Among The Trotting Dead

Twilight stands by the gate to ‘Sweet Apple Acres’. Several yards from the orchard is the edge of the Everfree Forest – its dense brush and tower tree line fill her vision as she stares into its endless abyss. Never removing her gaze, she straps on her saddle bag.

Behind her, Shining Armor, Marley, Zipper, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Bolt are getting their own saddle bags on, as well as checking over their weapon of choice.

“Dang Nab it!” Twilight looks over her shoulder. “I can’t believe I total forgot about Zecora! She’s at Zecora’s!” Applejack growls, kicking a mound of dirt, left over by a gofer.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it.” Twilight gives Applejack a soft smile. “You had to worry about the others and making sure the orchard was safe.” She picks up the axe lying beside her. “We are in unusually stressful times…” She twirls the axe – her aura pulsing at it moves through it.

Applejack gives a smile as her acknowledgement as she watches her friend mess with the axe. “Worried you’ll have to use it?”

“Um…” She stares at the sharp edge of the axe. “Yes… I know their sick… Maybe fully gone… It just feels wrong that we have to think like this!” She holds the axe in her hooves.

“I feel the same way. They were once ponies who had a life before they became sick…” Applejack looks at the knife strapped to her left front hoof. “Now all they care about is killing other ponies…”

“How do you…” Twilight feels sick. “Kill them?”

Applejack frowns. “You go for the head… Several good whacks to the side or back of the skull.”

“And the neck!” Zipper states. “It’s a messy affair, but it has to be done.” He holsters his machete over his back.

Macintosh walks up to the group. “So, are you ready?”

Applejack smiles at her brother and gives him a hug. “Yes,” She pushes a against his shoulder playfully. “We’ll be fine. If I remember, her home is not that deep into the forest.” She looks over his shoulders and watches Jiminy Jam and Willy Pete working over by the barn. “Dose the group know what to do?”

Macintosh smiles. “E-yep.” He frowns however. “Though the kids want to come along.”

“Just keep their spirts up.” Rarity hums. “We’ll be back home in no time.”

Entering into the Everfree, the group unholster their weapons and slowly trek into the dark maw of the forest. The trees create a dense blanket leaves, branches and vines so thick, that the light above barely cast its glow upon the forest floor. It didn’t help that the dense fog surrounding Ponyville adds to the darkness. “Why does your friend live in this forest?” Marley eyes the unnatural twisting trees.

“She likes the unusual the unknowns.” Twilight keeps her eyes on the dark patches through the trees.

“Now I know why the ponies of Ponyville never ventured into this place!” Zipper bites down on his shotgun’s mouth trigger piece. “Well except your friend.”

Twilight nods and looks up at Rainbow Dash flying above them through the branches.

Landing on a girthy branch Rainbow Dash squints her eyes, focusing on the jumbled horizon of the forest floor. Not seeing much to her left she looks to her right and sees three trotters stumbling about. A chill runs up her spine as she notices one of them is a small filly. Swallowing a lump, she looks over her shoulders at the ponies below and lifts a hoof.

Seeing her gesture, the group stops their climb. “What?” Bolt whispers.

Rainbow Dash extends three feathers on her left wing and moves her front hooves in a trotting motion. The group looks at one another with concerned glares before slowly climbing the remainder of the incline. At the summit, they look down the hill and watch the trotters failing to get themselves over several large protruding roots from an overly large oak tree. Twilight looks up at the pegasus. “Do you see Zecora’s house?” She whispers.

Rainbow Dash rips her gaze from the trotters and looks through the mass of trees. Not seeing anything through the dimly lit forest, she looks down at the group and shakes her head.

Grunting, Marley looks at the trotters with an angry glare. Raising his left arm, he cranks back the string of his hoof-mounted mini-crossbow with the cocking-crank and places a bolt in the groove of the flight-slide with his mouth. “Don’t worry folks, I got this.” He slides down the hill towards the trotters.

