vinyl and Big Mac would probably be worried about where he was, he would have to remind them not to drop their things and just leave them like that, they had scared the crap out of him.

He stood up, but noticed something felt wrong, he raised one of his hooves, his longsword held in the hoof.

It was covered in blood, and so was his hoof.

Swift raised his other hoof, letting the one holding his weapon drop to support himself. It was also covered in blood.

Swift's gaze, slowly dropped down, already knowing what he would find when he saw the source of the blood.

Lying in a bloodied, mangled heap in front of him, lay Big Macintosh.

His face was stretched out in a silent scream of agony.one of his eyes were missing, a large hole drilled in where it had once been. His body was covered in stab wounds, and great chunks had been torn off of him with a blade. His stomach had been sliced open, his intestines laying spilled out on the floor in front of the dead stallion. His left shoulder had been sliced into, almost cleaving the large farm pony's left front leg off. His other leg, was fine up until where the bottom of it should have been, but it had been sliced off, the blood trail leading from the severed spot to behind some boxes. Finally, a huge cut lay across his frontal lobe, meaning he hadn't died from blood loss, but from a blade caving through his scull.

Swift gasped in horror, and more blood dripped off his face, his coat was now a stained purplish color in some places now.

Realization of who the culprit was shocked through his body, and tears welled in his eyes, streaking down his face like the blood from his head injuries.

He had done this. He had brutally murdered this pony in a way so gruesome it was even more sickening then the undead.

Swift may have wanted to kill Big Mac, but not like this, something inside of him had snapped, something had awoken deep inside of him, something he thought had been sealed away a long time ago.

He let out a small whimper, as more tears fell down his cheeks, hitting the bloodied floor with small plips.

''Swift?''

A voice pierced his thoughts, and he looked up, spotting the beautiful white unicorn standing in the doorway leading the room where they had both been held.

''Vinyl!'' he choked out and stood up, ignoring his body's protests, and ran towards her, the bloody longsword dropped to the floor behind him.

''Swift, what the hell hap-'' she was cut off by Swift's weight pressing into her, as he embraced her, his tears pouring down harder then before.

The DJ couldn't do much, so she wrapped her own front hooves around Swift and returned the embrace.

After a minute, Vinyl pulled away and looked Swift up and down, slowly noticing the red that had rubbed off onto her coat. ''thank you so
bucking much for saving me, and good job kicking his ass.'' A thin smile growing on her lips.

''Your...'' Swift sniffed, and wiped away some tears. ''Your cool with the fact that I'm covered in blood and basically tore Big Mac into pieces?''

''Yeah'' Vinyl replied, wiping at some blood running from her cheek. ''after what he did, and what he was planning to do, he deserved whatever he got, and the bloods little trouble, I'm already cover in it.''

Somehow, Vinyl's calm manner had come back, it may not have been appropriate, but it soothed Swift.

''Can I come out now?'' Scootaloo's voice came from the other room, sounding a mix of annoyance and fear.

''Yeah, just...shield your eyes until we get to the stairs.'' Vinyl called to the little filly, ''Me and Swift will help guide you.''

The orange Pegasus stepped from the safety of the room, and closed her eyes, waiting for the two older ponies to help her get out of there, and grumbling a bit.

''How did she free you?'' Swift asked, as he began trotting on one side of Scootaloo.

Vinyl walked on the filly's other side, seeming to think a second before speaking, ''At first, she tried just tugging at the straps with her teeth, but that did nothing, so she stacked up some boxes and took that headband off my head, allowing me to magic my way out.''

''Why didn't you do that in the first place?'' Swift asked, he had a few ideas why, but he wanted to be sure.

''The headband prevented me from using magic, Mac said he got it off the black market or something, he explained it to me before he started slicing me up when I started trying to use magic.''

Swift nodded, and stopped, they had just reached the stairs, and he nudged Scootaloo, ''You can open your eyes now.''

She grumbled, ''I'm a big girl, I can deal with death...'' She muttered.

Swift broke away from them and went back to Big Mac's corpse, picking up his longsword and shaking it a few times to rid it of some of the blood.

''So long Big Mac, may you rot in hell.'' He said to the corpse, before sheathing his weapon, and following Vinyl and Scootaloo up the stairs.

Author's Note

Well, that was unexpected wasn't it, I thought, what better twist to throw in then not having Pinkie Pie being crazy and make it Big Mac?
The reasons why Pinkie was acting so crazy will be revealed in the next chapter.
also, please check out anything else I might publish. :twilightsmile:

So Long

The three ponies, the swordstallion, the DJ, and the scooter rider trotted through ponyville, their hooves making sloshing noises as they walked across the wet muddy ground. They walked in silence, no words were needed, they had nothing to talk about, Big Mac was dead,
Vinyl had been tortured, and Swift had gone berserk, there was nothing else to be said.

The two adult ponies now were fully healed, having shared the healing potion Swift had found earlier, leaving them looking fresh and unwounded, but the wounds in Swift Blade's heart and mind were something the potions effects couldn't fix.

Swift's eyes were downcast, and he wasn't watching ahead of them, keeping an eye out for the undead.

Vinyl, was staring forward, but her eyes didn't seem to see anything.

Scootaloo was the only was keeping an eye out for danger, and she seemed to be doing a good job, since they saw no undead ponies on the way back to the apple orchard.

Their bags were full, and so were their heads.

Two undead ponies suddenly blocked the trio's way, letting out moans filled with lustful hunger.

Swift sighed, and drew his sword, starting towards the zombie ponies, ''Stay back you two'' he sighed again. ''I got this...''
He charged, readying the weapon to decapitate the first zombie, a unicorn mare, but his blade never met the zombies neck, a blue aura enveloped the sword and suddenly swung Swift, sending him towards the unicorns open mouth. Swift's eyes widened, and his mind flew back to the present, this was new. ''SHIT!''

Another aura took over the swordstallion's body, swiftly levitating him away from the two zombies.

Swift turned his head, seeing Vinyl grin at him, as her horn glowed, holding him away from the two undead mares.
''Well, it seems their starting to learn how to use magic'' Vinyl observed, as she lowered Swift to the ground. ''Lets rock.'' The mare grinned, and levitated her shades over her eyes.

The glasses had been retrieved before they left the castle, even though they were in bad shape, they were Vinyl's favorite pair. One lens had a large crack running across it, and the other was mostly shattered, but Vinyl didn't care much, she would wear them no matter what.

''Oh pony feathers, LOOK OUT!'' Scootaloo cried out, as the two undead ponies charged, letting out snarls.

Vinyl levitated the magic spear from her saddle bag, pointing the head at the earth pony quickly pulling ahead. The tip glowed for a few
seconds, before a colorful energy burst forward from the spear, colliding with the earth pony, sending her flying backwards.
The unicorn zombie lurched towards Scootaloo, somehow sensing that the little filly was the easiest target.

Scootaloo's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to scream, but Swift's back hooves met the unicorns side, sending her off course, causing the monster to crash into the ground.

Scootaloo smiled, ''Thanks Swift, that was to close.''

Swift nodded his head, and turned to face the creature struggling to stand up.

Vinyl started shaking the spear, trying to get it to let off another blast of energy to destroy the earth pony she had sent flying, but the weapon refused to work. She slowly remembered what Swift had mentioned earlier about these things and stopped waving it around, lifting it into the air with her magic and charged the monster.

The spear thrust forward, the glowing blade impaling itself into the zombie pony's head, the tip poking out of the other side of the dead ponies scull, some blood running out of the hole.
The disk jockeys eyes intensified as she seemed to struggle for a second, before her aura tore the spear free, letting the lifeless body hit the ground.

Swift Blade deflected a tree branch that was thrown at him by the unicorn zombie, then advanced on the zombie, chopping another branch that was hurled at him clean in half.

''All right buckface, that's enough!'' Swift Blade growled, and leapt forward, swinging his longsword at the creatures horn, the blade connected with the magical implement, stopping for a second, causing the horn to crack, before the blade cleaved through, sending the broken tip of the horn up into the air, where it landed a few feet away, rolling towards Scootaloo, who let out a little shriek and took a few steps back.

Swift panted, slightly, as he thrust the sword into the zombies head, ending its existence.
He quickly withdrew the blade, and watched the body hit the ground, no longer moving. Slowly, he turned away, sheathing his weapon, and motioned for Vinyl and Scootaloo to follow, ''Come on, lets get out of here before more show up.''

They stepped through the gates into Sweet Apple Acres. it was silent, and there was nopony to meet them at the gate.

Swift looked around, he didn't like this, ''Somepony should be here to greet us.'' He murmured.

Scootaloo's head swung back and forth, a worried expression on her face. Vinyl shrugged, ''C'mon, we better find out what's going on.'' She began heading up the road.

Swift shook his head and sighed, ''Yeah, c'mon Scoots.'' The blue stallion pat the small filly on the back, reassuring her everything would be fine, and followed after Vinyl, Scootaloo following close behind.

Swift kept looking around, trying to spot any signs of life, or death, but there was nothing.

Finally reaching the farm house, the three ponies stopped, staring at their destination like it would explode and kill them all if they entered, they spent a few minutes just staring at it in silence, when Vinyl broke it.

''Lets go in, if we don't, we're never gonna find out where everypony is.''

Slowly, Swift Blade nodded. ''Yeah...lets find out.''
The swordstallion stepped through the door first, a combat knife clutched in his teeth.

The interior of the house was empty, something was very wrong here. ''Where are AJ and Pinkie?'' Swift asked aloud.
Vinyl shrugged, her horn glowing, illuminating the space around them. ''Stay close Scoot's.''
The little pegasus nodded, and slowly followed the two older ponies inside.

Swift looked down the hallway, his ears pricked, listening for any sounds, but there was only the sound of his breathing, and the creek of his hooves against the wood floor.

''Um...maybe they aren't here?'' Scootaloo's voice shook from beside Vinyl.

The swordstallion turned, ''You may be right, but lets search for some clues first.''
The trio began to search around the house, but it was Vinyl and Scootaloo who found the note.

''SWIFT!''

Swift Blade turned away from the couch he was searching over, turning to run towards the shout, he dashed into the kitchen. ''What happened?!''

The DJ held a piece of papyrus in her magic aura, grinning as she did, a glint coming from her red eyes through the shattered lens of her glasses. ''Look what Scootaloo found.'' She said triumphantly.

Swift let himself relax, trotting over. He gave the orange filly a pat on the head, receiving a blush and little ''It was nothing...'' Before looking at the DJ. ''What's it say?''

The white unicorn cleared her throat and began to read:

''Dear everypony, Pinkie Pie has informed me that Scootaloo went after you when you didn't return, I was going to go after her, but Pinkie told me not to worry about it. She's always been right before, and its my duty to be honest and trust ponies, so I believed her. I'm really hoping that you all have come home together. Pinkie and me are probably out in the orchard if your reading this.
~ Apple Jack

Swift blinked, and shrugged off his saddle bags, motioning for Vinyl to do the same, he stretched out, he had been carrying all the stuff Big Mac was supposed to carry, but now that his injuries were healed, he could do it.

''Come on, lets find them.''

''Alright''

It took much searching, the three combing the orchard, keeping an eye out for the orange farm mare, and the pink party pony. They stuck together. They didn't want to split up and get lost in the maze of tree's or get attacked while alone.

Finally Swift spotted a pink form through some trees, and motioned for Scootaloo and Vinyl to follow.

Stepping through the trees, they found themselves in a clearing, Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie stood in front of a large hole, a pile of dirt sitting a few hoofsteps away from the hole. A shovel had been stabbed into the dirt pile, its blade encrusted with dirt and grass.

A makeshift tombstone made from a large flat stone stood tall just across the hole, something had been carved into it, proving it was a tombstone.

Apple Jack stood ridged, her head lowered, not making any noise, as tears ran down her orange face, over her freckles, and hung from the edge of her face for an instant, before falling, hitting the grass below.

Pinkie Pie was not so silent, her mane and tail had deflated, and tears were pouring down her cheeks, as she wailed into Apple Jack's shoulder.

The three ponies slowly entered the clearing, trying not to disturb the two mares, before standing next to them.

Swift gazed down into the hole, his eyes beginning to tear up, as he saw why they were crying.

Rainbow Dash lay in the ground below, her head still separated from her body. Some of her coat was covered in mud and muck, and her brightly colored mane and tail were matted and faded. her head snapped up at the ponies, trying to bite the out of reach victims.

''Ah guess...'' Apple Jack sniffed. ''Ah guess its time to say our goodbyes and bury Rainbow now that y'all are back.''

The swordstallion gave a short little nod, staring down grimly at the undead rainbow Pegasus. ''Yeah...''

Apple Jack's gaze survived the ponies present, before frowning slightly, wiping a tear away with her hoof. ''W-Where...where's Big Mac?''

Swift opened his mouth, but nothing came out, so he lowered his head.

Vinyl spoke for him, ''He's...He's dead AJ, I'm sorry...'' The unicorn's horn glowed and levitated her broken shades off her face, lowering them over her horn to keep them off her eyes.

Apple Jack's legs collapsed out from under her, and she fell to her knees, her pupils dilated, and her tears began to fall faster and harder. ''No, no...nonononononono...'' She began to murmur, her Stetson lowering over her eyes, covering them.

Pinkie sniffled, and wrapped her front hooves, over the sobbing farmer, still sobbing softly.

''Not ma brother too...no... WHY!'' Apple Jack threw her front hooves in the air, her tears streaming down her face. After a few more shouts at the uncaring permanent dawn, the farm mare slowly turned to look at Swift and Vinyl, her face filled with sadness. ''How...h-how did he...die?''

Swift shook his head sadly. ''It might be best to talk about later...we have something else to do for now.'' He stared back down at Rainbow's snapping head, the pale lifeless eyes barrowing into his very soul, as if telling him, ''Your a monster, you murdered a pony in such a horrible way, it makes me look like a timid cat.''

Slowly, Apple Jack nodded her head, ''Your...your right.'' she stood up, causing Pinkie to back away, still teary eyed and sniffling.

They formed a circle around the pit, staring down at the rainbow colored monster below, Swift looked over at Apple Jack and Pinkie once more, ''Do you want to...?''

They shook their heads, tears renewing their path down their faces. ''No, I cant kill ma best friend, even if she isn't the pony she was any more...''

Pinkie's response, was a mere, ''No...I cant do it...''

Swift nodded his head, and stepped carefully down into the hole, pulling the combat dagger from his sheath. He looked down at Rainbow Dash, allowing more tears to fall from his eyes, before he raised the knife.

''Wait.''

The small voice stopped the swordstallion. He turned around, gazing at the filly who spoke, ''Scootaloo?''

The little orange Pegasus stared down at him, determination in her eyes, ''I... I'll do it.''

Pinkie stared at her with slight shock, ''No, you cant, your just a filly! We cant let you do something like th-'' She was cut off by Swift's voice.

''Why Scoot's? Why do you feel its your duty to end Dash's existence?''

Scootaloo stayed silent for a second, before letting a few tears fall from her own eyes. ''Because...Rainbow Dash was like the sister I never had, and I always dreamed of someday flying with her. I was always egging her on, supporting her before she got into the Wonderbolts, and if her best friends refused to put an end to her, she would want me to do it.''

Swift could only stare at the filly, not moving. The others waited for his answer, not sure how to stop the filly, but when they heard his answer, their mouths dropped.

''Alright. Your right. Please, put her to rest.''

Everypony began to open their mouths to protest, but Swift held up a hoof, ''Think about it, if Rainbow Dash could tell us who she wanted to put her to rest, do you think she would have wanted me to do it? She's only known me for a few mouths, where she's known Scootaloo and you longer then me.'' he paused, ''She would want, one of her biggest fans to see her off.''

Nopony protested, and let Scootaloo climb down the hole to Swift, he held the knife out to her, giving her a reassuring smile, ''Just...stab right through the base of her head...''

The slightly scared filly nodded quickly, taking the weapon from the stallion and standing over Dash, her tears spilling out more now. ''G-Goodbye... R-Rainbow...'' With her shaky farewell, the filly lowered the knife, lining the blade up with her target, and brought the blade down.

The sharp blade pierced the cyan Pegasus's head, causing some blood to spurt up, some getting on the blade, for a split second, Scootaloo thought she could see some life return to her idols eyes, before her eyes faded. Scootaloo withdrew the knife, staring sadly down at the now motionless head, the eyes dim and empty.

She handed the weapon in her hooves to Swift, climbing back up to join with the others, small sobs echoing from her. The swordstallion sheathed the dagger, and followed.

The ponies all stared down at the lifeless corpse, some sobbing, others letting tears run down their cheeks and fall to the ground without caring.

