PART ONE
As usual, it was a beautiful day in Ponyville. Spring had sprung once again, only a matter of weeks ago, the flowers opening their fresh faces to the open sky. A cool, fresh breeze blew through the main street and lifted a stray leaf to the sun above. But no one was outside to enjoy it. Inside one of the darkened cottages a small group of frightened ponies huddled, making no noise. Every once in a while one of them would quietly rise from the corner, and peek out the boarded-up window at the empty street beyond. In front of the houses, rusty red bloodstains could be clearly seen on the pavements, soaked into the ground after the gruesome massacre that had occurred only days ago. After what seemed like hours, a purple unicorn softly spoke up.
“I think it’s safe. It’s time to go.”
Nervously, the group stood. Twilight Sparkle, as usual, led the way, but it was a strange and motley crew that followed her. Applejack and Fluttershy still remained of the Mane 6, but the other ponies that trailed behind had never really been close to them; Vinyl Scratch, wheeling a small DJ booth and a bag of records over her flank, and Lyra, wielding a large metal pole in her front two hooves as she brought up the rear in a wary, upright pose. It seemed years ago that Winter Wrap Up had come about, the pegasi pushing clouds out of the sky overhead and the unicorns and Earth ponies also hard at work below. But now, things had changed. Not a sound could be heard; the birds had been consumed by the ravenous horde in the early days of the plague in their initial frenzy. Down the main street, the enormous tree that harboured the library loomed ahead. This was their ultimate goal, one they had worked towards for a number of days. A bead of cold sweat trickled down Twilight’s face. Looking around nervously, she could still see and hear nothing. But it would happen soon. It always did. Then suddenly, a chorus of voices arose from all around them. The bloodcurdling moans, gurgles and the gnashing of cracked yellow teeth. They descended from the roofs, windows and broken doors, their decomposing flesh simply falling off as they became caught in shards of glass and splintered door frames. The pegasi among the horde slowly flapped decaying wings, filling the skies overhead, billowing a stench that caused Fluttershy to dry-retch. The undead had arrived.
It was Applejack that reacted first.
“ZOMBIES!” she yelled, falling back into a defensive position. The others reacted with the agility and sureness that had already saved their lives several times, Fluttershy yelping as she darted behind Applejack, Vinyl immediately pulling a record out of her bag and setting up her booth, and Lyra snarling as she swung at a zombie that had already strayed too close for comfort. Only Twilight did not move to defend them; she galloped towards the safety of the library, where beyond the windows she had seen a familiar purple and green shape.
“Spike!” she called, racing to the doors. Suddenly, a powerful, sleek but decomposing shape fell out of the sky and landed in front of her, blocking the path to the library doors. Its wings, once powerful and immaculately preened, were now matted, almost completely broken and graying, its cutie mark still recognizable despite the deep bite marks and black scabs covering its skin. The thing that had once been Rainbow Dash raised its head and grinned at Twilight, baring blackened teeth and drooling an opaque grey slime that slowly dripped to the ground below.
Behind her, Twilight could hear the sounds of her friends fighting furiously, over the angry bass that Vinyl had begun to blast from her speakers. They had worked out together, over the few days they had spent running and hiding from the zombies, that overwhelming the senses of the undead disorientated them and left them more open to attack. All this passed through Twilight’s head in an instant, as she slowly backed away from the shell of her friend, concentrating as she focused her magic. She knew that pleading with Dashie would be hopeless; the undead could not be reasoned with, even with the magic of friendship behind her. Rainbow Dash shambled forward, grinning, her front hoof clearly broken. But she did not seem to even feel it. Twilight stopped, her horn glowing as she gathered up her energy. She closed her eyes, briefly, to complete the spell. But at that moment, Dash struck. Using her wings to lend her momentum, she closed the gap between them with remarkable agility. Bowled over, Twilight’s spell did not hit its mark, splashing over Rainbow Dash’s flank rather than her head. Immediately, the stench of sizzling flesh joined the reek of decay in the air, but Dash could not be stopped. Without a moment’s hesitation, she bent down, grinning as Twilight attempted to bat her away with her hooves. Her mouth opened and her teeth clashed with glee as saliva dripped down in anticipation of her meal. Twilight slumped, defeated. She knew her friends could not help her, not at this stage. But then, as she watched in despair, Dash suddenly froze and let out an unearthly moan. And then a wave of heat hit Twilight’s face, as a jet of green flame burst above her, quickly roasting Rainbow Dash’s face. Twilight scrambled out of the path of the flame, watching in shock as Dash fell to the ground in flames, decisively dead, to reveal the fear-filled face of Spike.
“Spike!” she exclaimed, and the baby dragon rushed to hug his friend.
“I was so worried about you!” she exclaimed, nuzzling against his spines. “How did you survive while I was gone?”
“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Spike waved a claw dismissively. “The library was quite easy to fortify, and then I just sat and waited. What took you guys so long? Where’s Rarity?”
Twilight looked down, downcast. “We… haven’t found her yet.”
Spike’s face morphed from one of relief to that of worry. Downcast, he pointed to Twilight’s friends behind her, surrounded by a heap of dead zombie bodies. “We should go see to them, I guess.”
Vinyl had turned off her speakers, and the scene before Twilight and Spike was worryingly ominous. As they approached, Twilight noticed that they were all huddled around a prone shape on the ground. Lyra lay, her flank mutilated by a horrendous bite mark.
“What are we going to do, Twilight?” Fluttershy softly squeaked.
“There’s only one thing we can do, Fluttershy,” Twilight grimly said. “Say your goodbyes to her, we have to put her out of her misery.”
The others looked horrified, but not shocked. Resigned, they quietly said their farewells to the green musician pony and waited as Twilight performed Lyra’s last rites, and quickly dispatched their friend with a well-placed energy burst to the head. With a final glance at Lyra’s now smoking, mutilated body, it was a small and subdued group that filed into the library.
Author's Note: If you'd like this series to continue, please comment and favourite! I'm not sure as to whether to continue this series and so any feedback/support would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