Twilight is about to stop him, when her brother lays a hoof on her shoulder. “He’s got this.”

She watches as he nears the trotters, who are unaware of his presence. Quickly he aims his mini-crossbow at the closest dead and fires, the bolt fly’s through the air and strikes the back of the trotter’s jaw, jamming itself through the underside of its brain. The dead goes down with a heavy thud which alerts the other two. Without panic, he quickly loads another bolt and takes aim, this time the bolt fly’s through the other trotter’s open mouth and lodges itself in the back of its throat. The trotter falls forward snapping its neck as its head makes contact against a large rock. The filly trotter is the slowest of the dead, her hooves fail at propelling her forward, she slips and sinks further into the mud. With a frown, Marley pulls out his machete with his mouth and jams it into the side of its head.

The group slides down the hill and walk up to Marley as he removes his blade from the trotter’s skull.

Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack stare at the filly’s lifeless corpse laying in the mud. Her pain-filled eyes stare back at her. They look away, tears form around their eyes as they think about their own sisters. The stallions on the other hand, look away from the filly and keep their eyes on their surroundings. For Twilight, looking at the filly brings back the memory of the teen colt trotter stuck under the putter-wagon. ‘How many children turned?’ She thinks to herself. With a shutter, she steps away from the filly and gets back on the trail. The group follows after her.

Macintosh sits on the porch watching the kids play a game of hoof-ball. Sunlight, Copper and Thunderlane acting as the referees. “Go Dinky!” Derpy cheers from the other end of the porch by a metal table. Macintosh look over at the mare and sees that she sits next to Dr. Hooves and Carrot Top who are playing a game of UNO.

He chuckles at her mannerisms and turns his gaze back to the game. Seeing his little sister Applebloom score a goal with a back-hoof kick, he smiles and stomps his hoof against the porch.

“I go down the latter?”

Hearing Jet Cloud from inside the farmhouse, Macintosh looks through the screen door.

“No, you go up!” His grandmother chastises the young stallion

“Oh…” He mumbles.

Lotus and Aloe giggle at his flat eared expression. Willy Pete, Jiminy Jam roll their eyes.

Laughing Macintosh steps off the porch and makes his way to the side of the house. “Soarin?” He looks up at the roof.

Soarin peaks his head over the edge with an upset look on his face. His wings and fur coat damp from the fog. “Yeah?”

“Wanna switch? I’ll take over.”

The pegasus gives a happy chuckle. “Thank Celestia!” He flaps his wings and lands next to the large earth pony, handing him his binoculars. “I need to warm up and dry my wings.” Big Macintosh gives a chuckle as he takes the binoculars. Before he can add a joke onto his friend’s statement, a figure in the fog near the road catches his attention. Soarin seeing his expression turns around and catches a glimpse of the figure. “Who’s that?” Soarin takes a defensive stance.

“I don’t know?” Big Macintosh replies as he stares at the figure. The figure stands a good two-hundred-yards from the farmhouse. It wears a brown cloke, in its mouth is a two and a half feet-long-thin-sword. “Alert the group.”

“And tell them what?” Soarin keeps his gaze on the figure.

“That we have a stalker…”

The air is thicker. Dense even. The group feels their fur stand on end. They shiver as they look around. The tree in this part of the forest are thicker in girth. Taller than the skyscrapers in Manehattan. Walking past one of these trees, the group stares at one of these trees, eyeing its roots weaving madly across the forest floor.

Nearing a ‘T’ section on the dirt path, Twilight stares through the dim, looking for Zecora’s home. A flicker shines through the dark. “I found her home!” She shouts.

“Keep your voice down!” Zipper growls.

Twilight glares at the stallion.

“Hey you two no need to start bickering!” Bolt huffs.

“Yes, no bickering!” Rainbow Dash states as she heads towards the flicker light.

Twilight and Zipper nod and follow the group.

