Chapters Darkness Ensues
Applejack stood against the door of her beloved barn, frozen in fear. “Stop it! Please! Stay back!” Applejack begged. Applejack looked around the ground for ANYTHING to use as protection from her blood thirsty friend. Her eyes fell upon a stick, and she grabbed it. When she rose back up, the first thing she saw was the fires. They were all emitting from Ponyville. Applejack wondered if any of her other friends survived this catastrophe. Snapping back to reality Applejack raised the stick at the purple maned pony. The turned Rarity continued trotting towards Applejack. Moans escaped her mouth as she approached the quivering earth pony, leaving a trail of blood behind her mutilated leg. Applejack swung the stick as soon as Rarity got into range. The stick hit Rarity’s neck, and snapped. Rarity continued her assault, the stick having no affect on her. Applejack tried to run, but Rarity then pounced on her, and dug her teeth into Applejack’s neck. The last thing Applejack could hear was the sound of her friends teeth crunching with eat bite she took. She could see the fires from Ponyville growing ever so large, and then her vision faded to black.
13 Hours Earlier
The sky was blue, the flowers were blooming, and Twilight was coming back from Canterlot, she was called there by Princess Celestia early that morning. Twilight’s friends were there to greet her as she arrived. The first thing they noticed was that Twilight was extremely pale, even for her.
“Uhm, Twilight? You alright sugarcube?” Applejack asked, worried for her friends health.
“Yeah Applejack…” She took a long pause. “I'm alright! Everything's fine! I just.. Need to lay down..” Twilight’s voice lowered as she said that last phrase. She then continued to walk to her castle, ignoring the constant calls from her friends.
“That was..weird.” Rainbow stammered
“Yeah, it was wasn't it? I do hope she's alright, the poor dear.” Rarity expressed her concern.
After exchanging small talk,they all walked back to what they were doing before greeting Twilight.
Pinkie looked at the clock. It was 6:30 P.M, closing time. The day was going a lot slower than normal. It was noon when Twilight came back, and it seemed like an eternity has passed. As Pinkie started cleaning up, she noticed that there was commotion outside.
She first noticed what she saw as a fight. A stallion was on top of another, the stallion on top was snapping his teeth on the other. Pinkie was distressed once she saw the fight, and pulled the stallion off the other.
“Hey, stop fighting! That's not ni-” that's all she got out before the stallion dug his teeth into Pinkie’s leg.
The ponies around her pulled the stallion off Pinkie, many of them getting bit in the process, and held him to the ground. The group tried getting answers from him but all they got was various growls and even more teeth snapping.
Pinkie saw that they weren't going to get answers from him so she left and trotted to Rarity’s boutique, knowing that Rarity could stitch up her wound.
2 Hours Later
Rainbow Dash flew around the now darkening Ponyville. Night was closing in. She noticed that it was extremely quiet, even for the evening. Although, she could swear that she could hear very faint growling coming from...somewhere. She couldn't exactly pinpoint where she could hear it, it almost sounded like it was coming from everywhere. She disregarded the sound. She decided that she would visit Scootaloo at the orphanage. As she got closer she got an increasingly bad feeling. She didn't know why though, she felt like it was related to her encounter with Twilight, but she couldn't be sure. Those bad feelings became true when she heard screaming coming from the orphanage. Rainbow broke down the door, and almost as soon as she did 3 orphans ran out. She galloped down the hall and was about to run up the stairs, then she saw it. It was a filly, eating another filly. Adrenaline rushed through Rainbow’s body. She had to find Scootaloo NOW! She galloped through the bloodied halls, seeing the massacre that had unfolded. A scene straight out of a horror movie.
She busted down Scootaloo’s door and found something...unsettling. It was Scootaloo, in a corner, sobbing. “Hey Scoots, kid i’m here, don’t worry, nothing is gonna hurt you!”
Scootaloo didn’t respond to Rainbow’s comfort. Rainbow Dash grew ever so worried by the second, so she picked up Scootaloo and escaped through the window.
Rainbow Dash flew through Ponyville, except things were much different this time.. The screaming was louder now, and now she was able to tell where it was coming from...Everywhere… There were ponies on the streets, running, crying, and some… Were eating other ponies. In just a few minutes the streets went from empty to a massacre. The smell issuing from down below caused a gag reflex from Dash. She knew right away what it was. The smell of death..
Scootaloo seemed to snap back into reality in the midst of all the chaos and automatically held on tighter to Dash.
“Rainbow! What’s going on...I’m scared!” The filly cried into Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.
