THE TROTTING DEAD - Book One

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 2: Hope
Chapter 4: Made To Suffer
Chapter 5: The Heart's Desire
Chapter 6: My "Friend"
Chapter 7: Emotion
Chapter 8: Miles Behind Us
Chapter 9: What Lies Ahead
Chapter 10: In Harm's Way
Chapter 1: Days Gone Bye
Chapter 3: Decisions

Prologue

A few weeks ago... an outbreak started... an infection to make dead ponies come back to life... Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo have been staying with me since it happened... the disease took Scoots' parents, leaving her an orphan. She came to me for help and when I heard about what happened and I thought it was insane... I told Rainbow Dash to check it out and she came back with blood on her... she killed her parents... but then news went out and it all made sense... kinda. These weren't ponies... these were zombies… but we call them trotters...

Chapter 2: Hope

I wake up and RD and Scoots are already up. I sit up and I feel my mane and of course I have a bed head hair do.

“Sooner or later we’re gonna run out of food…” I hear Scoots say.

“Yeah you got that right…” RD says back to her.

I go to the table they’re sitting at. “Yeah but if Pinkie’s still at Sugarcube corner we could get food there…” I say sitting down in one of the chairs. “So what’s the plan?”

“I say we stop by Fluttershy’s cottage. We can stop by Carousel Boutique next and Sugarcube Corner on the way back.” Rainbow Dash says.

“Wow you just came up with that over night?” I ask.

“Nah, this morning.” She says back. As we eat little breakfast to save food, me and RD get ready to head out.

“Just be careful okay.” I hear Scoots say as we head towards the door.

“Don’t worry kid, we’ll come back… I promise.” Rainbow Dash says. We head out the door with baseball bats and we start to fly to Fluttershy’s cottage.

“There aren’t many of these things out here during the day are there?” I notice.

“Well you know they could have just moved on… they really aren’t that smart and all they do is trot around…” RD states as we get near Fluttershy’s cottage. We land and I knock on the door. No answer. I knock again… no answer… “What if she’s not here…” Rainbow says.

“I guess we’re just gonna have to let ourselves in…” I say as I turn around and buck the door. We walk in to see blood and the bones of animals. “Wow… she really let this place go…” I say jokingly as RD elbows me in the arm. “Right… not the time… let’s check upstairs…” I say heading towards the stairs.

“Fluttershy… you here…?” RD whispers loudly. We hear crying from her room.

“Get ready.” I say taking my baseball bat in hoof going on one side of the door while Rainbow is on the other side. “3… 2… 1…!” I say. We bust through the door and we see Fluttershy on her bed. At the foot of the bed we see the skeleton of what I think used to be Angel. “F-Fluttershy?” I say shocked.

“What… happened…?” Rainbow says staring at her surprised. Fluttershy is shaking.

“I… I…” Fluttershy starts to say.

“Spit it out.” I say. Putting my hoof on her shoulders. “What happened to your animals?” I ask. She looks at us.

“I… I ran out of food…” She says tears start flowing from her eyes. “So I… I had to…” She hugs me. “I had to eat them…” She says starting to cry. I look at Rainbow Dash with widened eyes and RD’s mouth open from ah.

“Look Fluttershy… we’re gonna get you out of here alright…?” I say looking at her. She nods and we start to head out. We get down stairs and we go out the front door just to see some trotters. “Celestia damnit.” I say. I take my bat in hoof after I get up to one and I smash it’s head in. Blood flies everywhere Fluttershy squealed at the sight of it. They heard it and they all start coming toward us. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Me and RD say at the same time.

“Can’t we just fly out of here?” Rainbow asks.

“You up for that Fluttershy?!” I yell as I’m getting slowly surrounded. She nods and we go straight for the sky. “Rarity’s next right?” I say looking at RD. She nods. I look behind us just to check out the view… and what the hell… there are 2 flying trotters chasing us down! “What the fuck?!” I yell. RD looks back.

“Are you serious…?!” She says in disbelief. I go back and I kill one of them while Rainbow Dash kills the other one. We both hit their heads with our bats and they fall out of the sky.

“They can fucking fly now, since when?!” I ask, like anyone would actually answer.

“I don’t know… but we gotta get to Rarity’s fast.” RD says. We make our way to the Carousel Boutique and we get to the front door. RD knocks on the door. “Rarity you home?” She asks. The door opens up with a gun pointed at us.

“O-oh it’s you guys…” Rarity puts down the gun and hugs all of us.

“Rarity we need to get out of here, get Sweetie Belle and let’s go!” I say.

“Why? We’re fine here by ourselves.” Rarity says.

“You seriously wanna survive by yourself out here? Think of Sweetie Belle… we have Scoots back at my house… we can just go back there and she can be reunited with one of her best friends… just like you can be reunited with us… we’re just gonna go get Pinkie and go back to my house with supplies from Sugarcube Corner.” I say.

“Alright fine… but can I-” She tries to say.

