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!