The Trotting Dead

Shining Armor ran through the Las Pegasus streets, firing off at the undead chasing him. "Get the hell away from me!" He yelled, as some of them nipped at his tail. He reared up and kicked a single one in the jaw, which caused the jaw to fly off of the running corpse. Soon, he saw a military tank on the street. He jumped up on the mid-level, climbing up, terror in his eyes while trying to escape the jaws of the hungry undead. Quickly, he opened the hatch with his magic, and climbed in, slamming it shut. He sat on his haunches, breathing heavily, tears in his eyes from another near-death experience.

Suddenly, groaning was heard from behind him.

The stallion turned around, to see an undead pony in full militia gear. It growled and swiped at him, and Shining Armor felt like putting his leg into its mouth. Instead, he pulled his pistol back out, and pressed it to the undead's forehead, and squeezed the trigger.

It felt like a flashbang had gone off right next to him.

Everything was blurred, and Shining Armor had a seemingly incurable ringing in his ears. He fell down on his side, covering his ears with his hooves, tears in his eyes.

Hey. You in the tank.

Shining Armor looked around quickly, a panicked expression on his face.

Yeah, you. Look, the Trotters are distracted. You can run to your right and get out of there. I'll meet you in an alley.

"Who are you?!" Shining Armor shouted. "Show yourself!"

Shining Armor, please. Trust me. Run. Run while you can.

The white stallion opened up the tank's opening, and as the mystery creature said, they were distracted. Some poor deer was screaming loudly, as its bones popped and shattered under the jaws of the undead ponies, or the Trotters as they were called. Shining Armor climbed up, his hoofsteps loud on the metal of the tank. The sudden noise alerted the Trotters, and they turned their head towards him. The blood and entrails of the poor deer. Immediately, Shining Armor forgot about the bag, and instead jumped off the tank, bolting for safety. He skidded as he turned, losing at least two Trotters as they slammed into the wall and crushed their own skulls. As he turned into the alley, he saw a light coated unicorn mare. She had a red mane, with a lavender and purple stripe. He tackled the mare, shouting the first thing that came to his mind.

"How the hell do you know my name?!"

"Maybe if you'd get off of me so we won't become Trotter food, I'd tell you!" She shouted back, throwing him off with her pale purple magic. He hit the wall, and groaned as he stood.

"Psycho bitch..." He muttered, glaring at the mare.

She rolled her eyes. "Because you have so much room to talk about being a psycho bitch." She said, then cleared her throat. "Do you want to live or become their next fast food meal? They love it when you run."

"Living would be nice, I kind of like this body."

"Follow me then, Shining."

They walked into a department store, which had a display of ponies looking curiously at the white coated stallion.

"Hey guys. Shining Armor, this is Rainbow Dash," The rainbow named mare scoffed, "Big Macintosh," The big red stallion gave a bow at the Captain, "Thunderlane," Thunderlane smiled warmly at Shining Armor, "I'm Moondancer, and there's-" Moondancer was cut off by Shining Armor.

"Twily!" He shouted, grabbing the lavender Alicorn into a hug. "I thought I'd never see you again, kiddo!" He squeezed the mare tighter. Then, he cupped her face in his hooves, "Are you hurt? Did they do anything to you? Where's the rest of the Elements?"

Twilight's face seemed to fall at that question. "Well... I'm not hurt, and besides protecting me, they haven't done anything to me. But, Pinkie Pie and Rarity are back at camp. Rainbow Dash is here as you can see, and well... we don't know where Fluttershy and Applejack are."

"We're still try'na find Applejack, but, Ah think Ah saw Fluttershy as one of 'em before we came in this here store." Big Macintosh said, and the ponies around him nodded solemnly. All except for Rainbow, who coughed loudly.

"Hey, you shits need to calm down. I get that Twilight was just reunited with the original sparkle butt, yet you're drawing a crowd." She said, and almost threw a hoof towards the door. True enough, there was a pack of the Trotters were at the door.

"For fuck's sake..." Thunderlane whispered, stuffing some dog tags in between his feathers, seeing the look Shining Armor gave him. "It's for my little brother, Rumble. He always wanted some."

"Let me know if you find a snowflake necklace. I want one for Flurry." Shining Armor replied, and Thunderlane smiled, and opened his other wing, revealing a necklace with a snowflake charm hanging from it.