“No you can not bring your dresses. The world is ending and you’re still worrying about dresses?” I ask. She just gives me an ugly look and goes back to pack some things and a few minutes later we see her come downstairs with Sweetie Belle. “Hey Sweetie Belle, you ready to see Scootaloo?” I say putting a smile on my face.

“Yeah!” She says excited.

“So just by going by you only having baseball bats you don’t have any guns at your house do you?” Rarity asks as we start walking.

“No…” I say.

“Well good thing I packed some then… along with ammo.” She says.

“Where did you get all of this stuff Rarity…?” RD asks.

“Oh I’ve had this in a secret compartment just in case.” Rarity says. She looks at me. “So I’m guessing BrokenFlare is there too then…?” She asks. I blush a little bit.

“N-no he’s not there, it’s just been me, Rainbow, and Scoots for the last few weeks…” I say looking down. “I do hope he’s okay though…”

“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad darling…” Rarity states. She puts her hoof on my shoulder. “I’m sure he’s fine…” She says. I nod and we continue on. We get close enough to Sugarcube Corner.

“Alright so here’s the plan… we go in and see if Pinkie’s okay… and then we grab whatever food is left and we get back to my place, understand?” I say.

“Who died and made you leader? Twilight’s the one who shoul-” Rarity tries to say.

“It doesn’t matter, she’s not here is she?” I argue. Rarity backs off and we continue. We get to Sugarcube Corner but the doors were already open. “The hell…? Rarity give me a gun…” I say.

“Why?” She asks.

“Just give me a gun!” I demand. She gives me a gun and I walk in slowly to find raiders bodies. “Holy shit… what happened here…?” I ask. We go deeper into the building and we see that some of the food has been taken. “Are you serious…?”

“Well I guess somebody really wanted the food here huh…?” Rainbow comments. We go upstairs to find the Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s room… there they were… lying dead on the floor covered with bullet wounds… even one straight through the brain.

“Why would somepony do this…?” Sweetie Belle says. Rarity shields her eyes so she can’t see. “Rarity I’m fine…” She says lowering her hoof. I look at the group. Fluttershy hasn’t said a word since the cottage… I would understand if she was traumatized.

“These ponies must have really hated the Cake’s…” I say with my ears perked down. “We need to see if Pinkie’s okay…” I lead the group down the hallway and we get to Pinkie’s room. “Everypony stay back…” I say. I turn around with gun in hoof and buck the door open. What I saw inside… was not what I expected at all…

Chapter 4: Made To Suffer

As we aproach Sweet Apple Acres the area feels more and more uncomfortable. “Well this place got creepier over the weeks didn’t it?” I ask Rainbow Dash.

“Sure did…” She says as we approach the door.

“I really hope Applejack’s oka-” I start to say but we hear a gunshot from inside. We burst in and we see Applejack with a gun, holding a dead Applebloom in her arms with her brains blown out onto the floor. She aims at us quickly hearing the door being slammed open. She realizes it’s us.

“Oh… hey ya’ll…” She says sadly looking back at Applebloom.

“Aj… w-what happened…?” I ask. She tells us how Granny Smith got attacked by a group of trotters. “Oh Applejack… I’m… I’m so sorry…” I look over to RD and I see her with tears in her eyes.

“Come here…” Rainbow Dash goes over to her and hugs her. “What about Big Mac?” Applejack starts to sob slightly.

“H-he went to go find supplies…” Aj says. “He hasn’t been gone long… then Applebloom got a fever and…” She starts to cry trying to finish what she’s saying.

“Don’t cry…” RD reaches out. “You don’t need to say anymore…”

“We should get out of here…” I say looking outside, seeing trotters coming up to the farm. “now!” I yell. They both get up.

“W-what if Big Mac comes back?!” Aj yells. I sigh.

“We’ll leave a note…” I say, I get a piece of paper out of my saddlebags and write a note saying “Go to Ash Windheart’s place.” “There. Now let’s get out of here!” I say running for the doors. Before Aj leaves she takes one last look at Applebloom’s body.

“We’re halfway there.” I say. I look at Applejack. “You wanna talk about it…?”

“No…” She says. “You said Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle we’re at your place…? How am I gonna tell them…” She says tearing up.

“... I’ll do it…” I say.

“What…?” Aj replies.

“I’ll tell them… you’ve been through enough…” I tell her.

“Thank you… thank you so much Ash…” She thanks me.

“Anytime.” I reply giving a smirk. We get to the front door of my place and go inside.

“You’re back!” Scootaloo yells as she comes and hugs me and RD. “Applejack you’re here! … Where’s Applebloom…?” She asks looking worried.

“Go and rest… you deserve it…” I tell Aj. “We need to talk…” I tell Scootaloo. “You too Sweetie Belle…” I say calling her over. We go into the kitchen where Fluttershy and Rarity were talking.

“Oh you’re back.” Fluttershy says.

“Yeah… hey can me and the girls have a minute…” I ask them.