Apple Jack lifted her head slightly, and began to address the four ponies around her, ''Rainbow Dash... was a amazing pony. She was always helping others when they needed help, and was as loyal as they came. She was a true friend...''

Pinkie Pie joined her, staring tearfully at the corpse, ''D-Dashie...was always there for me, and the rest of her friends, doing all sorts of awesome stuff to make us watch in awe, s-she was o-one...of the best ponies I've ever met.''

Swift slowly joined them, his head high, and his tears falling freely, ''I didn't know Dash as long as you, but she was an amazing flyer, a great hero, and somepony I will never forget. She was a loyal friend, and will forever be in our hearts.'' He ended with a sad smile.

Scootaloo and Vinyl stayed silent, Scootaloo's face was buried in Vinyl's side, sobbing into her coat.

Slowly, Apple Jack trotted past the ponies, and grabbed the shovel, shoveling a huge pile of dirt onto it, she raised it over the hole, some of her tears falling on the body in it. ''So long Rainbow Dash, may y'all rest in peace.'' The farmer tipped the shovel, letting the dirt spill onto Rainbow Dash's corpse.

The survivors packed up the wagon, filling it with supplies for the journey ahead. They worked in silence, the funeral had taken its toll on the ponies, not to mention filling their minds with memories, maybe not of Dash, but of their own loved one's, who they never got to bury.

Swift shook his head sadly, as he loaded a large bag filled with food onto the cart, his gaze wandered to Vinyl, who stood a few hooves away, levitating a few medical kits with her magic.

He didn't want what happened to any of his other friends to happen to her, he didn't want to bury her in the ground. He had to protect her, she was going to survive if it killed him.

Pinkie Pie's mane and tail had poofed back up again, but she still wore a sad expression. She was trying to lift Apple Jack's war hammer onto the cart, sweat dripped down her face, making it look like she was still crying. She missed her friends, and she wished Dashy didn't have to go, but it was to late now. She would make sure to watch over her remaining friends with all her heart, and cheer them up when thing looked grim.

Apple Jack suddenly stepped next to the party pony and took the hammer from her, placing it down in the cart. ''There ya go.'' she gave Pinkie a small smile.

Pinkie gave her a grin, her expression rising a bit, ''Thanks Apple Jack.''

Scootaloo watched the ponies load the wagon up, her expression unreadable. ''Goodbye Rainbow...'' She murmured to herself. She jolted when a hoof patted the filly's shoulder, she looked up to see Swift standing in front of her.

''Come on Scoot's, we're done packing, lets go.''

The orange Pegasus filly stared at him for a second, before slowly nodding her head. ''Alright, lets go.''

Swift trotted over to the carts harness, trying to strap himself in.

Suddenly a magenta aura surrounded the straps, buckling themselves around the stallions form, he looked over at the DJ, who was grinning at him. ''It looked like you could use a hoof''

The swordstallion smiled, and watched as the others boarded the cart, first Apple Jack, then Vinyl, Scootaloo, and finally Pinkie, once they were all in, Swift Blade turned to look at the farm house one last time, before heading down the road, pulling the cart full of ponies with him.

Apple Jack and Pinkie stared back at the slowly vanishing house and barn, their eyes getting misty. Apple Jack tilted her Stetson, as a sign of goodbye to her home, and Pinkie merely waved. before the house was consumed by the apple tree's, and the travelers found themselves on open dirt road.

The journey had begun.

Author's Note

Alright, sorry that my writing style keeps changing, sometimes I'm lazy.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me this far.

Please keep enjoying Hope is dead.

On the road

Vinyl groaned from her spot on the cart, looking around at the area around them, she was beginning to get bored, and leaned over to Pinkie, ''Hey Pink's, could you pass me a couple hay fries?''

The party pony grinned and nodded, her cheerful personality had returned after Sweet Apple Aches was out of sight. ''Okee doky loky!'' She reached into one of the bags, and pulled out a small box, with a picture of the desired food on the front. ''Here you go!''

The DJ nodded her thanks and took the box from the pink mare with her magic, levitating it towards her muzzle. Her magic aura removed the boxes lid and lifted one of the fries out. Vinyl took a big bite out of the fry, munching on it with gusto, ''That's good.'' She murmured between chews.

Apple Jack muttered, ''Shouldn't y'all save those for when we stop for dinner...'' The farm pony stared out at the terrain around them, the Everfree on one side of them, plains with scarce tree's to the other.

Vinyl shrugged, ''Sorry AJ, you want one?'' The open box of hay fries hovered over to the mare, Apple Jack shook her head. The unicorn shrugged, and levitated the box over to Scootaloo. The normally energetic orange filly had been quiet for some time now.

The filly smiled faintly, and pulled a fry from the box, taking a bite from it. ''Thanks.'' She said softly.

The DJ hovered a fry over to the stallion pulling the cart, the fry in front of his face distracting him. ''You want one Swift? Your probably hungry after pulling us this far.''

Swift Blade looked back at the beautiful unicorn, and smiled, he was fine, but he wasn't going to say no to her. ''Thanks Vinyl.'' The fry moved closer to his muzzle, allowing him to take a bite out of it, he chewed on the tasty stick, smiling slightly. It was good.

He allowed Vinyl to levitate the rest of the hay fry into his mouth, he chomped down on it, swallowing the morsel. He was about to speak his thanks again when Pinkie interrupted him.

''Hey! Look over there!''

Swift stopped, bringing the cart to a stop as well, ''What!'' He started scanning the landscape for threats, but saw none.

''Right there, that spot over there.'' Pinkie pointed at a shady spot underneath a couple tree's. ''That would be the best spot to go camping!'

''You know, Pinkie may be right, its been a while since we've had a good nap.'' Vinyl added.

Swift nodded, ''Yeah, I guess we can stop.'' He began pulling the cart to the spot Pinkie had pointed out, grunting slightly.

They lay down their sleeping bags before them, circling the fire pit Swift had begun to construct. Pinkie moved from her bag to give the stallion a hoof in moving the rocks into position.

They spent a little while just sitting there, watching Vinyl try to light up the sticks Swift and Pinkie had piled into the circle of rocks. After a few tries, the white unicorn lit up the wood and got a nice little fire going.

Scootaloo leaned against Apple Jack, watching the fire with a small smile. Apple Jack smiled, and pet the young Pegasus's head, stroking it.

Swift and Vinyl just sat near each other, Swift didn't notice, but the DJ was slowly inching closer to him. The ponies were startled when Pinkie suddenly jumped in front of them, holding a bag of marshmallows. ''Anypony want some?'' She asked cheerfully.

Swift stared at the pink pony before him for a second, before nodding. ''Sure, pass a couple.''

Vinyl, although slightly creeped out by Pinkie's sudden appearance, nodded as well, and took a couple marshmallows. Pinkie then hoofed them two sharp sticks, and headed for Apple Jack and Scootaloo.

Swift shrugged, and stuck the while treats onto the stick, before raising it over the fire.

The DJ levitated her stick next to Swift's, watching them eagerly.

''You know...'' Vinyl suddenly broke the calm silence, ''I never did ask, when we were in the basement, who was that screaming coming from? I would assume it was Macintosh but...''

''What did happen to ma brother anyhow?'' Apple Jack added, shaking her head at Pinkie's offer.

Sighing, Swift stared at the ponies around him, before beginning, ''That wasn't Mac, he wouldn't have had reason to scream like that...I...I did...I don't know if it was desperation... or rage mixed with fear, either way, what happened after I let out that feral screech...well, I don't remember what happened. Its all blank until I woke up covered in blood.''

''What do you mean? I've never heard that ever happen to anypony before...'' Vinyl asked, slightly confused, and worried.

''As far as I know, I'm the only pony that this happens to...'' Swift mumbled sadly, turning his marshmallows over the fire, trying not to burn them.

''This has happened before...?''

''Yes, although, not like how I awoke this time. When it happened before, I was watching one of my best friends get attacked by a couple of bullies... then nothing. When I came to, I found myself sitting next to their bruised and battered bodies. I don't know what I did, but witness's including my friend, told me I had screamed, and thrown myself at the foals, nearly beating them to death with nothing but my old wooden sword. I was suspended from school after that, and ponies were afraid of me after that. My friend told me I wasn't quite the same when I was beating those bullies, I was enjoying it, and I hardly seemed sane, and there was something... something about my eyes she told me...they were...bleeding or something, and dark, like I had been possessed or something...that was years ago. It hasn't happened again, until now.''

''What the hay could have happened to ya, and just how bad was it when you woke up this time?!'' Apple Jack shouted.

''We could hear it...from the next room...'' Vinyl answered for the stallion. ''When we went in there, that ass hole of a brother had been torn to pieces.''

''WHAT DID HE DO TO DESERVE DEATH!?'' Apple Jack bellowed, tears welling in her eyes.

Swift suddenly glared at the farmer, his eyes bordering on rage. ''He knocked me and Vinyl out, tortured Vinyl, and planned to rape her, then do the same to Scootaloo. That's why he didn't deserve life...I'm sorry AJ.''

Apple Jack's eyes widened, and she seemed to deflate, ''Oh, oh shit, Big Mac, why...?''

The little orange filly, who had been silent until this point, suddenly spoke up, ''Apple Jack, that jerk may not be here now, and the rest of your family may be dead, but remember this, we're your family now. Right guys?''

Pinkie shook her head enthusiastically, ''Scootaloo's right, we are family now Apple Jack, all of us. We're one big family.''

Slowly, the farm pony nodded. ''Y'all...Y'all are right, we are a family.'' She let a few tears fall from her eyes, before wiping them with a hoof. Pinkie ran up to her friend and gave her a big hug, the two embracing was heartwarming for all to see.

Suddenly, Vinyl groaned, ''Ah damn it, my marshmallows...'' While they had all been occupied with the conversation, the white unicorn had burnt her treats, causing them to turn a charred black. She held them up to her face. They smoked slightly, and didn't look to appetising.

Swift tapped her on the shoulder, and held out his marshmallow, it was still a white color, as if he hadn't even put it over the fire. ''Here.'' He smiled, pulling one of the white treats off his stick, offering it to the DJ. She levitated it out of his hoof, popping it into her mouth. It may have not been much to look at, but it was very creamy. She chewed and swallowed with gusto.

Swift smiled, and swallowed his own marshmallow. ''Yeah, we are family now, and I swear that we will get through this, there will be a cure.'' He stood up, and headed over to the wagon, grabbing a few bottles of water, he passed them around, keeping one for himself. He uncapped it and held it high.

''To finding a cure!''

''To finding a cure.'' The others repeated, raising their own bottles, before taking big drinks. They all laughed, and began telling each other jokes, until they felt tired, and began to lie down on their sleeping bags. After a few minutes, they were all fast asleep.

Swift's eyes flickered open, and he slowly raised his head, looking around, everypony was still there this time, thank Celestia. He stood up, he had little idea how much time had passed. It could have been hours, could have been minutes, either way, he felt the need to answer natures call, and began heading towards the nearby woods.

Finishing up, the stallion noticed a small pond, ''Perfect.'' He said to nopony in particular. He slowly dipped a foreleg in to test the water. It was slightly cold to the touch, but he didn't mind. He slowly put one hoof in front of the other until he stood up to his neck in the water, that was about as deep as it could go.

''Ahh.'' He sighed, feeling the water almost wash any pains he bared away. He knew it wouldn't last, some pain could never be washed away, but for now this would do.

He soaked himself for a few minutes, when a sound interrupted him. Swift quickly tried to get to his sword, which lay on the bank of the pond, but tripped on a root under the water and fell.

Swift quickly tried to scramble to his hooves, gazing forward as another sound. The crunch of a twig, rang out in the silence.

The swordstallion let out a sigh of relief, as Vinyl stepped into view, ''Oh, its just you Vinyl. You scared the crap out of me.''

The DJ giggled, ''Sorry, I noticed you were gone, and I saw you heading into the woods, so I followed you here, but I can see your just having a soak, I'll leave you alone.'' She turned to leave, but Swift's voice halted her.

''Hey, since your already here, why don't you join me?'' He smiled and waved a hoof invitingly at the mare.

She stared at him for a few seconds, before slowly nodding her head, and trotting to the edge of the pond, she gingerly lowered her sunglasses to the ground, along with her magic spear, before stepping into the pond with Swift.

They sat for a few awkward moments, trying to think of something to say, when Swift finally broke the tense silence. ''Um...Vinyl, remember when I asked you about you having a special somepony?''

''Yeah?''

''I wanted to know what you thought of me...'' He stared down at the water, looking back at his reflection staring up at him. Always beating around the bush, he just wasn't any good with mares. ''Buck up!'' He growled to himself in his mind.

''Well...'' Vinyl said after a few seconds. ''When I first met you, I thought you were a pretty cool pony, you were always giving us hope, and the way you fight, its awesome, but when I saw you fight Big Mac to protect me, and you fought so hard, just to keep me and Scootaloo safe, I thought you would make a great hero someday, which sounds kinda lame, but its the truth.''

Swift turned to her, ''Of course I fought that hard to protect you, that's what I've been trying to do since I first met you, your a beautiful mare, and I want to make sure you survive.''

Vinyl's red eyes teared up slightly, and she shook her head, ''Sorry...you remind me of Tavi...the way you want to protect me. Its...Its really sweet...''

Swift took her chin and turned her head to face him, ''Can I...be your protector?''

Vinyl stared into his eyes, moving a strand of wet electric blue mane out of her face, she smiled at him. ''Yeah...you can be my protector.''

The swordstallion's lips suddenly met with hers, slightly shocking the mare, but she quickly melted into the kiss, their lips locked and moving passionately. Swift broke the kiss and pulled back, ''Vinyl, I love you, will you be my special somepony...?''

The DJ nodded her head slowly, ''Yeah. I will, cause I think, no, I know, I love you too.''

They finished their soak and grabbed their things, glancing at each other awkwardly every few seconds, before heading back to the others. They found them all awake, and beginning breakfast.

''Oh, hey guys!'' Pinkie waved cheerfully, turning back to the food she was preparing.

Apple Jack stared at them curiously, ''Where did y'all go?'' she sounded slightly suspicious.

''We went for a soak!'' Swift said quickly. ''And nothing else!'' He added quickly.

It wasn't a lie. Apple Jack could tell that much, although the stallion seemed to be leaving something out. She decided to let it slide, ''Oh right then, join us, we should head out after breakfast.''

The stallion and mare nodded, and plopped themselves down next to Scootaloo, who was staring at them with the same suspicion as Apple Jack.

''Where did you two go?'' the Pegasus filly asked.

''Into the woods for a quick dip in a pond.'' Vinyl grinned nervously.

''Oh, why didn't you bring me along!''

''Sorry kiddo.'' Swift ruffled the filly's purple mane, ''Maybe next time.''

Pinkie suddenly bounced in front of them, handing them their breakfast, daisy sandwiches. Swift took a bite from the sandwich, and leaned into Vinyl's ear range, ''Should we tell them yet?''

''No, lets tell them at a later time.'' She whispered back.

The rest of breakfast was spent in silence, just munching on their sandwiches, then they packed up, stomped out the campfire, and set out. Apple Jack pulling the cart this time, while the others sat in the wagon, keeping an eye out, so far however, there had been no sign of any zombies.

They traveled for a long time, until the cart stopped abruptly. A low noise was slowly approaching. They waited a few seconds, and slowly, in the distance, a horde, larger than thirty, appeared over a hill, and they were heading in their direction.

''Damn it...'' Vinyl muttered, already standing up, readying herself, her horn lighting up.

''Now hold it there y'all!'' Apple Jack quickly shouted, trying to be louder than the horde so she could be heard. ''Maybe we can go round them varmints.''

The moaning noise grew louder, signaling that they only had so much time before the herd was upon them. Swift suddenly leapt from the cart, landing next to Apple Jack. ''Quick, help me get tied up too! We'll go faster with two ponies pulling the wagon!''

Swiftly, Apple Jack moved to the swordstallion's side, helping tie himself to the harness. They then began galloping as fast as they could, pulling the wagon behind them. They quickly moved around the horde at a safe distance, avoiding the attention of all but one zombie, and earth pony mare.

She looked gray, but judging how far away she was, it was possible that it was just the rot. Swift motioned for them to keep going, and they continued on, ignoring the single zombie following them.

The survivors camped around a small fire, they knew a bigger one might attract the horde. Even though they had traveled for quite some time, and made lots of ground, Apple Jack and Swift thought it was best to be cautious. At least for now.

Swift was keeping an eye out, munching on a apple as he did. Scootaloo suddenly was next to him, looking at him curiously. ''Hey Swift. how's the watch?'' She grinned a bit.