Rainbow felt like crying herself, the gore, the smell, and the chaos that was happening down on the streets were all enough to nearly break her, but Scootaloo and her friends safety was enough to make her hold on. She flew to Rarity’s Boutique, seeing as it was closest to the orphanage, and knocked frantically on the door, still holding Scootaloo. No answer. She knocked again, this time much faster, and much louder. No answer again… Rainbow Dash bucked the door down, and saw a sight that nearly caused her to pass out. The inside of the shop, was covered in blood. And Pinkie Pie, lay on the ground… Dead, her head looked like it had been crushed… Her entrails were completely exposed.. In fact, many of them seemed to be missing. Rarity was nowhere to be found. Rainbow only hoped that she managed to escape.
Not being able to look at the horrid sight any longer, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo flew to Twilight’s castle. She hoped that whoever was left of the six of them, met up there..
Author's Note
There should be another chapter up soon. Hopefully by tomorrow night
Rainbow Dash arrived on the steps leading to the entrance of Twilight’s castle. Rainbow’s heart was beating three times as fast as normal, she had no clue what was happening, and WHY it was happening. She reached the castle doors and knocked vigorously. No answer. She knocked again, but this time she heard Twilight’s answer
“Go away, please! If you try to come in I will not be afraid to hurt you!”
Rainbow could hear the fear in Twilight’s voice. She was about to open her mouth and say that it was only them, but something stopped her. What if that threat was true? She knew that Twilight wouldn't hurt her friends, but from what she heard, she couldn't be sure. What she heard in Twilight’s voice wasn't just fear, it was hysteria and desperation. The last time that was put together was when King Sombra returned. It was clear that he had gone insane, and was desperate to retake the Crystal Empire. They had just barely managed to defeat him.
If Twilight was serious, she risked herself, or even worse, Scootaloo. She stood there for several seconds before saying
“Twilight! Listen, it's me and Scootaloo, nobody else! Could we come in?”
She stood there for what seemed like an hour. The frenzy on the streets had only gotten worse as numerous fires had start, all out of seemingly nowhere. There was one huge difference though, a distinct moaning sound could be heard from what seemed like everywhere. Finally the door opened. There stood Twilight and Fluttershy, Twilight’s horn was lit, and she stood in what looked like an attack stance, while Fluttershy held a long knife.
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were taken back by the sight, that was until Twi and Fluttershy’s stance fell with relief.
“Oh Rainbow Dash, you're alive!” Twilight said as she hugged her friend. Rainbow and Scootaloo then walked inside the castle, and the doors closed from behind. They were quickly boarded up by Twilight’s magic.
“Twilight what's going on? Why is this happening?” Rainbow questioned.
“Rainbow… remember when I went to Canterlot this morning and when I came back I was acting odd?”
Rainbow Dash simply replied with a nod.
“Well, Princess Celestia called me and Cadence there to talk about a new disease… Well diseases spreading through Equestria. The first one is a highly regenerative, parasite. It waits for the host to die before it takes place. Then this is the part we don't understand, the parasite reanimated the brainstem and cerebellum. Then it brings back the Ventromedial Nuclei, which tells you to eat. That means than any infected pony has only the need to eat, and for some reason we don't understand, they only eat meat…” Twilight stays quiet for a few seconds before continuing.
“When the infected pony bites somepony, they not only spread the parasite, but another disease as well. It's highly lethal, and from what we could tell, was a method to kill any pony that survives a bite. The first symptom is a very high fever, then followed by extreme pain from what feels like everywhere in your body, then you lose nearly all strength, then finally it's followed by coughing up blood…. Until your body gives up and you die. Then the parasite takes charge and the cycle starts again…” Twilight trailed off as she said that last word.
“When we were there, one of the lnfected that we were experimenting on, escaped and killed the guards. Those guards turned and started attacking the other ponies. Celestia and Luna told me and Cadence to go back to our kingdoms and to attempt to control the infection…. But I failed and now Ponyville is burning. She told us to keep quiet to prevent panic, but now that I think about it it would be best to have told everypony to wait inside their homes until this blows over.”
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo stayed quiet for several minutes as they tried to process the information they had just received.
Rainbow Dash was about to break the silence, when Twilight spoke up. “The only way we know of to stop them, is to separate the brainstem from the rest of the brain. Either that or to damage it beyond compare. We've found that either blunt force trauma or impact magic works best.”
“Say that in English, Twilight!”
Twilight rolled her eyes before saying ‘'Basically you either hit their head hard enough to crush the brainstem, or use magic that will physically hit the head so hard it crushes or disconnects the brainstem.”
Rainbow Dash stood quiet, she realized the grim situation they were in.
“If it's that bad shouldn't we go and find Rarity, Pinkie and AppleJack?” Fluttershy spoke up rather confidently.
“Pinkie is dead, Fluttershy…” Rainbow Dash’s voice broke as she said that, she struggled to hold in her tears as she said that.
“Wait, what!?” Twilight stood shocked.
“We found her dead in Rarity’s shop..”
Everypony remained silent, all mourning the death of their beloved pink friend.
“I guess we should go then. I don't want to risk the others. Is everyone ready?” Twilight announced.