“Of course darling.” Rarity says. They both get up and once they leave the room me and they girls sit down.

“Applebloom… Applebloom is dead…” I tell them. They didn’t speak. They didn’t say a single word. They both got up and went to the room where Aj was. I follow them as they go in and I see them go over to her and just stand there… tears starting to form in their eyes. They start to cry, Aj also starts to sob as all three of them hug… and all I could do, is watch feeling awful and sad… as tears finally fill my eyes fearing for what will happen to us all in the end…

Chapter 5: The Heart's Desire

“We need to find BrokenFlare, starting tomorrow.” I say to the group minus Applejack, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Rarity nods in agreement, but I know her intentions are not good. She knows nothing about him, and yet she's determined to have him for herself. Too bad we're already together, he and I. Well not yet but I'm sure he will know how much I love him, and I'm confident he feels the same.

“But what about Twilight?” Fluttershy speaks up.

“Yeah, I mean she is the smartest out of all of us.” Rainbow Dash states.

“Gee thanks RD. Anyway we are finding him first.” I try to argue.

“But Twilight would be a tremendous help from the group Ash!” RD argues back.

“And Broken wouldn’t?!” I yell.

“That’s not what I’m saying! Ash you have to think about the group not yoursel-” She tries to say.

“Don’t give me that shit! I put down Pinkie, and I had to tell those poor fillies that their best friend was dead!” I argue. “I deserve to have at least this ONE thing to make me happy, this ONE fucking pony who cares about ME more than anypony!” Rainbow Dash punches me.

“Fuck you!” She yells. “You don’t know anything! I had to KILL SCOOTALOO’S PARENTS ASH!” I sit there in silence.

“Okay… we’ll find Twilight… but THEN. THEN we find him, understand…?” I say. The group looks at me and nods, all except RD.

“What happened to you…?” She asks. I just stay silent. She scoffs. “Whatever…” she says walking off. Everyone goes to bed but I stay up… thinking. It’s the next morning and I didn’t sleep AT ALL.

“When’d you get up?” I hear Scootaloo ask. I look at her.

“Earlier.” I lie.

“You okay?” She asks.

“I’m fine… just tired.” I look at her smiling.

“Will things go back to normal…?” She looks down.

“I’ sure it will…” I say unsure. “I mean we can only hope Celestia is planning something to stop this outbreak…” RD walks out into the kitchen.

“Morning.” She says tiredly. I stand up.

“Rainbow… I’m so-” I try to say.

“I don’t want to hear sorry, I’M sorry for slugging you in the face.” She says looking at me.

“It’s… it’s fine…” I say looking down, I was asking for it… and I deserved it…” She walks over to me.

“No you didn’t…” She kisses me on the cheek. I blush a little.

“What was that for…?” I ask as she walks away.

“You’re the strongest one out of all of us… stay strong.” She tells me walking out of the room. I look at Scoots’.

“What was that about?” She asks.

“I… I don’t know.” I say looking back at the door.

A few hours later, RD and I are ready to go find Twilight. “You ready?” I ask her. She nods and we go out to the main room. “Alright everypony, we’re going to go find Twilight… stand guard and we’ll bring her back safely.” I say. The group nods and me and RD head out the door. “Fly or walk?” I ask her.

“Fly, we gotta hurry.” She says going into the sky. I follow her going in the direction of Twilight’s library.

“What if she’s not there?” I ask.

“She will be, she’s gotta be.” She says as we almost get to the library. After a few minutes of flying we finally get to the library. The door’s locked.

“You do the honors this time.” I insist.

“Why? You’re hooves sore from bucking all the other doors?” She chuckled.

“No, I’m just saying you wanted to find her you should do it.” I say smiling. She nods and bucks open the door. We get inside and books were everywhere, no seriously they were absolutely everywhere, like all over the place. “Twilight?! You here?” I try to get her attention. Silence.

“Maybe she’s upstairs…?” Rainbow suggests. We move closer to the stairs but we see something being covered by a blanket. “What’s that?” She asks. I go over and it starts to move.

“What the hell…?” I say going closer and I reveal the creature underneath… it was Spike… impaled into the floor, zombified… not even “dead” or what you consider that these days. “Fuck…” I say just staring.

“Want me to do it…?” RD asks.

“No… I’ll do it…” I say.

“Sooner or later the “putting down” job is going to mess with your head Ash… make you something you’re not…”

“And when that day comes… I’ll be ready.” I say as I take a knife I grabbed before we left and jabbed it right into the baby dragon’s skull. “Nopony deserves to live like this…” I say. I turn to see Rainbow tearing up. I put my hoof on her shoulder. “Come on… we have a friend to find…” She nods as we then go up the stairs. As we go upstairs we hear a familiar voice, it sounded like Twilight… who would she be talking too…?

“N-no! This can’t be right! There has to be a way to fix this… there HAS to be!” Twilight says like she’s crazy. We see that the room is even MORE of a mess than downstairs.