''All good, hopefully it will stay that way.'' Swift took another bite from his apple, chewing on it, before swallowing. ''What's up kid?''

Scootaloo shuffled her hooves in the dirt nervously, before asking him ''What's going on with you and Vinyl? It was pretty weird when both of you just disappeared into the woods separately, then came back together, are you two going out?'' She gave the stallion a sly grin, causing him to sigh.

''Let me guess, if I don't tell the truth, your gonna just keep bugging me about it''

She nodded.

''Alright, here's the truth. Yes. She is my special somepony now, and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to protect her.'' Swift Blade stared off distantly, ''Like I couldn't do for my friends or family.''

Scootaloo looked at him curiously, ''What happened to your family, I know what happened in Ponyville, but what about your family?''

Sighing, the swordstallion ruffled her mane, ''They died a long time ago, before all of this.'' His smile faded and his eyes teared up. ''I just hope that...their in a better place.''

The little orange filly suddenly wrapped her hooves around him, giving him a comforting hug. She looked up at him, and he saw her eyes were full of tears too. ''I know how you feel, I lost my family before this too, I've been an orphan for several years now, living in a house by myself, with nopony to help teach me to fly.''

Swift stared down at the filly, wrapping his own hooves around her. ''I'm so sorry Scootaloo.'' tears streamed down his eyes, he knew the pain, but she was so young, it was much to soon for her to feel such pain. ''I'm so sorry...''

Scootaloo gazed up at him, her tears falling freely now, ''Rainbow Dash, and my friends, were what was keeping me going. I loved them all, but now their all gone, taken from me, by them.'' she didn't need to tell Swift who, they all knew who they were. ''If it weren't for you guys, I might not have made it.''

Swift Blade let go of the filly, and gave her a smile, wiping away tears from his face. ''Kid, just remember, we are family, we all are, and if you want, I can be like, your big brother. I may not be a Pegasus, but I can try right?''

The orange filly stepped back, and grinned at him, wiping her own tears away. ''Yeah, that would be cool, I would like that.''

Suddenly, Pinkie popped up in front of them, smiling cheerfully. ''GROUP HUG!'' She cheered.

From where they sat, chatting and munching on apples and hay fries, Vinyl and Apple Jack stood up and crossed over to them, with a ''Why not?'' From Apple Jack.

Suddenly, Pinkie had them all wrapped in her hooves, giving the group a big squeeze.

Even though they felt like they were being crushed, the other ponies joined in the hug, squeezing each other tightly. It was another happy moment for the survivors, and gave everypony a blissful sleep when they went to bed.

Pinkie Pie awoke with a start, and rubbed her eyes, ridding them of sleep. Her tail was twitching, something was wrong. She quickly bounced to her hooves, looking around. She let out a little gasp.

A gray earth pony, wearing a long dark blue dress, stood a hoofsteps away.

Her mane and tail were straight and boring in comparison with Pinkies, and were a dark purple. The mare was in fact, lifeless when it came to bright colors, but her usual boring attitude, which was equally lifeless, was filled with life.

The mare growled, and began slowly advancing on the sleeping ponies.

Pinkie screamed. ''MAUD!''

Author's Note

That was a long chapter, and more focused on the drama and pasts of the characters. and what's this? Maud Pie has shown up, but is she dead, or alive?

That's up to you, if she's undead, or alive, its your vote!

Thank you for all the support on this story so far!

A dangerous path

Pinkie Pie didn't know what to do. The pony who she believed was her sister, was getting closer. Pinkie reached around for her cleaver, but it was nowhere nearby, so she did the only other thing she could think of.

''EVERYPONY WAKE UP!''

The others shot bolt upright, reaching for their weapons, and standing up to face whatever threat Pinkie had woken them for. Pinkie suddenly held up a hoof. ''Hold it! I need to try something.''

Pinkie slowly approached the now still pony she believed was Maud, and stared t her. ''Maud? Is it really you?''

The pony took a few steps forward, growling again.

Apple Jack began to take a step forward, ready to defend her friend, but Swift blocked her with a hoof. ''Wait.''

Pinkie cautiously approached the growling pony, and reached warily a hoof out. ''Maud?''

The mare suddenly lunged forward, wrapping her hooves around Pinkie in one of the tightest hugs Pinkie had ever received. Swift and Apple Jack lunged forward, their weapons ready to end the mares existence, however, Pinkie Pie was faster, she suddenly moved from where she stood with the gray mare wrapped around her, to behind the two attackers.

''Stop! She's not trying to eat me like a I would a cupcake!'' Pinkie cried, wrapping her hooves around Maud protectively.

Apple Jack and Swift paused their attack and realized she was right, the gray pony Pinkie had wrapped in her hooves was not taking chunks of flesh out of their pink friend, nor was she really doing anything.

''Oh ma Celestia...Is it really you Maud?'' Apple Jack asked, tears of joy beginning to well up in her eyes.

Pinkie released Maud from her hooves, and took a step back to allow her sister to speak.

The gray mare said nothing at first, she just stared at the group of ponies before her, before finally breaking the tense silence. ''Yes. It's me, its good to see you Pinkie, and you too Apple Jack, its been a while hasn't it.'' Maud said flatly, with barely any emotion.

Now that they were paying attention, Pinkie's sister looked like she hadn't had a bath, nor a change of clothes in days. Her mane and tail was matted and greasy, and her dress was covered in muck and grime, and had been torn in several places. She had several scratches across her face and front hooves, some still oozing blood.

Even though her normally expressionless face showed no sign of pain or fear, Pinkie could tell just by looking into Maud's eyes, her sister was in pain, and she was scared beyond belief. She had to do something.

''Um, Maud? we had better get you checked over, so look like some hurty boo boo's.''

''I'm fine Pinkie, don't worry yourself about me.''

Swift took a few steps forward, his blade back in its sheath. ''So your Pinkie's sister, its nice to meet you, I'm Swift Blade.''

Maud stared at him blankly, before nodding, ''Nice to meet you too.''

''Even though I want to ask you a few questions, we had better get you patched up, and get you something to eat, you look half starved.'' Swift observed, glancing at the mares dress, which hung looser than it should have.

Maud nodded again. ''Thank you.'' Before Vinyl began leading her towards the wagon.

Swift and Pinkie watched the two mares head away, before Apple Jack nudged them with a hoof. they turned to face the farm mare, looks of puzzlement on their faces. ''What's wrong Apple Jack?'' They asked at the same time.

''Jinx!'' Pinkie added, giving a small giggle.

''Listen here ya two, your sisters hiding something Pinkie.'' The orange farm pony whispered, making sure they couldn't be overheard by Maud.

''How can you tell? I cant see a thing past that blank stare of hers.'' Swift said with slight surprise.

''Element of Honesty, remember? I could see right through her, she's hiding somethin, so keep an eye out.''

''You got it Apple Jack!'' Pinkie saluted, and began trotting towards the wagon.

''If Maud's hiding something, it has to be pretty big for her not to tell even her sister about it...'' Swift muttered. He shrugged it off, ''For now, we had better get her some food, and them we can start asking questions.'' He stated to nopony in particular.

Apple Jack chuckled at him, before turning to follow Pinkie. The swordstallion, blushed at forgetting the farm pony had been right there while he was talking to himself, but followed without pausing.

Maud tore into the sandwich, not seeming to care if there wasn't rocks in it, like a wild animal. She had devoured it in a few seconds, and tore into the next one with gusto. It was a sight to see, Pinkie had never seen her calm and collected sister like this before, and it made her realize just how bad things were getting.

They had bandaged her wounds, but when they asked if she had any more injury's under her dress, she immediately brushed them off. So fast that it made the survivors, even Scootaloo, suspicious, but they had decided to deal with it later.

Now Maud was tearing through several sandwiches Pinkie and Apple Jack had fixed for her so fast they were afraid they may run out of food.

Pinkie suddenly held up a bowl of steaming green liquid, with a large rock sitting in the middle, and offered it to Maud, ''Here, your favorite, rock soup!'' She exclaimed, smiling as the gray earth pony accepted the soup and began slurping it up greedily.

Swift nudged Pinkie from behind, a look of concern plastered across his face. ''Um, Pinkie? Why's the rock in there? Wont she choke on that...?'' He winced.

''No silly, Maud and the rest of my family can well...eat rocks!'' She giggled, but her pupils began to dilate. She turned gingerly back to her sister, who had just finished swallowing the stone and setting the bowl down.

''Maud...? What happened to mom, dad, and our other sisters...?''

The gray mare stayed silent for what seemed like an eternity, before finally speaking:

''They didn't make it Pinkie, I'm sorry, I was the only one who managed to escape.''

Pinkie didn't move, or make a sound, she just plopped down on the ground, the shock overwhelming her. This couldn't be, they were all gone, the rest of her family was gone, erased, and she never got to say goodbye.

The pink party pony didn't even realize she had began to cry, her tears streaming down her face like waterfalls. She slowly wrapped her hooves around herself, her eyes shut tightly, and her mane fell flat, as she began to blubber. Pinkie's small wails pierced the hearts of all the ponies present, and soon Apple Jack had her own hooves wrapped around her friend, sobbing quietly with her friend.

A single tear fell from Swift's eye, as he watched his friends sob. More ponies were lost everyday, and now even Pinkie's family was dead, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it! He was going to find that cure, and if there wasn't, he would wipe out every zombie in Equestria by himself if he had to.

Slowly, Maud and Swift joined Pinkie and Apple Jack, wrapping their hooves around the two. Maud's tears flowing freely, while Swift allowed tears to fall one at a time. Soon, Vinyl and Scootaloo joined in the embrace, their heads lowered.

Pinkie gave no signs of knowing what was happening, the only thing she did, was continue to bawl.

The forest sang a woeful song around them as the leaves rustled and the trees groaned. They traveled in silence. The only sound Pinkie's continued whimpering and the sounds of Maud trying to sooth her.

Vinyl traveled in front of the wagon, ready to defend Apple Jack, who was pulling the cart again.

Scootaloo and Swift sat next to each other. The filly was quietly chewing on an apple, while Swift sharpened his blade, figuring now was the best time.

The swordstallion set down the sharpening stone he was using and sheathed his weapon, before grabbing a bottle of water, taking a quick drink from it, and hopping off the cart.

Swift quickly moved to Apple Jack's side, and offered her the bottle, which she accepted with a nod. The farm pony took a quick swig and hoofed the bottle back to the blue stallion, as she continued to pull the cart.

Swift then quickly approached Vinyl and gave her a quick smile, offering the water bottle. The unicorn returned the smile and took a long drink from the bottle with her magic, before capping it and returning it to the stallion.

The stallion shoved the half depleted bottle into his saddle bag, and began trotting next to his marefriend.

''We're getting close to Canterlot'' Vinyl tried to grin, but all of the sadness Pinkie had been spreading from earlier had infected her too, and her smile faltered.

''You okay Vinyl?'' Swift's concern was clear in his voice.

''Yeah, its just...now that I think about it, I have no idea if my family's okay. I haven't contacted them in weeks, and now...I just don't know.''

Swift wrapped a leg around the DJ, letting her know that he was there, ''Vinyl, don't worry, if they have been turned, we'll use the cure on them first, I promise.''

It felt like the wrong thing to say, but his mouth had acted before his brain did, however, the DJ smiled at him, ''Thanks dude, your the best.'' She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and turned back to the road ahead.

Pinkie's tail began twitching, and she stopped crying for a second, standing up and shouted: ''Look Out!''

Swift and Vinyl barely had time to react before a large timber wolf leapt from out of the bushes, heading straight for Swift. The swordstallion let out a quick cry before tackling Vinyl, sending the two ponies tumbling away from the savage beast.

Pinkie leapt off the cart, and began helping Apple Jack untie herself, ''Hurry Pinkie!'' The orange farm mare exclaimed, making a quick glance at the struggle between the wooden terror and the two ponies.

Swift had his longsword drawn and was jabbing at the wolf, trying to keep it back, while Vinyl was hurling logs and rocks at the monster.

Maud wrapped Scootaloo in her forelegs, trying to sooth the terrified filly, as she watched the battle.

Apple Jack grabbed hold of her war hammer and charged the timber wolf, the large weapon colliding with the beast, sending it flying into a tree trunk. The wolf snarled and stood back up, a black fluid dripping from its mouth.

''Oh ma Celestia...'' Apple Jack watched with horror as she spotted the black ooze drip from the timber wolfs mouth. This wasn't a normal timber wolf.

Vinyl grew enraged, and began to advance on the beast, her magic spear floating by her side. ''You...Your kind took my best friend from me, and your going to pay for it!''

''So that's an infected timber wolf...'' Swift muttered, before leaping in Vinyl's path, trying to block the DJ. ''Wait! You cant fight that thing alone! Not this time!''

Vinyl stared at him for a few seconds, before nodding, ''Your right...lets do this!'' She magically raised the spear over her head, and the tip began to glow bright, charging up.

Swift grinned, and turned around, his eyes went wide. The undead wolf had taken the chance to lunge at them again. He raised his sword to protect himself, but a blast from Pinkie's party cannon knocked the beast away from him.

''Thanks Pinkie!'' He shot a smile at the party pony, before returning his attention to timber wolf, who was trying to stand up again.

Swift charged, swinging his blade at the monsters left front leg, taking a large chunk out of its wooden leg. The wolf stumbled, but turned to growl at the pony who had attacked it. It swung a large claw at the stallion, who caught the swing with his sword, holding the claw back.

A large colorful ball of energy shot from the tip of Vinyl's spear, connecting with the timber wolf's side, causing it to fall back a few steps, a large hole now in its side.

Pinkie and Apple Jack joined Swift, their weapons at the ready, waiting for Swift's signal to attack. Vinyl levitated the spear over to Scootaloo, with a quick: ''Just in case kid!'' Before galloping to join the three ponies.

The timber wolf whirled around and lunged, but was met by the combined power of Pinkie's party cannon and Apple Jack's hammer, sending it back into another tree. Before it could try to stand, Vinyl's horn cast a flame spell, somehow igniting Swift Blade's longsword without melting the steel. Holding the burning the burning weapon, Swift jumped high in the air and swung the blade downwards at the monsters head, cleaving through the wooden flesh like it was tissue paper.

Swift leapt back, landing in front of the now unmoving wolf's body, when it made no sign that it was still a threat, he turned around, ''That was way to close, good job everypony.'' He panted, a little tired from the fast paced fight.

Apple Jack panted, letting the hammer fall to the ground, ''What the hay was that!?''

Vinyl turned to the farm pony, ''That was a undead timber wolf, remember how your dog attacked us as one of those things? This thing seems to infect anything.'' She glared at the corpse.

Swift nodded, ''Well, I had my doubts about that, it is a creature of wood after all, but now we know, nothing is safe from this infection...''

''Not even me...'' A female voice said, sounding just as dull as ever, before a cough was heard.

Pinkie's eyes shrunk to the size of needles, and she raced to her sisters side, begging with all her might that her sister was not implying what she thought she was implying. ''Maud! Please don't tell me that your-''

''Infected? Yes, I've been bitten.'' Was Maud's response.

''No! Your lying! There isn't any bite marks on you! Your fine!'' Pinkie began tearing up, telling herself over and over again that her sis was alright, she was fine!

However, when Maud pulled back the flaps of one of the many holes on her dress revealing a chunk of fur and flesh missing, Pinkie's heart felt like it had stopped, and her tears began flowing freely.

''No! Maud! Not you too! Please no!''

She began hugging her sister, her tears staining Maud's dress as she bawled, trying to make everypony, including herself, believe it wasn't true, but it was.

Scootaloo was staring at Maud's bite wound with a combination a shock, horror, and sorrow. This couldn't be happening...It just couldn't.

Apple Jack lowered her head, her own tears beginning to fall as she sobbed silently. Vinyl laid a hoof on the orange farm pony, patting her on the back, before hugging her, trying to sooth her.

Swift for his part, merely stared, before heading over to the cart, climbing into it, and embracing Pinkie and Maud, mumbling, ''I am so sorry Pinkie...''

With all the survivors no paying attention to anything around them anymore, Maud was the only one who noticed the incoming danger. A large group of zombie ponies was heading right for them, they were converging from through the trees and were now getting closer, if she didn't do something before the horde got to them, there would be no time for them to escape.

Maud Pie suddenly broke free from her sisters embrace, and hopped from the cart, facing the oncoming horde.

Pinkie began to shout ''What are you do-'' Before Maud cut her off.

''There wont be any time for you to hitch up to your wagon before the horde is upon you. I will buy you some time to get out of here.''

Apple Jack and Pinkie screamed, ''NO! Maud! You cant do this!'' But Maud gave them a knowing smile.