Nearing the light, the mound of dark comes into focus. A single story domed-home shows itself. Dread falls upon the group as the home’s features come into focus. Soot and ask scar the outer shell. The windows are shattered. The roof is partially caved in. The front door hangs precariously from the top hinge. Only a lonely candle graces their presence with its warm glow.

“Well shit, you think your friends are still alive?” Zipper asks, looking at Twilight and her friends.

They feel a pain course through their chests as they step into the home.

The interior of the home is worse for wear. In the living-room and kitchen, the wood floors are caked in mud and broken glass. Burn marks and gashes scar the plaster walls. Several pieces of furniture are burned or broken. Unbroken jars and bottles dot the floor. Looking further into the home, they can see one of the three doors to one of the back rooms is wide open, it’s a bedroom, the bed within is robbed of its sheets and the cotton stuffing has oozed out onto the floor. The doors to the other two rooms are closed.

With a defeated sigh, Twilight shuts off her flashlight, allowing the dying candle light to fill the space once more.

Anger rises in Rainbow Dash as she takes in the sight. “Damn it!” She hisses, kicking a bottle across the floor with her hoof.

Rarity walks into the small kitchen and up to the sink. Looking into it, she stares at the layers of dust and grime that clung to its porcelain shell. “Looks like it’s been this way since the outbreak.”

Bolt looks at the candle by the window. “But what about the candle?”

“It could’ve been lit by anyone.” Shining Armor sighs. “Just look at the amount of wax that has melted already, whoever lit it, left long ago.”

Bolt huffs “But the rains should’ve killed the flame.” He looks at the dying flame dance with the soft breeze blowing through the window.

“Well let’s keep a lookout then.” Marley huffs, looking out the door.

Applejack sighs as she walks towards the back rooms, she looks into the opened bedroom. Her eyes gazing at the mold growing on its mattress. “They’re not here…” She looks back and sees the hurt in Twilight’s eyes. “No…”

“Twilight?” The unicorn looks over at her. Applejack can see the tears forming around her eyes. “Twilight… We’ll keep looking…” One of the doors squeaks open. The group looks at each other, their spines tingling. Slowly, Applejack walks up to the door. “AH!” The door violently swings open, slamming against the wall with a loud thud.

A figure jumps from the darkness and tackles her to the floor. Turning her attention to her attacker, she sees a zebra mare sitting on her stomach, pinning her hind legs with hers. The mare’s right hoof is raised over her head, a knife is tied to it. With a primal scream the mare brings down the knife. Thinking fast, Applejack blocks the mare’s hoof with hers, the knife hovering inches from her neck.

Shining Armor, Bolt and Twilight quickly ignite their horns and grab the mare with their magic. The mare panics and fights back, but their aural strength overwhelms her. With a grunt, they pin her to the ground. The mare screams out in fear and anger. Free from her attacker, Applejack scoots away from the zebra and holds a hoof to her neck. “Damn…” She checks for a cut, but finds none.

Rarity stares at the struggling mare and looks over her disheveled appearance. “It can’t be Zecora? Can it?” She slowly walks up to the zebra and moves her tattered oily mane from her eyes. The mare cowers from her touch and lets out a hissing moan. Tears come to Rarity as she sees the bruises and scabs dotting the mare’s face and body. Her starved form showing her ribs and pelvis. Sitting next to her, Rarity begins stroking the top of her brow. “It’s ok Zecora, it’s me Rarity, do you remember?”

The mare lets out a sob as her wild eyes stare at the white unicorn hovering above her. “Rarity?” Her cyan eyes tremble.

Rarity smiles. “Yes… Do you remember? I’m your friend? I would always come over for tea.” She smiles as she keeps up her affection. “I always loved the teas you made.”

“Tea? Friend?” The mare looks around at the ponies standing around her. “Friends?”