“T-Twilight…?” I say. She looks back.

“W-who’s there?!” As she turns around she grabs a shotgun and shoots it, almost hitting me in the face. She takes a good look at us. A-Ash…? Rainbow…? Oh Celestia I’m sorry… I thought you were bandits…”

“You look like you’ve been through shit…” RD says. Twilight looks at her table with a lot of papers on it.

“I’ve… I’ve been trying to cure this…” Twilight says looking down.

“C-cure?!” I say loudly. “Have you made anything?!”

“Yeah… but it didn’t work…” She says.

“Who’d you try it on…” RD asks.

“... Spike…” She says sadly.

“Oh…” My ears flop down. “I… I put him down…” I speak up. She looks at me disgusted and smacks me.

“YOU WHAT?! YOU KILLED HIM?!” She gets in my face.

“What else was I supposed to do?! Leave him there?!” I argue back.

“We can make a cure!”

“And if not?! You’re really gonna let him sit there, probably suffering?! He was your best friend and you let him sit there, IMPALED!” She slaps me again.

“Shut up!” Twilight yells.

“Guys stop it!” RD interrupts. “Let’s get back before it get’s dark…” She says.

“Fine…” I say, holding my face from being smacked twice.

“Go where…?” Twi asks.

“My place.” I say.

“Seriously? Why not stay here?” She continues.

“Because everypony else is there.” I say back. I continue on out the door, seeing a few trotters along the way. I stab a few with the knife while RD bashes their brains in. Blood splatters everywhere getting on my hooves and RD’s face as she smashes them with a bat. Twilight just stands in the background watching, being horrified. “What are you doing?” I ask looking back after killing another.

“Y-you’re killing them…?” She says like she’s surprised.

“Uh… yeah…? What else are we supposed to do? Let the EAT US?” I say back.

“C-can’t you spare them…?” She asks.

“What? Seriously?” I say surprised.

“Yes. Because if we have a cure we can cure them!” She babbles.

“Look Twi… just because you’re back… doesn’t mean you’re the leader. I am. And we are going out of here to find Broken TOMORROW. Right Rainbow Dash?” I look at her, blood on her face.

“Yeah, we found Twi, now we find your little crush.” She says jokingly.

“W-what?!” I say surprised to hear that come out of her mouth.

“I’m just fucking with you.” She leans in. “But seriously, with what happened last night it’s easy to tell you do have a crush on him.” She says winking. I blush hard. About 30 minutes later we get to my place. And we head straight for the door.

Chapter 6: My "Friend"

It’s been a two weeks since Twilight’s been here… she hasn’t been liking the way I do things… I can see it. Before the trotters came she was the “leader” so I bet she’s just plot hurt. She insists we stay in Ponyville till Celestia sends guards to take care of us and bring us to safety. But I have no reason to be here, BrokenFlare’s house was completely abandoned… he must be somewhere else… maybe he went towards Canterlot… maybe it IS safe there… maybe things are... normal… but I have to look for Broken… Twilight thinks it’s a waste of time. Of course Rarity wants to help, RD promised me she’d help after we found Twilight, and the others have been helping too. We searched all of ponyville. Twilight won’t too keen on going with us. She told us to not kill trotters but of course we did anyways because if we didn’t we’d be dead. Twilight thinks she can “cure” these things and I just don’t think that’s possible… it’s been a little over a month since this shit started and it’s getting colder by the day… I don’t know how but the clouds started moving by themselves without help… we’ve actually started going into the Everfree forest to hunt animals for food…. Fluttershy was surprisingly fine with it but with what she had to do to survive I guess she just got used to it. Right now we have a decent amount of food for at least a few more weeks. As long as nothing happens… I think we’ll be alright.

“Ash!” I hear Rainbow call me. “He’s nowhere to be found!” She says as I kill a few trotters. I walk over to her with blood all over my face.

“He… he has to… there’s no way he’s gone…” I say looking down. “He HAS to be here…” I say.

“Ash… we’ve looked for two weeks… he might have left…” She says.

“Do… do you think Twilight was right? Right about Canterlot being safe?” I ask eager. After Twilight came to the group she told us Canterlot was taking in survivors by the order of Celestia. She said she knew because before spike became zombified he had a letter delivered from her. All we can do is hope that’s true otherwise… we’re fucked.

“I don’t know… but if it was why would she want us to stay here? You’d think she’d WANT us to go there… right?” She says as I nod to her. She puts a hoof on my shoulder. “We’ll find him Ash.” She gives me a smirk. “I promise.” I look at her with a smile.

“Yeah you’re right. She wouldn’t lie to us. I mean… you’d think we’d would have had a letter from her by now though…” I say. “I mean… if it was safe they should have been here by now…”

“Yeah you’re right… maybe we should ask her when we get back?”

“Yeah... “ I sigh. “I can’t believe he’s not here…” I look down.

“I’m sure he’s fine…” She says trying to comfort me.