''I wont last much longer anyway.'' The gray earth pony coughed again, more violently this time, until she spit up blood. A bit of the red liquid dripped down her lip, as she smiled sadly at the group. ''It was nice seeing you one last time Pinkie. Goodbye.''

The mare threw herself at the oncoming horde, the ravenous monsters grabbing hold of her as they began to tear her apart, blood and guts flying into the air as Maud Pie screamed before she disappeared under the horde.

Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack let out one last scream of: ''MAUD!'' Before Swift and Vinyl shoved them into the wagon, and Swift hitched himself up to the wagon with Vinyl's help, before galloping away from the gory scene playing behind them.

Pinkie reached back towards where sister had disappeared, crying out for her dear sister, while Apple Jack hugged her sobbing friend, her own tears pouring down her face.

Vinyl hugged a sobbing Scootaloo, who had watched the whole scene, and now was letting all the emotions in her flow out as she sobbed at the memory of watching a pony get torn to pieces.

Swift pulled the cart as far away from Maud's final resting place as fast as he could, a few tears running down his cheeks. He hadn't known Maud long, but she had seemed like a good pony, and her being Pinkie's sister made her okay in his book, but seeing her die in such a horrible way, under her own power, was to much for him.

The sad scene long behind them, the group continued on, their hearts heavier than ever before, they had lost so much, and now they had just lost another.

Something large poked out in the distance, and Swift squinted his eyes, taking in the sight in the distance. Canterlot castle, the home of the princess's of the sun and moon, lay before them.

Canterlot.

If there was a cure anywhere, it had to be there.

Swift began increasing his pace, panting as he began to feel the effects of exhaustion, he had been pulling the cart for a long time, not switching with Apple Jack since they had escaped the horde. He knew the farm mare had been through a lot and was in no condition to pull a cart full of ponies anywhere.

However, with his goal in sight, it didn't matter how tired he was, he get them there, and they would find that damn cure. the swordstallion let a small smile creep across his lips, as he continued towards the city.

Somewhere in Canterlot...

''There's a wagon full of ponies headed this way.''

''We had better inform the boss about this.''

''Got it, the boss will know what to do, lets go!''

The two figures turned from the high power telescope they had just been using and began making their way through the building to find their boss.

The boss would find this information very interesting...

Author's Note

Maud's dead...Its sad, but she died to save her new friends, so at least it wasn't in vain.

Now there's a bunch of unknown figures watching the survivors, and they might be hostile, but that's up to you my readers!

Give me OC's to put into my book and it shall be done, just send me a message all about your OC, gender, what type of pony they are, if they are a pony, strengths, weakness's, favorite weapon, crush if any, all of that, and then tell me if they are on Swift Blade's side, or if they're hostile.

Depending on how many votes come in about if OC's are good or evil, the majority of votes win!

Submit your OC's now!!! :yay:

House of Misfits

Slamming the door behind him, Swift Blade was met with the barrel of a gun, aimed at his face. If the shooter pulled the trigger, it would blow a hole right through his head.

''Who the hell are you! Dusky! What the buck do you think your doing leading these strange ponies into our base!'' A gruff male voice yelled. Swift peeked around the barrel of the gun aimed at his face, to see a unicorn stallion holding it with his magic. He was black, and his mane was a dark blue color. His eyes were a dark shade of crimson, and his cutie mark was a dark looking star.

''Dusk Star! Calm down! These ponies just helped us get out of a bucking death trap!'' Nights yelled, narrowing his eyes at the unicorn.

''They might just be using you! And now their in here! Good Job you fools! This is why I should have led the scouting mission!'' The angry unicorn pushed the barrel of the gun closer to Swift's face, and stared at him angrily.

''You would just botch the whole thing!'' Trickshot shouted, approaching Dusk from the side and glaring at him.

''Hey y'all! Just calm the hell down!'' Apple Jack exclaimed, drawing the attention of Dusk Star, who aimed the gun at the farmer.

''Shut it earth pony! Or you might end up with a hole in your head!''

''Hey, lower the damn gun or get it out of her face!'' Swift demanded, taking a few steps forward.

''This isn't very nice you know.'' Pinkie added.

Dusk returned the guns barrel to Swift, growling at him, ''Do you really think your in the place to make demands!?''

''Dusk, please just calm down, they aren't bad ponies!'' Dusky Novel pleaded, the green Alicorn tried to place a hoof on the angry unicorn's back, but he shrugged her off.

''Hey, get that thing out of Swift's face!'' Vinyl interjected.

''Why you-'' Dusk was cut off when Nights and Trickshot grabbed hold of the gun floating in the unicorn's magical grip, and began wrestling for control of it.

''Here we go again...'' A new voice muttered from behind the struggling ponies. The speaker stepped out from behind the fighting three to reveal herself as a Pegasus. She was black, with a yellow mane and tail, with green streaks through them. Her cutie mark was a crescent moon with three stars surrounding it, and she had a pony handgun strapped to her side.

''Hey Shimmer, good to see you.'' Dusky waved, giving the young Pegasus a warm smile.

''Hey Dusky, are these the ponies you guys saw in the telescope?''

''Yes, although Dusk Star isn't taking their arrival well.''

''I can see that.'' Shimmer nodded, before turning away, ''Let me know when its over okay?'' And with that she was gone.

Swift watched, realizing they may have a chance to have a somewhat normal life here, but first he had to do something about Dusk...

''Hey, is there anything we can do?'' Scootaloo nudged Swift.

''I don't think so, not until they settle their spat.''

A wild shot from the gun almost hit Pinkie, who managed to avoid the bullet without a scratch. ''Hey! careful with that!'' She scolded.

''Hey! Knock it off before you get somepony hurt!'' Vinyl advanced on the three fighters.

Dusk Star suddenly threw off the two earth ponies wrestling him with a powerful blast of magic, and pointed the gun at Vinyl, who halted. ''Just try to touch me, I may only have one shot left, but my magic is more powerful then any others, I am unmatched!'' He snarled.

''Get that shotgun out of my marefriend's face, before I break every bone in your body...'' Swift suddenly growled, and began to march towards the other stallion, as the room almost seemed to darken.

''What the...'' Dusk Star had never seen an earth pony do something like this, and the rage he could sense coming from the blue pony...it was unnatural, almost as if it wasn't just one pony's rage, but two.

In that moment, the unicorn saw the evil deep inside Swift Blade, an ancient evil that had existed since the beginning of time, that took new hosts every time its previous perished. The end bringer.

He almost let out a whimper, when suddenly it vanished, the rage was gone, just like that. He realized he had unknowingly lowered the double barreled shotgun in his telekinesis.

''Ah, maybe you aren't so bad after all.'' Swift grinned, extending a hoof.

Dusk stared at the swordstallion, trying to process what had just happened, before gingerly shaking the other stallions hoof.

''Whoa, that's the first time I've ever seen Dusk back down.'' Nights commented, watching with interest.

''Aye, its remarkable.'' The gunner pony beside him chuckled.

The ponies were lead into a large room that had once been a dining room, now used as base of operations, and were told to take a seat. Swift's group did as they were told, and were soon greeted with a slightly larger group of ponies sitting on the other side of the large table.

''Alright then, now we should properly introduce ourselves.'' Dusky Novel stated, moving a hoof around to show all the ponies. ''My name is Dusky Novel, Alicorn story teller. You've already met Trickshot and Nights, our resident masters of combat.''

She pointed to Dusk Star and the ponies to her other side. ''Dusk Star, former prince and master of dark magic, also my special somepony. And the Pegasus is Shimmer, the youngest of our group.''

''So are ya the leader here?'' Apple Jack questioned, gesturing at the green Alicorn.

''Oh no, no. Our leader is another, but she's in bed right now...She got sick a while ago and can't leave her bed.'' Nights interrupted.

''Oh...'' Apple Jack lowered her head shamefully.

''What are your names, we never did learn them.'' Shimmer asked.

''I'm Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet all of you!'' The pink mare bounced in her chair, smiling.

''Yep, she's Pinkie, and I'm Apple Jack.'' The orange farm pony grinned.

''I'm Scootaloo'' The filly raised a foreleg to the gathered ponies could see her better.

''Call me Vinyl.'' The DJ nodded.

''And I'm Swift Blade.'' Swift smiled.

''Now with that out of the way, I have to ask...who is your leader?'' Dusk Star leaned forward in his chair, sneering.

''We kind of just work-'' Swift was cut off by Scootaloo, who pointed at him with a small grin.

''He is.''

''Wait, what?'' Swift exclaimed, confused.

Pinkie Pie, Vinyl, even Apple Jack all nodded their heads.

''Yep, he's the boss.'' Vinyl grinned, turning to her coltfriend to give another grin.

''When did we decide I was leader, I'm not leader material.'' The swordstallion lowered his head.

''Ya may not have realized it, but we've been following you, you've always been the one giving us hope, that's what a good leader does.'' Apple Jack smiled.

''Yeah, your a great leader, even if you don't realize it Swift.'' Vinyl grinned again.

Lowering his ears in embarrassment, Swift grinned sheepishly, ''Well...''

''Alright, that's settled, now on to business.'' Nights interrupted. ''We knew about you coming here, why? Because we were watching through our scope.''

''We had nothing better to do.'' Trickshot added.

''And we spotted you guys, so, we decided to intercept you to see if you needed help, or give you a warning.'' Nights continued. ''So we want to know-''

''Why are you here?'' Shimmer cut in suddenly.

''Well, we came here in search of something that Swift here had been searching for ever since this started.'' Apple Jack paused, ''A cure.''

''What! That's crazy!'' Trickshot exclaimed. ''There's no bloody way, the only cure, is blasting those bastards through the head!''

''Trickshot, there is a possibility of a cure.'' Dusky glared at him, ''The only problem is, where do you intend to look? We've searched the whole capital, and we haven't seen any sign of a cure, and the few places we haven't checked are either overrun or guarded by other ponies.''

''Whatever, it just seems like a wild goose chase, sorry.'' Trickshot muttered.

''You mean there's others, your not the only ones left in Canterlot?'' Swift asked.

''Yeah, but they like to think their great and more powerful then me.'' Dusk Star grumbled.

''We all know your much more powerful then any of those ponies.'' Dusky smiled at her coltfriend, before returning to the topic at hoof. ''Yes, there is others, but they seem to have gone slightly crazy, and now they just kill whatever they see.''

''Sort of like the undead.'' Vinyl noted.

''Yeah, but these guys have weapons, and their slightly smarter.'' Nights added.

''Well so do we sugar cube.'' Apple Jack grinned.

''Why are we talking about possibly attacking them?'' Pinkie's ears drooped, and she made a pouty face. ''If we just leave them alone they wont bug us.''

''No no Pinkie, we aren't talkin bout attacking anypony. We're just learning about them so we could avoid them.'' Apple Jack soothed.

''Hmm...'' Swift stroked his chin with a hoof, thinking intensely, he had an idea, but he wasn't sure if it would work, his thoughts were interrupted by Vinyl however, who suddenly spoke up.

''Hey...I recognize you now, Nights, you were the guy Tavi was into...'' The mare trailed off and looked like she would begin to cry.

''Vinyl! It is you!'' Nights exclaimed, but then sighed, ''My memory's not the best...wait...'' He trailed off, his pupils shrinking. ''Vinyl, where is Octavia? Why wasn't she with you!?''

The DJ remained silent, tears slowly forming in her eyes. ''She...She...'' Vinyl lowered her head and began to sob.

''She sacrificed herself to save Vinyl...'' Swift spoke softly, moving over to Vinyl, and hugging her.

''No...'' The gray earth pony muttered, tears beginning to fall from his eyes, ''No no no no nononononono...'' He stood up from his chair, kicking it away from him, and he stormed off, heading into a hallway and out of sight.

''Nights!'' Dusky called, raising a hoof to try and reach for the gone stallion, but lowered it in defeat and sighed. ''I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, I know how that feels, I lost a friend too, long before this...''

(See The Story of Dusky Novel for details - https://www.fimfiction.net/story/331652/the-story-of-dusky-novel)

''We've all felt the pain of loss, but Nights is going to lose it. He always had a temper problem, and now that the love of his life is dead, who knows what could happen...'' Trickshot grumbled, a hint of fear in his voice.

''I could throw him a party, maybe cheer him up somehow.'' Pinkie smiled, raising a hoof like it was a class and she was asking a question.

Swift smiled warmly at the pink party pony, ''Pinkie, for now he needs some alone time, but maybe you can throw us all a party tomorrow, cheer us all up.''

''Okiee dokiee lokiee!'' Pinkie sang.

''You guys must be tired, heh.'' Dusk Star sneered, ''You should go take a nap in the rooms upstairs.''

''That sounds good, thanks.'' Swift Blade grinned back, knowing that he had just shut the jerky unicorn stallion up. Dusk growled, and slid off his seat, heading for another hallway.

''I'll show you to your rooms.'' Shimmer said, the quiet Pegasus headed for a flight of stairs down another hallway, stopping and waiting for the others to catch up.

''Come on y'all, lets hit the hay.'' Apple Jack announced, following Shimmer with Scootaloo close behind.

Vinyl raised her head and stared at Swift, smiling at him. ''C'mon, lets go.'' She smiled a little.

Nodding his head, the blue stallion started to follow her, but was stopped by Pinkie.

The pink mare got close to his left ear and whispered in an almost worried voice, ''Hey, my Pinkie sense had been going crazy, something bad is going to happen soon!'' She hissed in his ear.

Swift nodded, ''Keep an eye out, I'll do the same.''

The party pony saluted, ''I'll keep both eyes out!'' The she bounced after the others.

Although worried, Swift kept Pinkie's warning to himself, and followed the others, ready for a good rest in a real bed. Swift was placed in a room by himself, with Vinyl and Pinkie sleeping in the next room over. Apple Jack and Scootaloo were placed in a room right across the hall.

Swift pulled the blankets over his body, nestling into the soft bed, his mind at ease. there was a lot to worry about, but he would deal with them when the time came, for now, he was happy that him and his group were safe, and in good company. With that warm thought, he rolled over and closed his eyes, allowing sleep to claim him.

His eyes cracked open, and he slowly rose from his bed, stretching his limbs out. The swordstallion felt wrong, although he must have slept for a good long while, he still felt tired. In fact, he felt worse. Swift headed for a small bathroom located to the right of his bed, and swung the door open.

He turned the sink on, and splashed some cold water onto his face with his hooves. He grabbed a towel and wiped his wet face, looking into the mirror. He dropped the towel. Swift Blade stared back at his reflection, horror surging through his body.

He had no eyes, just black holes where they should have been. Black goop he could only assume was blood was running down his cheeks, coming from his eye holes. Two red dots where his pupils should have been stared back at him, the evil rage burning in them. The thing that scared him the most though, was that his reflection...

Was smiling at him. It was the most twisted smile he had ever seen, and it terrified him to the core.

Voices began dancing across the room, assaulting him from all directions at once, taunting him, and bringing the swordstallion to his knees.

''It was you...''

''Kill...''

''Destroy...''

''Tear them to pieces...''

''Monster...''

''Kill! Kill! Kill!''

''NOOOOOOO!'' Swift screamed, swinging a hoof into the glass, shattering the image of him, and the world shattered around him.

He awoke in a cold sweat, gasping for breath. He panted slowly, trying to calm down. It was just a dream, no... a nightmare. Just a nightmare, it couldn't hurt him, and none of it was real.

Was it?

Author's Note

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Rage

''Octavia!'' A gray hoof slammed into a wall. The stallion it belonged to panted, tears streaming down his face. Nights let his hood drop, letting out a wail of agony. ''Octaviaaaaaaaaaaaaa!''

The stallion turned to a window, staring out through it with empty eyes. Something in the distance caught his attention, and his rage overcame him. His emotions overcame him, as he let out another cry, but no longer of sadness. This was a cry of rage. He may not have known what he was doing, but Nights grabbed his crossbow and his pack, slinging them across his back, and began heading for the door, his mind blinded by the rage he felt. Not just because he had lost the only one he had ever loved, but also for the world he was left to live in.

Something was going to pay, and he knew just the ponies...

Yawning, Vinyl slowly opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling above her. She smiled, as she thought of what had happened. They had been though a lot, but now they were finally safe. Even if it was just going to be a temporary stay, she planned to make the most of it.

The mare heard a strangled gasp from beside her and she whipped her head to see the blue stallion beside her bolt upright, panting heavily. Sweat ran down his face, and his eyes were bloodshot.

''Swift? Geeze you look horrible. Nightmare?'' Vinyl asked, concern in her tone.