Seeing that Rarity is making progress, Rainbow Dash sits next to them and begins untying the knife from Zecora’s hoof. “Yes, we’re your friends, I’m Rainbow Dash…” She removes the knife and sets it down behind her. “That’s Twilight, Applejack, Shining Armor, Bolt, Zipper and Marley.” She points at each pony. Each member of the group gives a smile.

Zecora stares at each pony, her mind going over their names and faces. Blinking, she returns her gaze back to Rarity. “Rarity?” She tries to lift her arms to lay her hooves on Rarity’s cheeks, but seeing that several magical auras are trapping her limbs, she begins to panic. Not wanting to lose her progress, Rarity holds up a hoof, nodding to the unicorns to kill their magic. Twilight replies with a nod and deactivates her horn; her purple aura dissipates freeing Zecora’s arms. Her brother and Bolt are uncomfortable with it, but a glare from Twilight makes them comply.

Finally free, Zecora sits up and places her hooves on Rarity’s cheeks. “Rarity?” She moans, running her hooves along her cheeks.

Rarity smiles. “Yes dear, its me.”

A sob leaves Zecora’s lips as she turns her attention to Rainbow Dash, she runs her hooves across the pegasus’s cheeks. “Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow Dash smiles and gives a nod.

Whipping her head around to face Twilight, she reaches out her hooves and cries. Seeing the fear in the mare’s eyes, Twilight quickly makes her way to her and takes her seat beside Rainbow Dash. Zecora rubs her cheeks and smiles. “Twilight?” She looks over at Applejack. Quickly the earth pony takes a seat next to Rarity. “Applejack?” Both mares nod their heads.

Zecora gives the four mares a large smile, but as quickly as the loving gesture comes, it leaves as a torrent of sobs slip pass her lips. Tears fall from her eyes as a sense of dread takes hold. She clutches onto Rarity as her body shakes, her sobs are loud and short as she struggles to catch her breath.

Feeling her body temperature spike, Rarity quickly takes out her canteen from her saddlebag and pours some of the cool water onto Zecora’s back. “Shh… It’s ok… Your safe…”

“Tell her to keep her voice down!” Zipper hisses, looking out one of the windows, keeping an eye out for trotters. “She’s ringing the damn dinner bell!”

Rarity gives the stallion a harsh glare. “Clearly she’s been through hell!” She strokes Zecora’s back, trying to calm the mare. “Cut her some slack!” Marley gives her a scowl before returning his eyes to the forest.

Sighing at the two, Twilight looks over at her brother. “My magic is still a little weak to perform major spells, but I know a spell that could help relax her.” She points at his horn. “Could I borrow some magic?”

Shining Armor nods and activates his horn. A ball of blue aura floats around the tip of his horn. Lowering his head, he touches her horn with his, allowing his aura to flow into her. “Is that enough for your spell?” He looks down at her with a smile.

“Yes, thanks.” She activates her horn and walks up to Zecora, her horn glowing bright with her purple aura. Tilting her head, she touches Zecora’s forehead with the tip of her horn. Zecora’s body shivers from the amount of aura coursing through her body, her eyes close, her sobs dying down to a whimper.

Silence fills the room as Zecora falls into a deep sleep. The group watches her chest rise and fall with her shallow breaths. “I think this will be the best sleep she’ll have in a long time.” Applejack comments standing up.

Shining Armor picks up Zecora with his magic, placing her on his back. Taking out some rope from his saddlebag, Twilight gently secures her to him. “Is that to tight?”

“No.” Shining Armor replies, moving his limbs, checking her work.

“I say let’s get going, we don’t want to be here when the trotters show up.” Zipper states heading out of the house.

“Are you sure they heard her?” Rarity asks.

“I don’t want to take any chances…”

“EEERRRAAAHHH!”

Ear piercing screams echo through the forest. The group goes numb as they look out the windows. “What was that?” Twilight asks, her ears swiveling to locate the source of the sound.

“A galloper!” Shining Armor hisses.

“A what?” Twilight feels her chest get heavy.