“Yeah… let’s just get back home…” I say as me and her start to fly back to my home turned into home base for us at the moment. Twilight put a shield around it so nothing without a heartbeat could get past it, it’s nice. It really is. Because now we can finally sleep without worrying trotters will get through and rip our guts out. Anyways we get back and I go over to Twilight. “Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?” I ask her.

“Um… sure, what about?” She asks me.

“Just follow me.” I say calmly. I start to walk to my room where Aj is. Losing Applebloom really took a toll on her… she’s barely eaten… and I worry about her. “Applejack… can you step out for a moment…?” She looks at me.

“Sure sugarcube…” She says with no feeling in her voice. She leaves and I close the door.

“I feel sorry for her…” Twilight says.

“Yeah…” I say clearing my throat. “So… anything from Celestia?” I ask.

“Not yet…” She says.

“Yet? You mean she WILL send something?”

“I don’t know… maybe. But it takes time…”

“Time? Are you shitting me? The leader of Equestria know’s her star pupil is alive and it’s gonna take time?!” I yell but not loud enough so the others will hear.

“W-well… I…” I slam on my night table.

“Well what? You know, how do we even know they’re safe anymore?”

“They’re fine! This is celestia we’re talking about! If we stay here and study these… “trotters” you’ve been calling them, I’m sure we’ll get an antidote.” She argues back.

“And if not? If you’re doing this all for nothing, I appreciate what you’re doing with your magic, protecting the place. But I want to see that letter she sent you when this all started.” I say.

“I told you I don’t have it anymore… it might be at the library but-” Just as she was about to continue she started to look like she was in pain… really bad pain. She started screaming.

“T-Twilight?!” I yell as I hear two more ponies scream in the other room. I run out and it was Rarity and Sweetie Belle, they were on the ground in pain. Like, pain I have never seen before. Scootaloo and Fluttershy were beside Sweetie and the others were by Rarity. I felt a surge of energy go through me, something… different from anything I’ve ever felt myself… but Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Twilight stopped screaming and they started breathing heavily which eventually turned into calm breaths. I looked outside to see if any of the trotters heard, luckily none of them did, but something was wrong… the shield around the place that was protecting us from being attacked has disappeared. “W-what…?” I say surprised.

“What?” RD asks.

“The… the shield is gone…” I say.

“... What…?”

“Yeah, it’s gone. Poof. Gonzo.” I say as Twilight comes out.

“That can’t be…” She sounded really weak… “My magic shouldn’t just be gone… if that’s failed then…” She says going as fast as she can out the door and to the back. I followed and I found her crying. I turn the corner and the garden she planned to make. All of the seeds she brought from the library that she experimented on with magic to make them grow without water were no longer there. “How… how can this be…?”

“I don’t know Twilight… but we need to get back inside…” I say putting a hoof on her shoulder. She smacks it away.

“Get your hoof off me…” She says getting up. “I don’t need your help…” She goes inside. I stand there looking at the by now gone farm and I can do nothing but feel bad. I go back inside and sleep… that’s all I can think to do… is sleep.

A few days have passed… food is slowly running out… the girls’ magic is just… gone. They can’t do magic anymore. Sure Rarity and Sweetie Belle don’t NEED it but Twilight? She was addicted to using magic, it was her element and her cutie mark after all. It makes me wonder if that means ALL magic is gone in Equestria… well it doesn’t matter… we’re leaving and I’m going to try and find BrokenFlare if it’s the last thing I do…

“No.” Twilight says.

“What? No? But Twilight there is NO reason to stay here.” I argue. For the past few days me and Twi haven’t been on the best terms… she is trying to act like the “leader” when there shouldn’t be a leader persay. I mean I am one of the youngest ponies of the group, being 17 and all. I mean Scoots and Sweetie are both 14, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are 19, Twilight is 20, and Applejack and Rarity are 21. I may be the youngest or at least 3rd youngest but hell, I’ve put down a lot of my friends the past month… I feel like if all else fails I could lead this group to survive this catastrophe.

“I said no. We’re staying here so I can work on-” She tries to say.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Are you seriously gonna sit there and tell me you’re still working on that stupid antidote. Twilight that’s NEVER going to happen…” I say and then she gives me a face looking like I crushed her dreams…

“Look… all I need to do is go back to the library and get some of the research. Hey, you can even come along. Look for that letter from Celestia you wanted so badly a few days ago.” She says. I give her a dirty look. We’ve been at it for days, arguing. Why would she want me to go with her?

“Sure…?” I say unsure.

“Great! Let’s go tomorrow!” She says excited.

“Tomorrow? Why not now…? I mean sure you have no magic but you know I can protect-”

“We. Leave. Tomorrow.” She says.

“Fine, fine…” I say. “I’m at least gonna pack tonight.”

“That’s fine.” She says. “So will I.” She says. “Go pack.” I give her a blank look. I leave and I tell everyone what’s going down.

“Can’t I come?” Scootaloo asks.