The stallion groaned, wiping his face. ''Urgh...yeah...all good, just a nightmare...'' He shook his head, rubbing his eyes again. He stopped, and suddenly whipped his head around to face her.

''Wait!? What are you doing in my room?!''

Vinyl chuckled, and wrapped two loving hooves around him, ''I figured you wouldn't mind, besides, don't you feel better because I'm here with you?'' She kissed his cheek, before bringing her head back to stare into his eyes.

''Heh...yeah, I do feel a bit better, thanks for being here for me.'' The stallion rubbed his eyes again, giving her a warm smile. Slowly he stood up and stretched out, groaning a bit. ''My back could feel better though...urr...'' Groaning, the stallion shuffled towards the bathroom door, lightly pushing it open and stepping inside.

He tried not to look at the mirror, afraid of what he might see, but his head slowly turned to gaze at his reflection. Swift let out a sigh of relief. His eyes were still there, and there wasn't any trace of burning hatred in them.

Swift sighed in bliss as the water poured down his body, refreshing his mind and soul, cleaning away any impurities. He scrubbed at his mane, feeling the grime and grease washing away. He moved to his tail, repeating the process, and then shut off the water, shaking his mane a few times to keep the hair from getting plastered to his face.

Slowly, he stepped out of the small shower, grabbing a nearby towel, and began to dry himself off. A hoof poked him and he jumped, spinning around in panic. Vinyl stood there, putting her hoof to her mouth to try and suppress a giggle.

''Jumpy much?''

''Don't do that...geeze...'' Swift sighed, trying to calm his breathing. ''You scared the crap out of me.''

Waving a hoof absentmindedly, the unicorn snickered, ''Fine, but on one condition.'' She gazed right into his eyes. ''Hurry up so I can have a shower.''

Swift Blade nodded quickly, depositing the towel on the counter and quickly running out of the small bathroom. He didn't bother grabbing a brush on his way out, his mane would revert to its natural style in a few minutes. Hearing the sound of water tinkling from the shower behind him, Swift couldn't help but blush. He had a beautiful special somepony, taking a shower in the room right behind him. He shook any lewd thoughts from his mind and headed for the door to the hallway, he had a few things he wanted to do before breakfast.

Pushing open the door as quietly as he could, the door only making a small squeak, the stallion crept into the hallway, looking back and forth to make sure he was alone, and turned down the right hallway.

His nose collided with a pink one, and he jumped back, biting his tough to prevent a yelp. ''Pinkie!'' He hissed through closed teeth. ''What in Celestia's mane are you trying to do?! Give me a heart attack!'' He felt his chest, feeling his heart beating so hard he felt like it would burst out through his chest and explode.

''Sorry!'' She grinned at him, acting like nothing was wrong. ''I saw you heading down this way and wanted to surprise you!''

''Pinkie! Keep your voice down! We don't want to wake anypony, not yet anyway.'' Swift hissed back.

''Okiee dokiee loki!'' The pink mare whispered back, giving Swift a little wink. ''But before you go anywhere, you gotta check this out! It's amazing!'' Her smile almost stretching past her face.

''Fine, but lets make this quick.''

The party pony grabbed him by the hoof and swiftly dragged him down the hall and down the stairs. Reaching the bottom, Swift tugged at her to stop for a second. ''Pinkie! I can't see a thing, can we please find a candle or something!'' It was true, the room they had just entered was almost pitch black, he knew the room had windows, but somepony had pulled the shades over them, blocking any light from entering the room.

''That's okay! I'll guide you!'' With that, the pink pony suddenly tugged on Swift again, quickly pulling him towards an unknown destination. She was moving so fast, the swordstallion wasn't completely sure if she actually knew where she was going.

The only sound was the quiet clopping of their hooves on the wood floor, and the occasional door opening to let the two ponies through. Otherwise it was eerily silent. It was beginning to creep Swift out. A sudden stop broke the stallion from his thoughts, and he opened his mouth to speak, wanting to ask where Pinkie had taken them, when suddenly the lights went on.

''It's...beautiful...'' Was all the blue pony could choke out, as he felt tears welling on his eyes.

What laid before him, was the biggest pantry of food he had ever seen. There was all kinds of food, both local, and imported. There was enough supplies in the room to feed a entire Canterlot Royal Guard for a solid week, and since there was less then twenty of them, there was enough to last the entire group weeks.

''Pinkie...how...how did you find this...?''

''I was looking around for things for my special surprise, and I stumbled across this room. Isn't it amazing!'' The mare bounced in glee.

''Yeah, it is amazing.'' Swift quickly slammed his jaw shut, realizing it had begun to hang open. ''So...''

''Oh guess what! I have something planned! Follow me!'' Pinkie bounced, and without warning dragged the stallion back into the dark room they had passed through earlier.

She suddenly lifted him off the ground and plopped him down on a chair. Swift sat there stunned, and didn't move. He sat there for what felt like hours, when he heard Pinkie come back down the stairs, dragging two other ponies with her. They were both seated next to Swift, and he heard them grumble.

''Horse apples Pinkie, a little warning next time?'' A southern mares voice said to the right of him.

''Man, she's way more hyper than yesterday.'' A slightly gravely mares voice cheerfully chuckles to his left.

Well that's one mystery solved.

Finally, the rest of the mansions residents filed down the stairs. One could be heard trying to convince Pinkie to let them turn on the lights, but the pink mare ignored the request, and helps him to his seat.

''Gah...why in Celestia's name are we down here in the dark?'' Trickshot's gruff voice complained from somewhere in the dark.

The lights suddenly flipped on, revealing the room to be decorated for a party. Streamers of all colors lined the walls and ceiling, and balloons floated around, occasionally bumping into each other as they drifted lazily across the ceiling. Other balloons were tied to the chairs, further adding to the atmosphere of the room.

''SURPRISE!'' Pinkie Pie shouted, leaping into the air, a large grin across her face.

''Wow! This is awesome Pinkie!'' Scootaloo shouted with joy, her own smile spreading almost as far as the party pony's.

''I must agree, this is amazing. Thank you for doing this for us Pinkie Pie.'' Dusky Novel nodded her head, a small smile on her lips. The others couldn't agree with the Alicorn more. Even Trickshot had a little grin on his stony face.

Pinkie somehow had baked cupcakes, mixed up some fruit punch, and baked a pretty fair sized cake, and it had the gathered ponies drooling with anticipation.

''How the heck did you manage to do all this in one night!?'' Vinyl wasn't complaining, but she was curious about how this had been done so quickly.

''Its Pinkie Pie sugar cube, this kinda stuffs easy for her.'' Apple Jack chuckled, before pumping a hoof towards the pink mare. ''Good job Pinkie!''

''Thanks Apple Jack!'' The mare bounced with glee, her smile almost brighter then the sun before...now. Swift Blade shook his head, not the time to think of such things, they had a party to attend to.

Dusk coughed, and Pinkie glanced at him, her smile unfaltering, ''You want a slice of cake or some punch?'' The gloomy stallion didn't respond at first, but after a few seconds of tense silence, he sighed, and nodded.

''Just don't expect me to trust you, just because you fed me...'' He muttered, his glare returning.

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically, her mind already forming a plan to make the him her next new friend, before suddenly dashing up onto the table, a large cake knife in hoof. In several quick movements, the cake was divided, and the pink pony began serving the large treat out to her friends and new friends.

The survivors laughed and talked for a long time, and it wasn't until Vinyl brought it up that the serious mood returned.

''If your power can make stories come true...can't you create a bloody cure right now?''

Sighing, the green alicorn slowly shook her head, ''I wish it was that simple...'' She paused, seeming to think of a way of explaining her thoughts, when she was interrupted by Dusk:

''She can't make a cure to this shit storm, end of story, simple as that.''

''And why in tarnation is that!?'' Apple Jack's voice raised, suddenly rising from her seat. ''Can't you jus...narrate everypony back to normal...? Bring back those who...d-died?'' She slumped back into her seat, as her sentence grew to a quiet whisper. She was immediately comforted by Pinkie, who wrapped her in a hug, mumbling soft words to her.

''Its alright AJ...everything's going to be alright...there there...'' She cooed to the farm pony.

''Look, if I could change everything back to normal...I would have...'' Dusky mumbled, before speaking up. ''My power is great, but I can only change small things, and see pieces of the past and the future.'' Her wings flared, and Dusky sighed sadly. ''Creating things out of nothing is not one of my powers...''

''Plus, cure? Impossible.'' Trickshot added, leaning back in his seat, sneering.

Vinyl shot the uppity stallion a glare, and turned to whisper to Swift, who had remained silent the whole time. ''I really don't like him.'' She muttered, her frown clear as day.

Shrugging, Swift Blade asked his own question which he had been sitting on for a while now.

''Where is this leader you spoke of, and how did you guys meet?''

''She's upstairs, resting, but she isn't up to speaking to you guys.'' Trickshot said, his gruff voice cutting through all the cheer Pinkie had filled the air with earlier.

Pinkie instantly was in his face, her biggest puppy dog eyes staring at his sadly. ''Oh...come on, please let us see her.'' She whimpered. ''Please? Please? Come oooooon.'' She pleaded.

''The stallion said no. So leave him the buck alone!'' Dusk barked, his steely gaze turning on the party pony.

Dusky placed a hoof on his shoulder, ''Calm down Dusk, Pinkie's just eager to meet Chandria.'' She petted the dark unicorn's head, causing him to go a deep shade of red.

''Not now Dusky!'' He hissed. ''This is no time for such silly things!'' he glared at Vinyl and Swift, who were both trying to contain their laughter, and failing ultimately. Scootaloo on the other hoof, was laughing so hard she nearly toppled her chair. ''Shut up.'' Dusk grumbled at the three.

''Didn't...didn't Nights used to do that with Octavia?'' Shimmerlight, who nopony had really noticed, spoke up, her voice still very quiet.

''Yeah...she always did mention stuff like that that her coltfriend and her did when they were teasing each other...'' Vinyl mumbled.

''Speaking of which, where is Nights?'' Dusky asked, although she had a hunch nopony knew the answer.

''Oh fiddlesticks!'' Pinkie cursed, ''I knew I forgot somepony!'' She began to make a mad dash out of the room, but was stopped by Dusk, who held her tail back with his magic.

''Hold up. Before you start mindlessly dashing off to look for him, first we better consider some things, when did we last see that hothead?'' Dusk glowered at the rest of the ponies in the room.

''I haven't seen the fella since he stormed off yesterday.'' Apple Jack stated.

''Which means none of us have.'' Trickshot remarked, and stood up, bringing his rifle out from under the table. ''Which means we may have to go looking for the poor sod.''

''Mind telling us where he may have gone?'' Swift questioned, rising from his own seat.

''Yeah! We'll help look for him!'' Scootaloo shouted, leaping from her seat, her little wings buzzing with excitement.

''Maybe not you sugarcube, you should stay here.'' Apple Jack smiled warmly at the filly, ruffling her mane as she to stood up from her chair.

''Then we better hit the trail. Where do we start?'' Vinyl grinned.

''I think I may know...where he may have gone...'' Shimmer raised a forehoof.

The sounds of hooves, not shuffling around, and making light plips against the pavement, was a rare sound in Canterlot now a days. However, for the lone stallion making his way down the empty streets, it was just another background noise.

Nights slowed his pace, as he saw the wall that blocked all entry just down the street. It was made out of wagons, turned over carriages, and vender's stands, as well as other items. Although ugly and crude, the wall would keep out most ponies, and the undead would be shot before they could get close enough.

Here, he knew, were some of the most despicable ponies in the city. ''Its time to have justice brought to you...'' Nights muttered, his eyes narrowing, as he began to advance on the wall, his goal clear.

He would take down everypony inside those walls, or die trying.

Author's Note

It took a long time to get this out, way longer than it should have.

Thank you all for sticking with me this long.

Will Nights plan succeed? Or will whoever waits behind those walls be the end of him? And will Swift even make it in time?

Time Running Short

"Oi! What do you see!?''

Swift Blade called up to Trickshot, which was returned with a glare.

''Shush! What the buck are you trying to do? Alert every being that can walk or fly to our location?!''

''No...'' The warrior muttered, ''Just asking if you can see anything! Celestia...'' The two stallions were scouting out the path they would take, and Trickshot had decided to take the high route, and spot from on top of the buildings.

Despite wanting to join him, Swift figured it would be best to have one pony still on the ground.

Luckily enough, they had only seen one zombie so far, and it had quickly been dispatched. If things stayed this way, the path they took would have no large problems to deal with. Hopefully.

''Hey! Guys!'' Vinyl's voice was a welcome sound. Swift quickly spun around, and smiled.

''What's up?''

The DJ shuffled her hooves, before speaking in the bluntest way possible, ''Look, me and the others are impatient, so can we just forget about scouting and charge right in, a pony's missing, and we're wasting bucking time.''

Grinning, Swift nodded, ''You have a point, lets round up the others and check out that place Shimmer mentioned.'' Swift's tone changed to a grim one, ''Something tells me that whatever lurks in that place might find Nights before we do.''

''Good Celestia would you two tell me what the hell your talking about!?'' Trickshot yelled, irritated that he was being ignored.

''Change of plans! We're gonna live a little more dangerous.'' Swift grinned.

The gunner scoffed, before signaling he got the message. The ponies grouped up, Applejack, Swift, Vinyl, Trickshot, Shimmerlight, and Dusk Star. Pinkie and Dusky had decided to stay behind, watch Scootaloo and keep an eye on the base. It still needed buffing up or even one undead pony could break in with little trouble.

''Alright, we're going straight in, I like that, you jackasses are finally doing something I agree with.'' Dusk sneered.

Shimmer shook her head. ''This doesn't seem safe.'' Her ears drooped, as if she was silently begging her fellow survivors to change their minds about not taking a safer approach to their destination.

''Look here sugarcube, we may be taking the faster route, but we still need ta be careful. Celestia knows what lurks through these alleys.'' Applejack cautioned, her eyes darting around, ready for anything to sneak up on them.

Vinyl's smile was a boost for Swift, and her words added to that. ''We'll be fine, lets hit the jams and hurry up.'' Her horn glowed, and her spear levitated from out of her saddlebag straps and to her side. She was ready to go.

''Either way, y'all need to be on guard.'' Applejack said grimly.

''Alright, can we go already?'' Trickshot moaned, his patience reaching it's limit.

''Yep. Let's move.'' Swift said. ''We can't waste any time, once we reach the walls of their stronghold, we'll slow down to come up with a plan on getting in, for now, move out!'' Swift pointed a hoof in the direction they were headed, and the group returned to their journey.

However, as they followed Shimmer's directions, Swift couldn't help but wonder:

''What will we find in that place, who exactly are these ponies? And who's leading this group of ponies we're joined with? I would've assumed Dusky or maybe Nights, but they said their leader was still in the house, recovering.''

The thoughts ran through the swordstallions mind, what kind of wounds or sickness did the unknown pony have? Had they been bitten? Had they been attacked by the ponies they now ran towards? Or were they already dead? Then another thought sliced through his thoughts; What had truly happened to him back in the basement of Twilights castle? Would that happen again? What about that nightmare he had? What did it mean?

Swift's thoughts had consumed him so much he didn't even notice what was happening until Vinyl yanked on his saddlebags, suddenly pulling the blue stallion back with enough force to cause him to land on his rear.

''Ow! Wha-'' He cut himself off when he saw he had nearly run into two shambling unicorns. Both were mares, but one of them was missing her lower jaw, and the other had several bullet holes through her torso. Both monsters seemed almost dormant, almost as if they were on autopilot, but when they sensed the presence of living ponies, they suddenly lurched to a freakish form of life, quacking their pace towards the group of uninfected ponies.

Swift stood up, his mind returning to the physical plane, there were other things to worry about right now, like these monstrosities before him and his friends.

However, before he could step forward to take care of them, Dusk Star shoved past him, his horning glowing with energy.

''Normally I wouldn't use my magic on such trivial enemies, but you want us to move silently right?'' The unicorn glared at the two zombies quickly approaching, and his horn flared, sending a spiral of pure energy into both of the creatures, vaporizing them both in an instant.

He cackled, watching the ashy remains of the two walking corpses fall to the ground, and turned back to the rest. His smile was anything but cheerful, in fact, it looked downright malicious. ''Don't get in my way.'' He sneered, before trotting around the corner, not waiting for the others to get over their shock.

Shimmer and Trickshot were forced to shake the newcomers to their senses. ''Come on! We gotta move! You'll get used to it!'' Trickshot snapped, before chasing after the unicorn.

The race resumed, but Swift was left to wonder: If Dusk was so powerful, why had he surrendered to him?

Swift shook his head, and continued running. They had to find Nights.

