THE TROTTING DEAD - Book One

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.”