“No. Too dangerous.” I say back.

“But come on. You trained me how to use a gun, I’ll be fine.” She says. It was true. Me and Rainbow both taught her how to use a gun, and I gotta be honest… she isn’t that bad at it either.

“I know you would be… but me and her need to talk okay…?” I say putting a hoof on her shoulder. She looks at the floor and sighs.

“Fine…” She says going over to sit on the couch with Rarity and Sweetie Belle. I feel bad for her… she just wants to help but… it’s just too dangerous… if something were to happen to her… I couldn’t live with myself… Applejack walks up to me.

“Hey sugarcube.” She says.

“Oh, hey Aj. Uh… how’re you doing…?” I ask concerned.

“Good… well, better than I was…” She says looking down.

“I’m… I’m sorry about Applebloom… I’m sure we’ll find Big Mac…” I tell her giving her hope. She looked at me with hopeful eyes, eyes I haven’t seen in forever. For the weeks she’s been here you couldn’t even tell if she was sad or anything, she had no feeling in her eyes… but the moment I saw those eyes, I knew she had a little hope left.

“Yeah… I’m sure he’s just… hold up somewhere… waiting…” She says. I put my hoof on her shoulder.

“We’ll find him… I promise.” I know right then and there, it was a promise I couldn’t keep.

“Thank ya Ash… for everything…” She says giving me a warm hug.

“Hey, you don’t have to thank me… everything’ll be fine.” I say patting her back for comfort. “You gals are the only thing I’ve got right now… you’re family. Now… I gotta get some sleep… me and Twi are gonna go to the library tomorrow and trying to see if she can get research… but I’M going to see if the Canterlot thing is legit…”

“You don’t think it is? Why would she lie?”

“I don’t know… but I’m going to make sure that it is. And if I can’t find it. We’re going to go there anyways.” I say going past her.

“Ash…” She says. I turn to her. “...be careful okay…?” I nod and proceed to pack. I pack a shotgun and a few other supplies, including one of the knives from my kitchen and stick them all in my saddlebags. Knife hanging from the bag with my shotgun from Rarity’s place from the beginning in the bag sticking out. I go over to a sleeping bag placed on the floor, I lie down. I’ve been letting all the girls take turns sleeping in my bed… but I’ve been letting the fillies sleep in the bed whenever, so whoever sleeps there has to share with them. I close my eyes and before I knew it Twilight was waking me up in the middle of the night.

“Alright let’s go.” She says whispering. It was so fucking dark. It must have been… four or something in the morning.

“What the fuck?” I rub my eyes. “What time is it…?” I say sounding tired as hell.

“Doesn’t matter. Time to leave.” She throws my saddlebags at me. My knife almost hits me in the face… glad it didn’t.

“Are you serious? Everypony’s still asleep and-”

“Ash… shut up. And let’s go. I’m tired of your moaning and groaning.” She says starting to leave. I get up put my bag on and I start to follow. We close the door and start heading to the library. I hear a door open and shut but when I turn around there was nothing in sight. I must be hearing things. I thought to myself. We eventually get to the library and there’s a hole lot of trotters around it. I look at Twi and I saw that sadness in her eyes as she nodded. “Do it. It must be done.” She says. As I walk over I see familiar faces… Derpy, Dr.Whooves, Cheerilee, Vinyl and hell, Octavia was there. I feel nothing as I hack their faces with the knife I brought. No anger or sadness… just nothing. I go in and all I see are more friends from Ponyville… fuck even the mayor was there. Lyra and Bon Bon were there… we should’ve hung out more often you know, but we didn’t. I take out everypony in the room.

“It’s safe to come in now!” I yell out to Twi. She comes in and gasps. “What?” I say as she points but it was too late. I turn and I just see a trotter lunge and me and I feel my knife fly out of my hoof and my shot gun slide out my bag. It flies over to Twilight. “S-shoot it!” She just stares. Watching. Not even trying to help or even panicking... just… watching. “SHOOT HIM!” I scream at the top of my lungs as she picks it up and shoots him in the head, leaving some of his brain and blood on my stomach and coat. “Thanks… you’re a-” I feel myself get hit in the face. I look up slowly and it was Twilight, holding the shotgun to my face. “T-Twiligh-”

“SHUT UP. I’m so TIRED. Of your little mouth YAPPING all the damn time!” She yells… I might have even felt some spit.

“W-why are you doi-”

“I SAID… shut… UP…” She hits me in the face with the butt of the gun. I stay silent. “What? No come back? Surprising. You really thought I brought you out here for research? No… I want you gone.” I stare at her intensely… nose bleeding. It hurts like a bitch. “YOU HEAR ME BOY? G. O. N. E, GONE.”

“O-okay… I-I’ll leave…”

“No… not that gone…” She cocks the shotgun. She puts it up to my head again.

“P-please… don’t…” Tears start rolling down my face.