"Way ahead of you. She told me to get her one before we left for Las Pegasus." He shook the charm, then folded his wing. "I got Cadence a locket too. She wanted something to put a small picture in. Of who, I have no clue."

"You know Cadence and Flurry?"

"Better than the back of my own wing." Thunderlane nodded, just as a crack appeared in the first set of glass doors. He looked to Rainbow, who said one thing.

"Roof." Everyone looked at her like she was stupid, and she groaned loudly. "The roof. We have high ground there. We can make a plan before," The glass of the first set of doors completely shattered, "Before that." She sighed, and lifted herself on her wings, then shot up the staircase. Thunderlane followed suit, and then the rest of the group. Shining Armor stumbled on to the roof, seeing the group looking over the edge, nervous chatter among them.

"Oh my Celestia..." Twilight whispered, seeing the sheer amount of Trotters surrounding the store.

"We're all dead..." Thunderlane gulped.

"Not me!" Rainbow Dash chuckled, and opened her wings, stretching the feathers. "See you guys later! Maybe there's gonna be enough left of you guys to kick your undead asses later!" She got ready to fly, and Shining Armor slammed into her.

"What the hell's wrong with you?! You're the element of Loyalty for Luna's sake!" Shining Armor yelled, twisting the cyan mare's wing ever so slightly.

Rainbow Dash screeched, the pain of her wing being twisted almost to much for her to bare. She threw Shining Armor off, and stood over him. "I was. I was the element of Loyalty, but if you noticed, Fluttershy's dead! We can't use the elements without her. There's no reason for me to stay loyal if it's going to turn me into a meal!"

Big Macintosh tackled the pegasus, ripping her wing out of socket. She screamed loudly, kicking at the red stallion, only to no avail. Shining Armor grabbed hoofcuffs from his shirt in his magic, following Big Macintosh. The Earth Pony put her hooves around a rail, and the white coated stallion cuffed them to the rail, making sure she couldn't escape.

"Come back here you filthy mud! Get your ass back here!" Rainbow screamed, thrashing violently. Shining Armor scoffed at her, while Twilight looked mortified. "Twilight! Tell your asshole brother and that mud to get me out of here!"

"Say that word again. Say it, Crash." Thunderlane ordered. "Call Big Mac that word one more time and I'll personally kick your ass."

"I said, Big Macintosh is a filthy mud who deserves to be ripped apart by Trotters!" Rainbow yelled, a smug grin on her face, directed towards Thunderlane. The dark gray stallion kicked Rainbow in the jaw, and she laughed. "Ha... little... mud-loving... bitch..." She chuckled, and looked at Thunderlane again. "What? Gonna... beat my ass... right?"

A loud glass shatter was heard downstairs.

"Shining..." Twilight hesitantly looked at her brother, wrapping her hoof around Big Macintosh's. "Please don't do what I think you're about to."

"It's the only way Twilight..." Shining Armor said bravely, and then looked down at the intertwined hooves. "Mr. Big Macintosh, I'd appreciate it if you'd let go of my little sister before I have to use you as bait."

"Shining, he's my... coltfriend." Twilight blushed, almost forgetting the threat of Trotters.

Shining Armor would have done a spit take if he had the water. Instead, he glared at Twilight. "Missy, we are having a serious talk about hiding stuff from your BBBFF."

"You were in a coma in a hospital!"

The white coated stallion lit his horn, casting a shield spell to walk with him. He opened the doors, and began running down the stairs. As he started to run, he yelled one thing to his sister.

"I don't care! You need to tell me these things!" He slammed the doors shut behind him, and Twilight sighed loudly.

"Twilight, should Ah expect to get threats."

"And a talk about how foals are made and how to use protection." Twilight Sparkle sighed. "I'll be right back." She then picked to a trot, and followed her brother's trail.

Shining Armor ran out the broken glass doors, a herd of Trotters on his tail. He ran quickly, his hoofsteps unbelievably heavy. "This is getting old, really fast!" He shouted at them, before picking up his pace as much as he could. Shining looked over his shoulder, only to see the Trotters were still keeping up with him. He blasted the one nipping at his tail to pieces, before weaving down a street filled with empty carriages.

Scootaloo trotted into her camp, carrying a bag on her back. She set the bag down in front of a large carriage, something Flash called an RC. A recreational carriage, if she remembered correctly. The bag was teleported into the RC, and Scootaloo walked towards a certain pink Alicorn.

"Discord's fed, he won't be bothering us for a while." Scootaloo spoke, and Cadence nodded.