Nails thudded against boards, and a pink hoof swung the hammer it clutched with a sort of rhythm, as a cheerful humming broke the silence of the house. Pinkie Pie was having herself some fun. Barricading the windows of the entire mansion was like a big game, and it was a lot of fun for her.

After the others had left, she had decided to keep herself busy and began reinforcing their new home base. It would be a big surprise for the others when they got back with Nights.

She took a second to glance behind her back, watching Dusky play with Scootaloo. The two were playing a really fun looking game Dusky was teaching to the little filly. As much as she would have loved to join in, she still had a job to finish up. Pinkamena Diane Pie never left a job unfinished!

Her hoof reached down for another nail, but she was interrupted by a soft sound. So soft most ponies wouldn't pick up on it. However, Pinkie had trained herself to respond to any noise of another living being, be it hunger or pain, Pinkie would pick up on it.

Her eyes narrowed, and she quickly nailed the board into place faster than anypony had ever nailed a plank into a window frame, and quickly began sneaking her way upstairs, towards the sound.

Her hoof reached into her mane, pulling free the cleaver it hid. If a monster pony had somehow gotten in, she would deal with it for her friends, and if it was an intruder who wished harm...

Pinkie's frown curled into the smile of a madmare. ''If anypony wants to hurt my friends and get away with it, they have another thing coming...'' She reached her destination. A door at the end of the hall.

The pink pony reached out a foreleg and opened the door, her cleaver raised above her head to bring it down on whatever lunged out at her. Nothing did.

The room she stood in was rather plain, except for the large bed that took up a third of the room. It was rather comfy looking, with curls and a design that would have made Rarity faint. However, the bed wasn't empty.

The bed contained a rather ragged looking griffon, covered in bandages, and holding a spear like it was a pistol.

The two stared at each other in silence for a few moments, before both of them lowered their weapons, Pinkie's sliding back into her mane, and the griffon's being placed next to her bed.

She was female, Pinkie could tell that much, and the eye not wrapped up in bandages was brown like a chocolate. It wasn't until the griffon let out a little cough that Pinkie broke the silence.

''Hi. Who are you? Do you like parties? Because I love parties, parties are my life...''

The wall was large, and intimidating. It was made out of knocked over carriages and vendor's stands, and was lined with the bodies of ponies and the undead alike. Makeshift spears jutted out of the crude wall, working as a skewer for any undead monster stupid enough to walk close to the wall.

The undead were brainless, so many had impaled themselves trying to get at whatever lay behind the barricade.

Vinyl was the first to speak: ''First off, the sickos who built this thing knew what they were doing, second, how the hell are we supposed to get over that thing?''

''No way to climb over it, that's for sure.'' Shimmerlight commented.

Trickshot glanced over at the buildings around the wall, scanning for some way to climb them and jump over the wall. ''Damn it, those buckers thought of that, they put those pokers on the buildings too, and it'd take to long to try and pull them out!'' The earthpony stomped a hoof in frustration.

''Which means there's two options left.'' Swift said grimly, his eyes narrowing, and his gaze sweeping the ponies around him.

''Let me guess,'' Applejack put a hoof to her chin in thought, ''Full on assault...''

''Or going through the damn sewers...'' Vinyl finished, her eyes downcast, and the others felt the same way.

''If the sewers are the best bet, then we might as well hurry up! Come pheasants!'' Dusk said commandingly, before trotting off towards the nearest manhole cover, his eyes filled with burning hatred and annoyance for the ones who had suggested the idea.

Swift felt fear, he had never liked being underground, he wasn't claustrophobic, but the sewers had always contained horrifying creatures, just as bad if not worse then what lurked out here now.

Vinyl pecked him on the cheek, urging him forward, and they followed, preparing themselves for whatever awaited underneath Canterlot.

However, a voice crept into the blue stallion's mind, sending a jolt of fear up his spine.

''Your time is running out...and then you will all be dead...''

Author's Note

It took a long time to get here, but here we are.

Nights is still trapped, and now the others must go underground to get to him, and who knows what lurks down there?

And who is this griffon Pinkie has just met?

A Glimmer

All of Equestria was silent. Even the sounds of birds chirping was absent from the once lively place. the once beautiful land was now dead. Buildings rotted with their windows boarded up, the skies were cloudy and dark, and the land was enshrouded in eternal dawn, the sun starting to rise, but the moon still up, forever.

The princesses Celestia and Luna, were dead, as was most of equestria. Very few remained after the infection started. These survivors were few in number, and spread apart all over Equestria. The rest of the land was populated by the survivors friends, and family, but they were Dead. T

he outbreak started all of a sudden with no warning. It had all started with poor Flutter Shy, and once it started to spread, nothing could stop it. The princesses couldn't, the royal guard couldn't, even the mane six stood no chance. These pony's, now walked the earth, and flew in the sky, as Zombies.

Equestria... was gone, nothing more than an apocalyptic wasteland filled with cowering pony's and ravenous undead monsters.
There was no hope, only death.

Standing on a cliff overlooking ponyville, was a blue stallion with a brown mane. A cutie mark of a long sword sat on his flank. His brown eyes surveyed the seemingly abandoned and empty town which had once held so much joy, he looked away, trying not to cry.

His name was Swift Blade, a wandering earth pony swordstallion.
Before the outbreak, he had come upon Ponyville in his travels, not intending to stay, but after hanging around for a while, he had made to many good friends and couldn't force himself leave, so he stayed. Now he was one of the last pony's in all of equestria, alone.

His gaze hovered back to Ponyville. He had to go down there.

After it started, he headed out into the chaotic streets to find his friends, and the one mare he truly cared about, but he was to late, when he had found her, she was already one of them.
It was FlutterShy. Before he had decided to stay, he had met her while wandering by the Everfree forest one day, and after becoming good friends, he fell in love with her, but he never told her how he felt. He didn't want to mess up their friendship.

She was one of the reasons he stayed in ponyville, so when he found her, his heart felt like it had shattered. She had been turned. If it wasn't for the fact that he had thought about finding a cure after seeing her tear into one of her friends, he probably would have just given up and let himself die right there. All his other friends were dead as far as he knew, he had seen enough of them as zombie pony's to figure that out. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Blues, Cloud Kicker, Lyra, Bon Bon, Caramel, even good old Lucky. none of them had made it, hell, he had even had to kill a few of them.

After finding Fluttershy he ran into Bon Bon, and he was forced to end Bon Bon like she was an animal, a Celestia-damned animal! He had been shocked at first to see her, but had snapped out of it when she lunged at him with intent on eating him, or at the very least bite some flesh off. He pulled out his sword which he had with him at all times and tried to get her to stop, begging her, screaming at her to stop, but this thing she was now knew no fear and no remorse, so his warnings did nothing.

He was forced to stab her through the chest, but was shocked to see that she just kept coming, he stabbed her again and again, but she just wouldn't stop.

Seeing no other option, he sliced her head off. her head had fallen to the ground, a bit of blood dripping from the neck as the severed head rolled across the ground, and it kept snapping at him. It just wouldn't stop, so, eyes tearing up, he drove his blade through her head, ending her life.
That was how he discovered that these things only went down by destroying their head. Of course, it didn't bring him any comfort in discovering how to kill the monsters.

Before he had time to mourn or contemplate what he had just done, more of them showed up and he had to run.
On his dash to escape he had to kill another, where he reared up and crushed the monsters face against a wall. Blood had splattered across his hooves as he withdrew from the dead things head, he didn't have time to clean it off, so as he ran out of the town, blood hit the ground, making a trail of splattered blood leading from ponyville to a little pond where he had washed his hooves off.

That was two days ago, and now he stood on the cliff. Swift Blade glanced at the long sword in the sheath on his back. it had come in handy. it was his partner, after all, if he didn't have it, Bon Bon or one of the others probably would have eaten him.
Suddenly his eyes teared up, and he chocked back a few sobs. ''Why did this have to happen... why in Celestia is this happening!'' he cried out. The only answer was silence.

The cause was unknown, so he didn't know what had started this, but he knew one thing, he needed food.

It had only been two days since it started and he hadn't had much to eat or drink in that time, he was starting to feel the effects of hunger as his head spun a little and his stomach growled like a hungry beast.
The stallion wiped the tears away with his hoof and picked up the bag by his hooves in his teeth and swung it onto his back. He would find time to think and grieve later.

he turned from the cliff and started heading down, towards Ponyville, hoping he would find something to eat and maybe some other survivors, if there was any left. He began his long journey back to ponyville, trotting down the dirt road, passing dead mangled corpses and dying plants as he went.

He was completely unaware that somepony was watching him, and not noticing the swarm of undead Pegasus headed right for him.

Author's Note

This is my first book ever, so let me know what you think as honestly as possible.

now the next chapter will focus more on the present, with lots more zombie pony's!

Thanks for reading!

Things Go Wrong

''How did it come to this...?'' Swift Blade lay on the ground, blood flowing from his left front leg onto the floor, pooling around him, his side was on fire, as pain shot through him, his wounds not healed, and now worse off.

His longsword lay on the ground a few hoof steps away from him, he coughed, spitting blood in front of him. He thought to himself again, ''How did it come to this?''

A figure stood over him, but his vision was so hazy in his pained state, he couldn't make the being out, the being was his attacker, that was all he knew at this moment. Was this how it ended, before it started? The figure raised something over its head, something, sharp looking... and the last few hours flashed through the wounded swordstallion's mind.

Swift Blade trotted next to Vinyl and Big Macintosh, keeping an eye out for any threats, their hooves kicking up slight dust as they walked, There hadn't been any rain in a while, but by the look of the clouds, a rainstorm should hit in a few hours.

The three ponies had just entered Ponyville, their supply run had just begun.

They had expected a whole shitload of zombies to greet them as soon as they entered town, or on the way, but strangely enough, Ponyville seemed even more empty then it should have been. this made them uneasy.

Vinyl broke the tense silence first, ''This is way to weird, where the hell did they all go?''

''Don't know, but we should take advantage of it'' Big Mac said with a slight smile. The big red stallion had pushed his woodcutters axe through the loop of his saddlebag so it didn't muffle his voice when he spoke.

Swift nodded slowly, ''Definitely, but we should remain cautious, just because the area looks clear doesn't mean that its safe.''

Vinyl looked at Swift with slight awe, and respect, ''Whoa, that's smart, but where the buck did you learn that? It sounds like something a Royal Guard might say.''

Swift shook his head, ''Not now, lets focus on this for now.''

Vinyl shrugged, and continued on, the trio approaching the first place on the list, the ponyville market, the market probably had nothing left that was still edible, but it was worth a shot.

Big Mac gazed at several of the stalls in disgust, there was some old candy's in baskets, blood covered the candy and splattered the stall. A single pony leg sat next to the stall, the bone sticking out through the top. It was a sickening sight.
''I don't think anything worth grabbing is here.'' Big Mac said gruffly. Vinyl nodded in agreement.

Swift sighed, ''Your right, lets go.''
A groan interrupted the pony's, and they whirled around, two undead pony's, a Pegasus and a unicorn stood there. The moaning coming from their open gaping mouths.

Swift's eyes widened slightly, ''Oh buck.''

Vinyl's horn flared and a beam of colorful energy shot forward from it, the beam slicing through the Pegasus's head before it had the chance to lunge. A smoking stump was what remained of the undead monsters head now, as the rest of her body crumpled to the ground.

Big Mac and Swift Blade quickly drew their weapons, but Swift was much faster, and lunged, blade pointed forward at the unicorn.

''Eat blade buckhead!'' he swung the longsword diagonal, slicing through the unicorns neck. The severed head hit the ground with a light thunk, as the body took a step forward, trying to reach its goal, before crumpling to the ground, motionless.

Swift took a few steps back, watching the unicorns snapping head as it tried to attack, unaware of its inability to move, he shook his head, and leapt forward swinging the blade in an arc downwards, cleaving through the pony's scull. Blood sprayed up, and some pieces of brain stuck to the sharp blade as Swift yanked the blade free of the now motionless head.

The unicorns eyes were now dull, they had little life in them, but now the split pieces eyes had no life at all.

Swift turned around, panting slightly as he flicked his longsword, flinging some blood and brain chunks off the blade. ''Alright, that's that...'' his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped in horror.

More than ten zombies stood behind Vinyl and Big Mac, groaning and snarling, approaching slowly. Most of the small horde consisted of earth ponies and unicorns, but also a few Pegasus with busted, torn off, or partially consumed wings.

Big Mac and Vinyl had turned to face the horde, ready for the big fight, but it was clear they couldn't take on this many, even with Vinyl's magic.

Big Mac's axe sliced through a nearby earth pony's head, getting caught halfway through, he wrenched at the handle, pulling the axe free, sending scull pieces and brain into the air, his eyes narrowed, as he prepared for the next attacker.

Vinyl's horn glowed again, and the knife in her pack flew out, wrapped in her aura, it flew forward at high speed, embedding itself into the scull's of another zombie pony. The knife withdrew swiftly from the undead mares head, leaving a small slit wound. Vinyl's bloodied knife flew towards another undead, when Swifts voice interrupted her telekinetic action.

''WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!''

Big Mac turned around, a wingless Pegasus falling headless to the ground behind him. ''What the hay are ya'll talking about!?'' A look of confusion on his face.

Swift's sword buried itself in a undead earth pony's face, and he cried out again '' There's way to many to fight, they'll overwhelm us, we need to get out of here before we're cut off!'' he withdrew the blade, letting the body hit the ground beside him.

Vinyl turned from the horde and began to gallop towards Swift Blade, ''He's right Mac, lets get the hell out of here!''

The large red stallion glanced at the horde again, before nodding with an ''Eeyup'' and began following as fast as he could.

Behind the fleeing pony's, the horde followed its prey, their moaning ringing out over the silence of Equestria.

''Shit, their spreading out, now its going to be harder to avoid them.'' Swift muttered.

Vinyl frowned from under her big purple shades, sweat was dripping off her electric blue mane as she spoke, ''We can still do this, those buckers cant be in every corner of Ponyville.''

Swift turned to look at her, his cheeks reddening slightly at their being so close to one another.

The trio had hidden inside a two story building, on like many other houses in ponyville, and were now upstairs, keeping track of the hordes movements.

Big Macintosh was downstairs, keeping an eye on the door, while Vinyl and Swift were upstairs, watching the horde through a large window.

The room was a bedroom, a very basic one too. With not much to decorate it other than a few posters of the Wonderbolts and the Canterlot orchestra hanging up on the walls, and a big plush chair in the corner next to a small fireplace. Swift and Vinyl sat on a little sitting shelf in front of the window, the pillows they sat on were slightly worn, but very comfortable.

Swift forced himself to tear his gaze away from the attractive unicorn, and let out a little sigh.

Vinyl stared at him, slightly puzzled, before touching his shoulder, ''You okay Swift, your acting weird, you catching a cold or something?''

The swordstallion shook his head, and turned back to Vinyl, ''Its... Its just that...I...'' he paused for a second, choosing his words carefully before continuing, ''Vinyl, have you ever been in love with somepony, or had a special somepony?''

Vinyl thought for a minute, looking slightly embarrassed to be asked such a thing, before giving him his answer. ''I've had a few special somepony's in the past, but none of them and me really clicked, and as for love, well...'' she looked down for a second.

Swift mentally facehooved, ''Great, way to make things awkward.'' he smiled at Vinyl, ignoring his burning cheeks, ''Vinyl, look, I really want to tell you something, so will you hear me out?''

Vinyl looked back up, a small grin appearing on her lips, ''Sure''

''Vinyl, I-''

Swift Blade was cut off when Big Mac burst into the room, ''Hey, we need to git out of dodge, a few noticed me looking out a window downstairs and are knocking on the door.''

Swift sighed with slight annoyance at the undead pony's ability to find their prey no matter where they were, and hopped off the shelf, ''Alright, lets go.''

Vinyl followed suit, and trotted after the two stallions.

Rain poured down, obscuring the three pony's view of anything within twenty feet of them, it was a rainstorm Ponyville hadn't seen in years, and with no live Pegasus to control the weather, it was an unavoidable one.

Big Mac grunted, and Swift tried to squint to see farther ahead of them, but to no avail.

Vinyl didn't know any spells that would shield them from the rain, so she hovered a few garbage can lids over herself and her two companions like umbrella's.

Swift may not have been able to see far in this storm, but he knew where he was going. His destination was Twilight Sparkle's Castle, the large glowing castle wasn't hard to miss, but with Twilight being dead now, it wasn't as easy to see in the dark. It was likely empty, and well stocked.

Swift was really hoping that was the case, maybe they could even hole up there, it was a castle after all.

Vinyl nudged Swifts uninjured side, snapping him out of his thoughts, ''Up ahead.''