“Or what? Huh? Is it gonna fix this? No. It won’t. Your life means NOTHING in this world. I’m gonna cure it you hear me? CURE IT.” The more she talked the more she sounded crazy. “And with your search for your little boyfriend out of the way… I can finally work in PIECE.”

“B-but what about the other’s… what’re they gonn-”

“OH I have a plan. I’m gonna tell them there were just too many trotters for ol hero Ash Windheart to handle. And well. He got bit. And well. I had to put him down.”

“So… all of this is just for… a cure…? You killing me will solve everything huh? You sure it’s not just because you’re not power hungry and you just wanna be lea-” She hits me again. This time blood pours out my nose and I spit out some blood.

“Fuck you mister “let’s find BrokenFlare so I can cuddlefuck him” you think I’m stupid? You really think I’m that blind to that shit?” She laughs. “Cause I’m not.”

“I-I didn’t say…” She hits me again. I think I’m getting used to it…

“For Celestia’s sake… SHUT THE FUCK UP! My god do you ever shut up?!” She shoots the head off of the now dead Bon Bon. “You see that? That’s what’s gonna happen to you in a few moments.” My wings flap. “You pegasi and your wings… you know what… maybe I should just… shoot them off. Yeah… make you feel real pain…” I shake my head no.

“P-please… can’t we just talk…?”

“Talk?! You mean how we talked a few days ago?! Or even yesterday?! That I’ll never get a cure…? Ooooh. I’m gonna enjoy shooting the shit out of you.” She cocks the gun back. “Any last words…?” I nod.

“If… if you do find Broken… can… can you tell him I died trying to find him…?” I say, heavy breathing from the pain on my face. She smiles devilishly.

“Sure pal. You died a hero. Now… see you in the next li-” I see her go to the ground as I see Scootaloo with a brick with blood on it. Twilight’s blood.

“Ash!” Scootaloo runs next to me.

“What are you doing here?! I told you it was dangerous!” I yell. I look and she brought a gun. I look over at Twilight and she gets up with the shotgun.

“You little bitch!” She runs at us. I grab the gun and the next thing I know BAM. I shot Twilight in the leg just in time. She falls down along with the shotgun. I get up handing Scoots the gun and picking up the shotgun breathing heavily, blood dripping from my nose and mouth. Twilight struggles to get up but I kick her down.

“You were going to kill a child?! You’re insane!” I scream at her. She looks at me and tries to spit in my face. I look at her sadly. “I… I thought you were my friend…”

“FRIEND?! Are you kidding? Ever since you and Rainbow found me you’ve been ruining my research. You think I’m your friend?!” She starts laughing like an insane person. “Just kill me Ash! DO IT. I know you want too!”

“Tell me… the Canterlot thing… is that…” I say, blood still dripping. She starts to laugh.

“You actually think it’s safe there? No. It was a lie.” I cock the shotgun. “The letter actually said that there was NOPONY COMING! That the guards weren’t going to help at all! Celestia has abandoned us!” I aim at her head.

“... Get out Scoots…”

“No.” Scootaloo said.

“No?” I say confused as Twilight just keeps laughing.

“No. I’m staying.” She says looking at me with a little blood on her face from the blast from Twi’s leg. I stay silent as I aim back at Twilight and I shoot her in the stomach. Blood splatters around us. Kind of refreshing not getting hit by blood but you know, my own blood was dripping from me. Twilight screamed and I saw trotters coming through the door. I grab Scoots and I go upstairs. I hear Twilight scream.

“Just kill me dammit! Don’t do this!!!”

“Sorry. Gotta let you feel real pain.” I say to myself opening the window, shotgun in bag and Scootaloo in my arms. Me and her eventually get back and they questioned why Scoots’ had blood on her face and I was so beaten up. I told them the story. Even the part about Canterlot. Fluttershy cleaned me up.

“There you go Ash.” She says patching my face up.

“Thanks…” I say, thanking her.

“So…” Rainbow walks up to me. “What now.” I look down and then look at the group.

“We try to find BrokenFlare… and then… we head to Canterlot.”

“But I thought it wasn’t safe…” Rarity says.

“We don’t know that… we just know that Twilight didn’t get a letter saying it was… ladies pack your things… we’re heading to Canterlot.”

Chapter 7: Emotion

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Chapter 8: Miles Behind Us

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Chapter 9: What Lies Ahead

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Chapter 10: In Harm's Way

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Chapter 1: Days Gone Bye

I sit at the table... thinking. Thinking about how to find the others... if they're still alive... Rainbow Dash walks into the room.

"Hey um... thanks for letting us stay here..." She says.

"It's no problem RD, you would've done the same thing for me, also I'd be pretty lonely without you gals here." I say trying to brighten the mood.

"Yeah... thanks for bringing in Scootaloo... after you telling me about her parents and..." She starts to say. "Hey what else would I have done?" I say smirking.

"So I was thinking... are we gonna go and try to find the others...?" I ask bringing the conversation back to business.