“A galloper!” Shining Armor shouts, galloping out of the house.

“What makes it different from the trotters I’ve seen?”

“Imagine a trotter, but it’s pissed off!” He looks back at his sister.

“Very, pissed off!” Marley growls, pumping his shotgun.

The group races through the forest, jumping over roots and ducking under low hanging branches. Behind them are five gallopers, their crazed milky-yellow eyes glaring at them as they chase after the next meals.

Twilight looks back at the monsters. Their fur is coarse and patchy, their skin is pale. Their teeth an unnatural yellow and black. Their mouths oozing with foam.

“EEERRRAAAHHH!”

Her ears fold against her skull, their screams sound like hell itself.

Nearing the edge of the forest on the backside of the orchard Applejack breathes a sigh of relief. “Guys! We’re home!”

“Great!” Zipper looks over at Twilight. “TWILIGHT!”

She looks over at the stallion. “Yeah!”

“I need you to unzip my left-side pouch of my saddle-bag and pull out a pipe-bomb!” He points towards the spot with a nod of his head. Twilight didn’t press on the why or how a single bomb would kill all five of them. Igniting her horn, she unzips the pouch and pulls out the pipe-bomb. Studying it, she sees it’s a twelve-inch iron-pipe with both ends capped and a red plastic button on one end. “Pretty nifty isn’t it?”

Twilight gives the stallion a perplexed look. “What do you want me to do with it?”

“Glad you asked… Hey Shining, your sis is going to throw her first pipe!” He chuckles.

“Save the jokes for later Zip!” Shining spits.

“Fine…” He moans. “So, what I need you to do is press that red button and throw it off into the forest to your right!” Without hesitation, Twilight presses the button and throws it as hard as her magic allows her to.

She watches as the pipe-bomb disappears into the brush of the forest. “Now what?”

“Now we teleport! Shining, Bolt, Rarity, you can teleport the group to the farmhouse!” They nod their heads and activate their horns, combining their magic. In a flash, the majority of the group vanishes. Zipper and Twilight are the only ones left, running from the gallopers.

“What do we do?” Twilight gives the stallion a harsh glare.

“Teleport us halfway to the farmhouse and I’ll push the button on this!” He pulls out a small square cube with an antenna on the face and a button on its top.

Twilight growls. “I don’t know if I have enough to get us there… Its only been two days since I woke up in the hospital!” She activates her horn. “Damn it!” A bright white light engulfs them.

Zipper and Twilight appear from a ball of bright white light. Crashing onto the soft dirt fields of the orchard, they quickly get up and hide behind an apple tree.

Seeing the gallopers two-hundred yards away, Zipper curses under his breath and ducks behind the tree and presses the red button. Distant crackling and explosions echo across the land. The gallopers stop in their tracks and swivel their heads towards the source of the noise. Screeching to the sky, they rush into the forest.

Watching them disappear into the forest, Twilight lays her head against the apple tree with a heavy sigh. “Let’s never do that again…” Zipper chuckles as he offers her a hoof.

The children stare at Zecora lying in a bed from the doorway. Sadness washes over them as soak up her disheveled appearance.

“Come children it’s time for bed.” Derpy calls out. Carrot Top and Sunlight stand behind her, giving the children soft smiles. The children frown and slowly obey their elders. Spike and Applebloom on the other hand, look to their siblings, begging them to stay. Twilight and Applejack wave a goodnight and motion them to head for bed. Defeated, they slowly trek towards their rooms.

“Did you get a good look at this figure?” Shining Armor asks Macintosh.

“Naw… He sits down on the floor by the corner. “Soarin tried to fly over to the figure, but it slipped away into Ponyville’s Forest Park.”

Rarity who sits next to Dr. Hooves by Zecora’s bedside looks at the stallions. “Maybe we can ask Zecora if she knows who the figure might be?”