''What?'' Swift's question was answered by a snarl as a earth pony stallion stumbled towards them, slipping in some muddy parts of the wet ground.
His soggy matted coat was a gold orange color, and his brown mane and tail had once been neatly combed back to make him look like the perfect gentlecolt, now hung around his face like vines, aiding the rain in dripping down him. Three horseshoes sat on his flank, marking the now rotted monster to be Caramel, one of Swift's good friends and a face you would often see around town.

Swift sighed, his voice filled with regret and sorrow, before drawing his blade, and trotting carefully over to Caramel, and switching the longsword over to his hooves and staring at Caramel for a few seconds, long enough for the zombie stallion to get closer.

''Goodbye Caramel, maybe I'll see you again someday.'' With those words, Swift reared up on his hind legs, and brought his sword down on Caramel's scull, slicing through it and stopping halfway through.

Swift yanked the sword up fast, so it wouldn't get stuck in the dead pony's scull, brain chunks flying up around him, as Caramels body fell to the muddy ground, and lay still.

Swift looked down at the body of his dead friend for a while, before Vinyl tapped him on the shoulder, giving him a soft smile. ''Come on, lets go.''

Swift nodded, ''Yeah.'' before looking back at Caramel one last time, and giving the body a sad smile.

The ponies then turned back and continued their journey to the castle.

Swift had seen the inside of the great castle before, but no matter how many times he saw it, he was always filled with a sense of wonder and adventure whenever he saw it.

Twilight and him had been good friends before the beginning of the end after all, so she sometimes brought him here to help her with experiments or to show him new books.

Now however, the castle felt wrong. It still had the same effect on him, but now it felt devoid of happiness, the complete opposite of what it normally felt like.

Vinyl's mouth was slightly ajar, her expression one of amazement and bewilderment, as she swung her from side to side, trying to absorb as much of the castles interior as the ponies trotted through the large crystal hallways.

Swift found this to be quite cute, but figured not to say anything that would wreak the mood.

Big Mac trotted on Swift's other side, his eyes scanning for any possible threats, even though Swift had told him that nopony was in here,

After all, the only one's allowed inside were the Elements of Harmony, Spike the dragon, Swift, Discord, and Starlight Glimmer.
The elements were either dead, undead and roaming around outside, or back at Sweet Apple Acres, Discord was in Canterlot last anypony heard, and Starlight had gone with him to meet with an old friend, but Spike hadn't been seen since the outbreak began.

Swift Blade was only slightly worried by this, but figured if Spike wasn't here, he would have gone to look for his friends, and maybe was still alive, but Swift highly doubted this, there wasn't exactly a lot of ponies or any other species left.

Swift Blade finally stopped in front of one of the many large doors, which looked like any other to Vinyl and Big Mac, and pushed it open with a hoof.

The room was a large pantry, filled with all sorts of great food and other goodies, which made Swift salivate at the sight.
Slowly entering the pantry, the three pony's began to grab as many cans, and other non perishable goods as they could, shoving said items into their bags.

''There's more food here then we can carry!'' Vinyl's happy voice rings out through the silence of the room, and Swift grinned, as he continued to snatch cans and dump them into his saddlebags, spotting some hay fries and a couple boxes of other good food, he shoved them into his bags as well, filling them up.

Big Mac's gruff voice rang out in the silence of the room, ''What the hay are we gonna do now that our bags are full?''

Swift trotted out from behind one of the shelves, ''Lets try and find some medical supplies and better weapons before we leave. Mac, as the strongest your going to have to carry most of it, but me and Vinyl will protect you on the way back.''

Macintosh grunted with an ''Eeyup'' before turning and heading out of the room, his pack quite full looking.

Swift turned around, as Vinyl trotted over to him, ''Lead the way.'' she grinned.

It took a while, but they finally found the armory, it was locked however, it was always locked Twilight had once told Swift, as weapons were not something she was fond of, not to mention friendship was the main point of the castle, so anything in the armory was meant as a last resort.

''Damn it.'' Vinyl groaned, ''Now we have to find a bucking key!?''

''Eeyup'' Big Mac nodded.

Swift sighed, ''I should have remembered, oh well, lets go find that damn key.''

With that, the trio turned and began down the hallway once more.
Their hoofsteps were the only sounds in the empty castle, devoid of any other noises. at this point, Swift would have given anything to even hear the noise of a zombie groan, but there was no other sounds.

Suddenly, Swift's eye caught something in one of the rooms, its doors wide open, and he halted.

He ran into the room, it was a library, which didn't completely surprise him as the former owner loved books.

A small crumpled form lay against the far wall, its purple scales covered in blood. A combat knife stuck out of the crumpled purple form's head, like a sore thumb, signaling the little creature was dead.
Swift poked at the body, it didn't move. Swift's gaze moved over the blood covered body, sadness in his gaze.

Spike.

The poor little baby dragon lay on the ground, covered in his own blood, with the knife embedded in his head, his eyes faded and dark, as if the light from his eyes had been extinguished. It was obvious that when the knife entered his brain it took a few seconds before all functions ceased.

Big Mac and Vinyl's steps entered the room, and Swift heard Vinyl let out a little gasp, ''Oh damn, is that Spike? Oh Faust...'' Vinyl had seen the baby dragon around Ponyville many times, not to mention he was kind of famous, so it wasn't hard to recognize him.

''Yeah...its Spike...''Swift let out another sigh, and something caught his eye. ''What the...''

A piece of papyrus lay clutched in one of the dead dragons claws, Swift couldn't tell, but it seemed to have writing on it.

''What's he holding?'' Vinyl asked, noticing Swift's gaze.

Swift reached out, taking the paper, but Spike's claws remained grasping it tightly, ''Damn it, rigor mortis.'' Swift grumbled, using one hoof to try and pry the baby dragons cold dead claws up while using the other front hoof to grab the note. After a few seconds of struggling, Swift pulled the note free from Spike's grasp and held it up to his eye level.

''Should I read it out loud?'' Swift asked his companions, moving his gaze to them for a second.

''Eeyup''

''go for it''

Swift nodded, and began to read:

''I'm so sorry, forgive me Twilight, and please forgive me Rarity, I couldn't protect you, or anypony, I've failed. I always believed in zombies, but never thought of what could really happen if they did appear in Equestria, I regret that now. Twilight, if there's a cure, I hope somepony can find it and use it on you, you never deserved this. Rarity, I tried so hard to protect you, and I wish I had tried harder, maybe I could have prevented you from being bitten, I had no choice, I had to kill you, just so you wouldn't have to become one of them. It was the only thing I could do...forgive me.''

Vinyl lowered her head, ''That explains what bashed her head in when we saw her corpse. Dear Celestia, that's...sad.''

Big Mac simply sighed.

Swift had his suspicions when he saw the blade in Spikes head, after all, the first place Spike would have gone was to find and protect Rarity, after all, it was obvious he was in love with her.

Pushing the thoughts away, he continued to read:

''If there's anypony left out there, please find a cure, or something, and save my friends. Please. I've been bitten now too, I can feel the virus or whatever it is in me now, I started coughing, and soon I was spitting up blood, my eyes have become bloodshot, I wont last much longer, I have the key to the armory, do what I couldn't, save Equestria, or at the very least, live. Goodbye, may Celestia forgi...''

Blood covered the rest of the note, rendering it unreadable, but enough had been read.

Swift lowered the note and let it drop lazily to the floor. he lowered his head, in respect for the dead dragon, ''Rest in peace Spike, may you meet up with your friends again someday.''

Big Mac slowly trotted over to the dead dragon and looked him over, before spotting the key, shaped like a shield, laying a few hoofsteps away from Spike. He reached out, and picked the key up in a hoof, while also pulling the combat dagger out of Spikes scull with a squelch, ''Well, lets go, we cant stay here forever'' He said.

Lifting their heads, Vinyl and Swift nodded their heads, and followed the red stallion out of the room.

There was enough weapons to arm a small army, but what else did they expect? Vinyl held another magic spear in hoof, it had Pinkies name inscribed on the handle. ''Wow, Pinkie sure has a lot of magic spears''

Swift nodded from the other side of the room, as he stared at a couple swords, and a few longswords.
Big Mac had a one sided war axe in one hoof, ''These will really cut through the undead bastards ranks'' He let a small grin crawl over his face.
All the swords and longswords were very plain, and not as sharp as Swifts, so he ignored them, he had to find some good weapons for Pinkie and Apple Jack.

''Hey, I think AJ will like this'' Big Mac called out, Swift turned to look at the farm stallion, who was holding a Warhammer, made for crushing and bashing. Swift nodded and went back to searching, he spotted a few more combat knives and stuffed two in his pack. Vinyl suddenly tapped Swift Blade's shoulder, causing the stallion to jolt.

''Heh, sorry, um, I found this, you want some?'' She smiled at him, holding a bottle of water in her magic.

Swift smiled, ''Yeah, I could use a drink, thanks.'' he started to reach out to take the bottle, but Vinyl moved the bottle towards his mouth, unscrewing the cap and letting it drop to the ground.

Swift's eyes widened, as she levitated the bottle into his mouth, and tilted it, letting the water flow into his mouth. He relaxed, and a slight blush appeared on his cheeks.

Vinyl lifted the bottle after a few seconds and capped it, grinning at Swifts embarrassment.

Swift smiled, and pointed at the exit, ''Come on, we got enough, lets go, come on Mac! Lets hit the road!''

The three ponies walked out of the room, and began to walk back the way they had come down the hall, but slowly, drowsiness began to infect the trio.

''Crap, are you guys beginning to feel tired?'' Vinyl asked, her voice seemly more lazy.

''Yeah, we should find a place to sleep, we haven't slept in a while.'' Swift responded.

It was true, the survivors hadn't slept in quite some time, and they were beginning to feel the effects.

''I think one of the bedrooms is behind this door'' Swift said, before stopping in front of one of the large doors. ''Vinyl, you can sleep in here, me and Mac will find another room.''

''Aw, thanks Swift, that's really nice of you. Goodnight you two, or whatever you would call it now'' Vinyl said with a grin, and suddenly was in the open doorway, using her magic to close it behind her.

Swift smiled, and turned to Big Mac, ''Lets go.''

''Eeyup'' Big Mac replied, turning to a door across the room, ''Is this a bedroom?''

Swift trotted over to the door and pushed it open, ''No, its a living room, but the couches should do.''

Closing the door behind them, Swift and Big Mac set down their heavy packs, and headed over to separate couches.

Swift's was a pink fluffy looking one, with a few comfy looking pillows on it, while Mac's was a green one, with one big pillow on the edge.

Settling down on his, pulling all his legs up onto it, and laying his head against the pillows, he felt himself slowly drifting off, making him realize just how long it had been since he had had a good sleep. his eyes closed fully, and his mind began to fade out to black, Swift Blade smiled, before he lost conscious.

Groggily opening his eyes, Swift slowly woke from his sleep, blinking a few times until his eyes adjusted, and raised his head up to look around. ''Big Mac...?''

The red farm stallion was nowhere to be seen. All the gear was still lying on the ground near the couch, meaning that they hadn't abandoned Swift, which meant Big Mac might have left to find a washroom, or go back to the pantry and grab a bite to eat as not to use up any of the food they had grabbed.

Swift Blade slowly lifted himself to his feet, rubbing his eyes with a yawn, and hopped down from the couch, his hoofs crushing a few pillows that had fallen from the couch while he had been resting.

''I better go check on Vinyl, see if she's okay.'' The swordstallion said to nopony in particular, before trotting out of the room, quietly pushing the large door open, and stepping into the hall.

He stood in front of Vinyl's room, perking his ears to see if he could hear anything, but to no avail, he took a few steps forward, and reached for the door when a thought hit him, ''You cant just walk in unannounced into a mare's room! That's like being a pervert or something!''

Catching himself, Swift knocked on the door with his hoof a few times, before taking a step back and listening again.
No grunts of being jolted awake, nor hoofsteps walking over to the door greeted him, so he knocked again.

Silence...

Swift pressed an ear up close to the door, listening for any snores or breathing, but was once again, greeted with nothing.

Fear creeping into his mind, Swift burst through the doors, and was shocked to find an empty room, he ran over to the bed, and found her bag next to a large rainbow colored bed, signs of Vinyl having slept here recently were obvious due to the rumpled sheets and the lump in the pillow.

Swift started calming himself down, trying to think of logical reasons of why both his friends were missing, maybe they had both gotten hungry and went to grab some food, or maybe they had decided to explore and find some medical supplies.

Swift exited the empty bedroom, and trotted back into the living room. He strapped his longsword onto his back, just as a precaution, and headed down the hallway, eyeing a door that hadn't been open before, he poked his head inside. It was a small infirmary room, filled with IV's, a few folding beds, and some selves and cabinets.

A healing potion sitting on one of the shelves caught his eye and he grabbed it in his hooves, ''Maybe this can heal my side completely'' he wondered aloud, before shaking his head, ''Focus, you have to find Vinyl and Big Macintosh!'' His mind shouted at him. He began to leave the room, since nopony was there, but stopped abruptly.

The door hadn't been open before, so why was it now? Swift looked back, and noticed a lack of medical tools. ''That cant be good.'' He thought, and exited the room.

Upon his exit, he spotted something down the hall, he quickly made his way over to it, and felt his jaw, drop slightly, and a great fear began to rise inside of the stallion.

Lying shattered upon the ground, were Vinyl's purple shades, shards lying scattered around it.

Swift spotted another object lying a little farther down the hallway, and he sprinted towards it, hoping that what he was thinking wasn't true.
he skidded to a halt, and his fearful thoughts, suddenly became a reality.

Big Mac's war axe lay there, staring up at Swift.

Mac wouldn't have just left it there, nor would he have dropped it and not have noticed. Something, or somepony, must have jumped him, and Swift had to assume the latter. There was no blood, and that meant whatever had jumped the two ponies wanted them alive for the time being.

Swift began to sprint, in the direction the items had pointed him, and soon found himself in front of one large door. Swift had never been through this door, but had a hunch of what would be behind it, when he had toured the castle, Twilight had told him it led to the basement, and since no sounds reached up here, the basement was the perfect place to hold prisoners.

Swift slowly pushed open the door, trying to make as little noise as possible, wincing as a loud creak echoed out as the door swung open.
It was very dark, but a lit lantern hung on a hook next to the door, proving that somepony was down there.

Swift unhooked the lantern and clenched it in his mouth, and slowly began making his way down the stairs, leading him deeper into the darkness.

The lantern's light shined around Swift, illuminating everything within about eight hoofsteps in front of him, he felt a chill run up his back, but continued, determined to find his friends, no matter how creepy the basement seemed.

His hoofsteps clacking against the stone stairs were the only thing he could hear in the silence of the castle, next to the loud pounding in his chest.

After what felt like hours of climbing down that long flight of stairs, Swift Blade finally reached the bottom of the stairs, and found himself in a better lit area, with torches that had been lit recently flickering on the walls around him. He lowered the lantern to the floor, its purpose complete, and started trotting into the next room, wary, as he slowly unsheathed his sword and held it in front of him.

Using the blade, he pushed open the door leading to the next room, and stepped inside, checking both sides of the doorway, the room seemed clear, so he took a few steps inside.

WHACK!

Swift let out a cry of agony as something wacked him in the side. He stumbled forward, almost dropping his sword, and whirled around to face his attacker.

The figure was standing in the darkness, so Swift couldn't make out any details, only that it was a pony.

The figure moved quickly, taking Swift off guard, and swung a hoof at Swifts face, connecting with a SMACK!

Swift fell back, letting out another cry, before turning and running towards the next room, he could hear his attacker galloping after him.

Swift's plan worked, and he suddenly turned back and took a swing at the pony, the pony jumped back to avoid the blade, and Swift dashed forward and bashed the pony over the head with the hilt of his sword, then turned, switching the sword to his mouth, he galloped into the next room.

His sword dropped to the ground, and he let out a gasp of horror and relief, quickly realizing why there had been no shouts for help.

Vinyl was strapped to one of the stone walls, her legs splayed in a star shape, revealing her nether regions. Her mouth gagged by a big gray piece of sticky tape. Several large cuts and bruises were scattered around her body, blood running down the mare. Her red eyes were filled with tears, as she silently sobbed to herself.

''Vinyl!'' Swift cried out, and ran towards her, his weapon forgotten.

She looked up, her eyes filling with joy, and she struggled against her bonds.

''Hold on, I'll get you down!'' Swift turned around to retrieve his weapon, and caught a glimpse of the pony who attacked him, before something hit the side of his head and he collapsed.

Author's Note

Alright, I bet most of the readers can guess who attacked Swift, but you'll just have to find out in the next chapter.