"I don't know... it's been a few weeks... what if they're..." She tries to say.

"They're not dead! I can't believe YOU of all ponies would think that." I say with disbelief.

"I know... but what if they are...?" She asks.

"Well... it'll just be us three..." I say. She looks down. I put my hoof on her shoulder.

"It's gonna be okay..." I say before she smacks my hoof away.

"The world is going to hell Ash! Innocent ponies are dieing and we don't know how this all started! It's not okay!" She exclaims.

"Calm down Rainbow... I'm sure somepony will stop all of this... Celestia's guards will take care of them all..."

"And if not...? What if it's never stopped." She interrupts me.

"They will stop it... don't worry..." I say in a hopeful voice.

I go to the window to look outside, not surprised I see a lot of zombies. "Well... we need to make a plan to find the others... we'll go tomorrow... check out Carousel Boutique, Sugarcube Corner, and maybe Fluttershy's cottage..." I say thinking.

"Yeah... I mean we can just fly there and-" She starts to say as Scootaloo walks out.

"What about me? I can't fly..." She says.

"Yeah... that's the point... you're staying here." RD says.

"You can't expect me to just sit here, what if they get in, what am I supposed to do buck them in the face?" Scoots argues back.

"She does have a point Rainbow..." I say. Rainbow Dash looks back and forth at me and Scoots.

"Ugh, Ash can we talk for a second...?" She asks me.

"I am not a child!" Scoots argues.

"You're 14!" RD argues back.

"And I'm 17 and you're 19." I interrupt. RD turns to me slowly.

"Not helping." She says annoyed. "Look... Scootaloo, I just don't want you hurt..." She goes up to Scootaloo and hugs her.

"I know Rainbow... and you're the only family I have... fine I'll stay here..." She says giving in.

"Thank you..." RD says. We all say goodnight and I let Scoots and RD sleep in my bed while I sleep on my couch. I look at the ceiling thinking about the plan when I eventually fall asleep.

Chapter 3: Decisions

“P-Pinkie…?!” I yell. The pink zombie turns around, moaning. Rarity shields Sweetie Belle’s eyes and moves toward the stairs to get out. “You two should go…” I say to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

“What are you gonna do…?” Fluttershy finally speaks up. I look at her.

“... I gotta put her down Fluttershy…” I say.

“No way I’ll do it!” Rainbow argues.

“No Rainbow get her out of here… I am doing this!” I argue back as the zombified pink pony gets closer. She looks at Fluttershy and then looks back at me. “I’m not gonna make you do this Rainbow… now get her out of here… I got this…” I say looking back aiming the gun at Pinkie’s head. Rainbow Dash takes Fluttershy out of the room with her crying a little bit. “I… I’m sorry Pinkie…” I say to her… if she even understood me. She gets close to me… then BANG… the gun goes off and blood gets on my face and the walls. Her body falls on the floor. I go next to her and a few tears come out of my eyes. I turn around and walk out. I go down the stairs to see Fluttershy crying on RD’s shoulder…

“So it’s done…?” Rainbow Dash asks. I nod.

“We need to see if there is still any food left…” I say with a sad voice. The group nods and we head to the kitchen. We get in the kitchen and a lot of shelves were open, it was raided. Let's just hope there’s something left… I think to myself.

“It looks empty…” Fluttershy mutters. We look around and we finally find a compartment with bread and vegetables in it.

“Yes!” I hear Rainbow Dash say.

“Grab them and let’s go.” I say. “We need to get back to my house, Scootaloo’s alone and I don’t wanna keep her waiting any longer than she has to.” I say getting worried about Scootaloo.

“She’ll be fine Ash, we could go check out Applejack’s farm today too.” Rainbow Dash suggests.

“Are you sure…?” I say to RD.

“Yeah, I mean we can have Rarity take Sweetie Belle to your place along with Fluttershy and me and you go to Sweet Apple Acres.” She says. I look at Rarity.

“I can do that, don’t worry darling I’ll make sure she’s safe.” Rarity says. I look back at Rainbow.

“Okay... “ I nod. “But we need to get there fast…” I say. She nods back and I walk over to the rest of the group. “Rarity take the food back to my place, take Fluttershy with you too.” I say.

“Got it.” Rarity says signaling Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle to follow her.

“Wanna walk or fly?” I ask Rainbow after we say goodbye to the rest.

“Let’s walk… I kinda wanna talk to you about something…” Rainbow says

“What’s up?” I ask as we start to walk to Sweet Apple Acres.

“...Why didn’t you let me… kill Pinkie…?” She asks. I could hear the nervousness in her voice.

“... Because I know it would have been hard for you… and I… I didn’t want you to deal with that…” I say to her. “I know you two were close… and I didn’t want you to kill one of your best friends…”

“Wasn’t she one of your best friends…?” She asks sadly.

“Yeah… yeah she was…” I say with a shaky voice. We walk a little farther just saying what’s on our mind about the situation as we get to our destination… Sweet Apple Acres.