“I don’t know sugar cube? She might not be in the right state of mind to be remembering things.” Applejack sighs leaning against the wall. “She might struggle to tell us what happened to her.” She sets her hat on the nightstand. “Even if she remembers what happened, I doubt she would know this stranger.”

Twilight sits on the end of the bed. “Even so, we still need to ask her what happened to her at least.” He runs a hoof through her mane. “Clearly trotters didn’t do this to her.”

“If that’s true…” Rainbow Dash jumps down from the window bench. “Then we might have a group of bandits on the loose.”

The group bows their heads in thought. “Looks like the fence is on top of the list of priorities.” Shining sighs. Macintosh nods in agreement.

“Sorry for changing the subject, but our friend should be just fine.” Dr. Hooves picks up his leather bag of mismatched scavenged medical supplies, throwing it over his shoulders. “I placed some cream on her scabs and bruises, they should heal within the week. When it comes to her eating, we should give her small portions until she gets some of her weight back.” He heads out of the room. “I also gave her something to wake her up from her magically induced coma.” He gives Twilight a friendly frown before making his way down the stairs.

With a heavy sigh, the group walks over to Zecora’s bed.

“I’ll wait here until she wakes up.” Twilight comments

“Same, Rarity? Applejack? What say you?” Rainbow Dash asks looking at the ponies in question.

“Of course darling, I want to be here to hear her story, if she feels up to it.”

A heaviness leaves Zecora as she takes a long breath. Shivers dance through her body as consciousness comes back to her. Feeling the warmth of soft sheets consuming her body, her mind begins to wander. She feels off, like she isn’t supposed to be here. Nervous, she sits up. “Ah…” She hisses, bringing a hoof to her brow.

“Zecora’s awake.”

Freezing in fear, she begins to cower under her sheets.

“Did your sleep spell wipe her memory Twilight?”

“No… It shouldn’t’ve?”

‘Twilight?’ Zecora thinks. Her heart rate slows to a steady pace as she works herself up to open her eyes. Slowly she opens them, the candle light that surrounds her causes her to squint them. She groans as she allows them to adjust to the soft yellows and oranges that color the room.

Four figures sit around her bed, soft smiles sit across their faces. Their fur colors dulled out by the candle light. A pulsing migraine flows across her skull. With a tired sigh, she rubs the back of her head. Her eyes studying the figures. “Twilight? Applejack? Rarity? Rainbow Dash?” Her eyes bounce from mare to mare. She feels her heart getting heavy. “I wasn’t dreaming…” She finally takes her eyes off the mares and looks at her room, its plain, two paintings of environments hang on the wall. A window is to her left, a dresser hugs the left-hand corner and a nightstand is to her right.

“How are you feeling?” Applejack asks patting the mare’s left hoof.

Zecora takes her friend’s hoof in hers and rubs it. “I feel… ok…” She lets go and tries to sit herself up. Rainbow Dash helps her, placing some pillows to brace her back and neck.

“We’re just glad we found you when we did.” Twilight sighs. “You have a long recovery ahead of you.”

Zecora looks down at her chest and sees the slight outline of her ribs under her skin. She shutters, running a hoof through her mane. A chill runs up her spine as she feels her mane is no longer oily and dusty.

“Derpy and I gave you a bath. I hope you don’t mind?” Rarity smiles.

Zecora shakes her head. “No… Thank you…” She settles back into the pillows and gives a sigh. “I’m just glad my friends are alive… most of them… Where is Pinkie?”

“She’s with her family and the Cakes on her parents’ farm.” Twilight smiles crossing her arms, resting them on the bed. Zecora smiles and stares at the patterns of the sheet. Though, as the seconds pass by however, her smile turns into a frown.

“Zecora… Not to bring up painful memories… But, do you know what happened to Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asks, her magenta eyes looking into the zebra’s soul for answers. Zecora holds back the urge to let out a sob. Swallowing the lump that forms in her throat, she curls up and shutters a sigh. “Zecora?”

“I remember every horrible detail… I remember it all…”