Please keep hitting the like button.

ENJOY!

Street of the damned

Some would have said that Swift was crazy to just waltz into Canterlot with no idea of where he should go first, but there was nopony around to tell him that, so that's what he did.

The streets of the once bustling city were empty. There wasn't a pony, dead, or alive in sight. A few wagons were scattered across the street, some knocked over and lying on their sides as if they had been pushed and had decided to just lie there.

Pieces of trash and old newspapers littered the streets, rustling and rolling in the light breeze. Other then the sounds of the litter rustling and the sound of Swift's hooves hitting the pavement, the city was eerily quiet, to quiet.

Although still mourning the loss of Maud, Swift couldn't help but feel at least a bit giddy at the thought of finally finding the cure to the infection. The problem was, something wasn't right, there should have been at least one zombie sighting, but since they had entered the city, there had been no sign of any. Something was very wrong indeed.

Vinyl suddenly broke the intensifying silence, ''Swift, I heard something.''

Stopping in his tracks, the swordstallion took a few quick glances around, checking the surrounding area for any sign of life, or death. When he saw nothing, he softly called back, ''Are you sure Vinyl? What did it sound like?''

The unicorn thought for a second, before pointing a hoof. ''It came from over there, it sounded like...'' The DJ tried to think of what was best to describe it with, when Scootaloo spoke up.

''Like a flash?''

''Yeah, like a flash.'' Vinyl nodded at the filly.

''A flash? Hrmm...'' Swift could only think of one reason for that, a unicorn had just cast a spell and was nearby, or had just disappeared. Unhooking himself from the wagon, Swift Blade began making his way towards the area Vinyl had pointed at. He slowly slid his blade from its sheath, ready for a possible sneak attack.

Quickly peeking into the alleyway, the stallion raked the area, seeing no signs of life, just some trash cans and some old boxes. He let out a little sigh, this couldn't be good. Stepping back, the stallion took another few quick glances around, but ended with the same result, nothing in sight.

Swift turned and began heading back, ''What ever it was is gone now!'' He called out, not feeling a need to be quiet.

''Your sure?'' Vinyl responded.

''Yeah, this alley is empty.''

Vinyl nodded, and hopped off the cart, levitating her bag beside her. Scootaloo followed close behind. ''We may need to continue on hoof, the roads look pretty crowded.''

Suddenly, Apple Jack, who hadn't said a word, suddenly spoke, jolting the three conversing ponies.

''Can y'all give me a hoof with Pinkie Pie? Ah don think she's fit to travel just yet.''

Nodding, the two adult ponies helped Apple Jack lift Pinkie and lower her to the ground. Pinkie didn't react to the contact the entire time, and barely moved when she touched the ground, she only let out a whimper, and went silent again.

Swift softly nudged the pink party pony with a hoof, trying to get her attention. ''Pinkie? Please, get up, we need to continue. Find the cure remember? Maybe we can use it to save Maud?''

Pinkie didn't respond, and Swift was beginning to wonder if the cheerful pony's mind had finally broken, when she suddenly stood up. ''Alright, heh...lets go...'' She weakly trailed off, filling the surrounding ponies hearts with sorrow.

If Pinkie wasn't happy, all nearby ponies were going to feel it, which was what was now happening.

Vinyl was the first to recover, and nudged Swift, ''C'mon, we can't stay here forever, lets get going.''

Nodding, the stallion motioned for the others to follow suit, and began unloading their supplies from the cart. ''Chances are we wont have time to come back to get our stuff, so we better take them with us now until we can find a base of operations.''

The other ponies began following suit, shoving things into their saddlebags at a frantic pace. Soon the cart was empty, and the ponies saddlebags so full they looked like they may burst.

''Alright.'' Swift stated. ''Lets go.''

The overweighed survivors slowly began heading down the crowded street, filing two by two through a gap between a wagon and building, and continuing on their way.

Scootaloo stayed close to Swift the entire time, and kept making quick glances at the surrounding area. She didn't know how she knew, but something was watching them, and she didn't like the feeling of being watched by an unseen being. What if it was some horrible monster, not yet infected, and stalking them, or maybe, the dead were getting smarter, and now we're waiting for the right moment to strike.

The filly was broken from her thoughts by Vinyl, who had nudged her, ''Those getting to heavy for ya kid?'' The DJ asked, motioning at the filly's saddlebags. Although nowhere near as heavy as what the adults were carrying, it was a lot for a filly Scootaloo's age.

''No. I'm fine, why do you ask?''

''Your making this weird face'' Vinyl chuckled.

Scootaloo turned her head to the side, trying to hide her blush of embarrassment, ''Am not.'' She mumbled.

The DJ shook her head, chuckling again, before returning her gaze to the crowded street ahead. Vinyl wasn't sure what the filly was thinking, she had never had any siblings, so she could only guess that it was simply a matter of being tired.

Apple Jack walked next to Pinkie, making sure she didn't suddenly collapse, but also just to give her grieving friend some comfort. She knew just what Pinkie was going through, they were both without their families now.

The swordstallion watched the others, noting what was going on and running across their faces. As soon as they found a place to hole up, he would do his best to help them, in anyway he could. Turning back to the road, Swift sighed, his eyes scanning the area, still no signs of movement. This was beginning to creep him out.

He turned his head back to his friends, slowing his pace a bit, ''Hey Vinyl, you lived here right?''

''Yeah, why?'' She responded.

''Know any good places we coul-''

Swift was cut off by a loud crack, as something whizzed by his ear, clipping it. He felt blood begin to trickle from the small wound, and he flattened his ears, his instincts kicking in.

''Get down!'' He ordered.

The ponies scattered, as another loud crack broke the silence of the city.

Swift dove behind a wagon that had been flipped onto its side, he felt more blood leak from his ear, and wiped his face with a hoof. This was bad, something was shooting at them, and now they were separated.

''Swift! Over here!'' A mares voice hissed to his left, he turned his head to see Pinkie now crouched next to him, her mane still hanging flat.

''Pinkie! Did you see were the others went!?'' Swift hissed, wincing as another crack rang out, something hitting the wagon they were hiding behind.

''Yep, Apple Jack and Vinyl grabbed Scoots and hid in an alley.''

''Alright'' Swift nodded, drawing his longsword from its sheath. The blade gleamed in the half light, and he stared at the blade for a second, his reflection looking back at him, ''We need to find whatever is firing at us.''

''Okee dokee lokee'' The party pony nodded, her tone low and still filled with grief, but at least she had the will to fight.

As another gunshot split open the silence, Swift and Pinkie stuck their heads over the top of the wagon, searching for the source of the unknown shooter. Another bullet whizzed by Swift's head, forcing him to duck down again.

He turned to Pinkie, who was just ducking down, ''I saw Where those loud bangs are coming from!'' Pinkie exclaimed.

''Where!?''

''A rooftop two houses away.''

''Good eye Pinkie, lets regroup with the others and figure out how to take this sniper out!'' Swift grinned.

Pinkie shook her head, ''Are we going to hurt them? That would be mean...''

Realizing his mistake, Swift tried again. ''No no, I meant find a way to get him to stop shooting at us. We're not going to hurt them'' Mentally, Swift thought, ''Unless we have to.''

As more gunshots permeated the air, the two ponies began galloping towards the alley the others were hiding in, but just before they left the cover of the wagon a magical aura enveloped them, freezing them in their tracks.

''What the-'' Swift tried to move his head to see what had trapped him, but his head was frozen in place, the only parts of his body that he could move were his eyes and mouth. He turned his gaze to Pinkie, ''Pinkie! Are you okay!?''

''Yep, just frozen.'' The pink mare giggled slightly.

''Your lucky that you can't move, if you had run out there now, Trickshot might have shot you.'' A mares voice sounded from somewhere to his right side.

''What did you do to us?'' Swift tried to turn his head to look at the stranger, but remembered he couldn't, and resorted to useing his peripheral vision to try and find out what had froze them.

The being was a pony, that he could tell, a grass green one, but she stood taller than the average pony, and wore some sort of glasses on her face.

''Who are you?''

''And why are you attacking us?'' Pinkie added.

The pony got closer, and then stood in front of the two frozen ponies, revealing herself. ''My name is Dusky Novel.''

Swift felt his jaw drop, the tall green mare had a long horn of a unicorn on her head, but also the wings of a Pegasus on her sides. She was an Alicorn. She wore a pair of plain reading glasses, pushed up on her snout, and her cutie mark was a violet book, blood splattered across it. Her mane and tail matched her coats color, and had a style similar to Rainbow Dash's.

''Your...Your an...'' Swift stuttered, not believing what he was seeing. He had never heard of any other alicorn's. He had met Celestia, Luna, Twilight Sparkle, and Candace, as well as her foal, but they had never mentioned any other alicorn's, and nopony had mentioned the existence of a sixth.

''An Alicorn, yeah, I am, and you two need to let us know you mean no harm.'' Dusky said, her wings unfurling and then folding back against her body.

''We don't, and never did! We were just marching along minding our business when you started shooting loud noises at us and turning us into icebergs!'' Pinkie exclaimed.

''Heh, yeah, sorry about that, we had to make sure you were friendly, so any signs of aggression might make us change our minds.''

''Change your minds? About what?'' Swift asked suspiciously.

''About letting you join our group.'' The Alicorn chuckled like it was obvious.

''Just why did you have to shoot at us then?'' Swift growled, slightly annoyed.

''To get your attention'' Another voice added in.

A gray earth pony stepped in Swift and Pinkie's sight, followed by Vinyl, Apple Jack, and Scootaloo, and gave them a little grin, ''Sorry about that, we had to separate you so we could talk to you, if we just came out of nowhere, we were afraid you might attack us.'' The stallion chuckled nervously.

''Then why did you shoot Swift's ear?'' Pinkie asked, she would have tilted her head if she could move.

''Oh that wasn't Night's'' Dusky smiled nervously. ''It was Trickshot's idea.''

''Who?'' Swift and Pinkie asked at the same time.

''Me, sorry bout that, had to let you ponies know what we can do.'' Another male voice answered for Dusky.

Undoing the freezing spell, Dusky allowed the two ponies freedom of movement again. Vinyl rushed up to Swift and wrapped him in her forelegs, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Swift felt himself blush, and gave her a quick hug back, before turning his attention to the stallion who had just joined the one Dusky had called ''Nights''

The new stallion had a coat that seemed like it couldn't decide to be blue or gray, so it chose both. His mane and tail were a darker shade of gray. His eyes were a gleaming red, similar to Vinyl's. His cutie mark, the crosshairs of a scope rested on his flank. A pony sniper rifle was slung through a belt around his waist, marking him as the sniper.

Nights on the other hand, was a plain shade of gray, but his mane was a deep blue. His eyes were a beautiful purple, which matched his cutie mark, some sort of dragon. He wore a long black trench coat, which somehow left his mark uncovered.

''There's only three of ya, are there anymore of y'all?'' Apple Jack interrupted Swift's thoughts.

''Yeah, there's more of us, we're holed up in a large mansion not to far from here'' Nights grinned.

''And your welcome to join us, if you want to.'' Dusky added.

''What do you think?'' Vinyl nudged Swift. ''Should we trust them?''

''Better if you do'' The stallion Swift assumed was ''Trickshot'' said gruffly. ''You've got a filly with you, and she's gotta be exhausted, with all that stuff your making her carry.''

''I'm fine sir, I can handle myself.'' Scootaloo challenged. The sniper chuckled. ''If you say so.''

''You know what, yeah, we'll go with you, at least for now, we could use a good place to stay.'' Swift smiled.

''Good, then lets-''

Dusky Novel was cut off by a sound they hadn't noticed until now, a sound that was getting louder by the second.

''What is that?'' Scootaloo glanced around, her wings flapping nervously.

Dusky suddenly leapt off the ground, her large wings spreading wide as she took flight, she began to hover above the buildings, searching the area.

She let out a little gasp and flew back down.

''What did you see?'' Vinyl asked the question they were all thinking.

''There's a large horde coming this way, and their coming from every direction.'' The Alicorn shivered.

''Shit, the gun shots must have attracted them...'' Nights groaned.

Swift felt the blood drain from his face, ''Oh buck...''

''We need ta get outta dodge!'' Apple Jack shouted.

Trickshot suddenly reached towards Scootaloo and plucked the saddlebags right off the filly's back. ''Come on, follow us, we best get going, don't want to get eaten!'' He swung the bags onto his back and began quickly heading towards an alley.

The rest began following close behind, following as fast as they could, Scootaloo now riding her scooter which Pinkie had produced for her from thin air.

Three zombies, all unicorns, suddenly blocked the alleyway's end. Before the others could react, Trickshot had his sniper out, he took only a second to have the scope up to his eye and his hoof ready to push the small lever. ''Boom.'' He grinned, and the barrel of the gun exploded in a quick flash, another loud bang ringing from the weapon. The unicorn to the far left suddenly had a hole through its head, and fell back, hitting the ground.

The second zombie fell a second later as a second bang rang out, the third one however, was stopped when an arrow pierced its eye. The unicorn stood there for a second, stumbling a bit, before collapsing. Swift turned to see Nights now holding a pony crossbow he had produced from his trench coat.

''Wow, you two are great shots.'' Swift complimented.

''Thanks, now lets move!'' Nights exclaimed.

Galloping again, the group began making their way to the mansion, and safety, but the alleys and streets were getting more and more crowded as zombies began to fill the streets and converge from all directions, they were forced to head through the less zombie infested streets. Any zombie that got to close was met by Swift's blade, Trickshot's bullets, or Apple Jack's hammer.

They finally stopped in the middle of a street, panting heavily for breath. ''We have to keep moving!'' Nights shouted.

''The filly can't run as long as us Nights!'' Trickshot almost growled.

''We have a big problem guys!'' Pinkie suddenly exclaimed, breaking the two stallions away from approaching argument.

The ponies all turned to see the that they were now trapped, the street they now were on was being swarmed from all directions, and there were to many to fight their way through. ''Buck! Now what!'' Vinyl swore.

''Dusky! Any spells that can get us out of here?!'' Swift turned to the tall mare, who shook her head.

''Not that I know of, but I can use my special talent to deal with this.'' The Alicorn suddenly turned to face down the street, and began to speak:

''The survivors and their new friends came to a street, but the undead now blocked every exit, and there was no escape, however, suddenly a building to the side of one of the streets, which had been damaged during the beginning, now was standing due to a single pillar of wood, and would be accessible through a large hole in the wall.''

''What...'' Apple Jack was cut off when suddenly a large hole in one of the buildings materialized out of nowhere. Through the hole a pillar of wood was visible, just as Dusky had said.

''What in tarnation just happened?'' The farmer gasped.

''I'll explain later, now-''

''Quick! AJ, Nights, Trickshot, help me weaken that beam!'' Swift interrupted the Alicorn, and began galloping straight for the building. The others didn't question it, they just followed.

The four ponies began bucking the beam, taking turns as fast as they could. They could hear the horde drawing closer, making them pick up the speed of their bucking. After many chips and cracks, the beam looked ready to topple and bring the house down.

''Alright! Get out!'' Swift ordered, dashing through the hole, followed by the others.

A Pegasus zombie lunged at the group still standing in the streets, but was met with a blast from Vinyl's spear before it could get to close. Two unicorns had tried to sneak up on them ,their moans going undetected until they were almost on top of the group, but Pinkie and Dusky acted fast and the two monsters suddenly were on the ground, no longer moving.

Pinkie pulled the cleaver from the corpses head with a muffled grunt, as she gripped the now dripping blade in her teeth. Dusky and Vinyl were now blasting zombies with their magic left and right, trying to slow their advances, but there were just to many.

''Vinyl! Get ready to blast the beam!'' Swift suddenly screamed. As he galloped towards them, followed by Apple Jack, Nights, and Trickshot. Catching onto his plan, the DJ charged up her horn, and aimed for the wooden poll.

''Wait for it...wait for it...'' Scootaloo muttered to Vinyl's left.

''NOW!'' Swift screamed.

The magic lanced out from the unicorns horn, connecting with the poll, where the two forces clashed for a second, before the wood gave, and Vinyl's magic cut through it. The house suddenly shook, before leaning to one side and collapsing onto the street, crushing the advancing horde at the end of the street beneath it.

''Now! Over the rubble! Hurry!'' Swift ordered, and the group began galloping as fast as they could, scrabbling over the rubble of the building as fast as they could.

Author's Note

OC's have been inserted, but its still not to late to have yours inserted, there's still time!

I just want to thank all the people who added their OC's already, I hope I did them justice.

Also, go check out my new YouTube channel, Swift Blade, for mlp fanfic readings!