"Thank you, Scootaloo. I don't know how I'd get him to leave poor Flurry alone if it wasn't for you." Cadence smiled meekly.

"Cadence, what's going on? You look so... weak, I guess. Doesn't have anything to do with you-know-who, does it?" Scootaloo asked, concerned. She shifted the "made for wings" crossbow on her back, raising an eyebrow.

"I've been separated from love energy for far too long... Oh, I'm so glad Flurry isn't like me... She would have died in the first months..." Cadence replied, before slowly walking away. A certain orange stallion walked beside her, and nuzzled her cheek, putting a wing around her. The ex-Princess seemed to glow at this.

"Bullshit." Scootaloo seethed through her teeth. She then began walking towards Rarity's tent in the clearing. As per usual, fighting was heard from the inside. The orange mare poked her head in the tent, as Rarity quickly snapped her head towards Scootaloo, the make-up running down her face evident. "I need to borrow Sweetie Belle."

Fancy Pants glowered at Scootaloo. "Shut the fuck up, Stuffed Shirt, she's not even your daughter, don't get so what's the word..." Scootaloo whispered. "Pompous?" She smirked coldly. She then turned towards the teenage filly. "Come on, Belle. I wanna show you something." Sweetie Belle smiled, and took the hoof Scootaloo offered, and Fancy Pants snorted indifferently. "By the way, Rarity, Rumble wants you down by the lake. Laundry, I think?"

"So, what do you want to show me?" Sweetie Belle inquired, raising an eyebrow at Scootaloo. The orange pegasus laughed. She jumped on the unicorn, and they tumbled down a small hill. The white unicorn began giggling uncontrollably, Scootaloo's face inches from her's.

"Just how much I love you." Scootaloo smiled, and shook her mane out of her face. She then deeply kissed Sweetie Belle, giggling all the while.

Sweetie Belle quickly broke the kiss. "Scoots..." She whispered, and Scootaloo nodded. She stepped off of Sweetie Belle, feeling like pony scum.

"I'm gonna kill him one day, Belle." Scootaloo whispered. "Nopony... Nopony deserves what he does to you and Rarity-"

"Scootaloo..."

"If Flash won't do a damn thing about it I will, Belle!" Scootaloo yelled.

"If I won't do a damn thing about what?" Flash Sentry asked loudly, flying down to the mares. "I'm planning on a way to get rid of Fancy Pants."

"Kill his... pompous... stuffed shirt... ass!" Scootaloo shouted at the stallion, spreading her wings, instinctively stepping over Sweetie Belle to protect her.

"Okay, Moondancer..." Shining Armor whispered. After Twilight caught up to him and literally smacked some sense into him, he decided on an easier way to get out of Las Pegasus. He kicked out the window of a fancy sports carriage, and put the keys in the ignition. The alarm blared loudly. "You know how to drive a carriage?"

"I am a mare of the law, so yes, I've been driving since I was 17." Moondancer said, climbing into the carriage.

"Drive off and get them away from you. Drive to the camp. I'll take this box carriage with Thunderlane giving me directions."

"You don't have to tell me twice, I always wanted to drive one of these!" Moondancer chuckled, slamming the gas pedals. A horde of Trotters was following the car by the time she pulled out, and Shining Armor climbed into the box carriage. He drove to the Las Pegasus store, stepping out in front of the shattered glass doors.

"Thunderlane, passenger seat. Everypony else, all aboard!" He smiled, ignoring the loud shouts of Rainbow Dash, still on the roof.

"You can't just leave me, you stuffed shirt asshole!" She shouted as loud as she could, the hoofcuffs rattling as she twisted around.

"Do you hear something, Big Mac?" Thunderlane asked, attempting to quite the chuckle rising in his throat.

Big Macintosh smiled. "Eenope." He answered, as he helped Twilight into the back of the box car with a strong hoof. "Ah don't hear anythin'." He finalized, climbing in, shutting the back door as he stepped in.

Rainbow Dash screeched loudly. "You filthy... cock sucking... mud lover!" The statement was clearly directed at Thunderlane. At this rate, she'd be Trotter food before they knew it.

"I'll miss your gay pride parade hair, ya'know." Thunderlane shouted back at the cyan athlete, climbing into the passenger side, and then turning towards Shining Armor. "Go straight down the highway, I'll let you know when to turn." And with a nod, they were off towards the camp.