Everypony responded with a less than cordial “Yes.”
They all knew what they had to do, they would look around Ponyville for Rarity, and then once they found her, they would go to Sweet Apple Acres and pick up AppleJack and if they were still alive, AppleBloom, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith.
They gathered by the door to Twilight’s castle, mentally preparing themselves for what they needed to be prepared to do.
Twilight opened the door and they from there they galloped and flew, dodging the various infected ponies that they met.
The few that they couldn't dodge, Twilight blasted with her magic, killing them instantly. It hurt Twilight to know that she was practically killing her subjects and previous friends, but she had to. They were infected and were very much already dead.
AppleJack trotted along the path to Ponyville. She had heard a lot of commotion. She was just about to reach the main road, but then she saw somepony else..
Author's Note
I guess I have a slight explanation
My depiction on how the infection starts is (in my opinion) the most likely an actual zombie virus would come to be. The one thing I forgot to mention was about the frontal lobe, the frontal lobe basically controls rational thought and emotion. In this case, only the primal parts of the brain would be reanimated.
AppleJack trotted ever so curiously up to the figure she saw in the dark. She could hear the *clop clop* noise emitting from the figures hooves and it moved towards her.
“Hey there, what’cha doing out here so late at night?” AppleJack waited a few seconds for a response, but instead all she got was a moan. AppleJack moved closer to the now approaching figure. Then, light from the moon landed upon the face, and then AppleJack saw it. It was Rarity. Her eyes were glossed over, her left cheek was missing, and her horn looked like it was practically dipped in blood. Once Rarity stepped even more into the moonlight, AppleJack saw more of the hellish features of that was once Rarity. Her leg looked like it had been ravaged by an animal, and her stomach was ripped open. Her guts hung out.
At that moment, AppleJack sprinted to her barn.
Applejack stood against the door of her beloved barn, frozen in fear. “Stop it! Please! Stay back!” Applejack begged. Applejack looked around the ground for ANYTHING to use as protection from her blood thirsty friend. Her eyes fell upon a stick, and she grabbed it. When she rose back up, the first thing she saw was the fires. They were all emitting from Ponyville. Applejack wondered if any of her other friends survived this catastrophe. Snapping back to reality Applejack raised the stick at the purple maned pony. The turned Rarity continued trotting towards Applejack. Moans escaped her mouth as she approached the quivering earth pony, leaving a trail of blood behind her mutilated leg. Applejack swung the stick as soon as Rarity got into range. The stick hit Rarity’s neck, and snapped. Rarity continued her assault, the stick having no affect on her. Applejack tried to run, but Rarity then pounced on her, and dug her teeth into Applejack’s neck. The last thing Applejack could hear was the sound of her friends teeth crunching with eat bite she took. She could see the fires from Ponyville growing ever so large, and then her vision faded to black.
Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Scootaloo ran past Rarity’s boutique. There was no need to go there anymore. They had passed Sweetie Belle’s corpse not even a block away, nearly half her body had been mutilated and eaten. The scenes they saw as they made their way to Sweet Apple Acres was heartbreaking. The world seemed to go in slow motion, just long enough so they can see everything that was happening. In every direction there were dead ponies lying on the ground, dead ponies that had reanimated that were eating others, crying, and of all things, there was zero hope.
They were nearing the woods entrance to Apple Acres, when Twilight was practically tackled by one of the dead. Then, before the others could step into help, they were surrounded by them. Scootaloo was grabbed from behind and was pulled into the crowd of the dead. Rainbow Dash tried to grab Scootaloo’s hoof but the strength from them was too much for her. At that moment, something inside of her snapped. Her hoof went right into the head of the nearest one of the infected she could find. Blood splattered onto her as she brought down the ponies that were nearing them.
As Rainbow Dash dealt with them, Twilight managed to push the unnaturally strengthened undead pony off her, and unable to conjure up magic quickly enough, she stabbed the bloodied stallion in the head with her horn. She turned to her friends and saw Rainbow crush the head of one of the dead with her hooves. Twilight shot, almost blade like, sparks of magic at the rest of the dead. Those sparks impaled them and they fell to the ground, forever lifeless.
“SCOOTS” Rainbow Dash screamed as she saw the now mangled filly in her hooves. She sobbed quietly at the sight.
“I’m going to kill them all..” Rainbow Dash said, her voice full of anguish and hatred. “I'm going to FUCKING KILL THEM ALL!” she screamed profanities and curses at the wandering undead for a solid minute before Twilight interfered.
“Rainbow! I KNOW you’re angry, but if we don't survive this, her death will be in vain! Do you want her to die for nothing?!” Twilight asked firmly.
The words sunk into Rainbow, rather reluctantly, and she very slowly got up and started to walk with the others with her head hung low. Then, she heard a soft growl. Very slowly, all of them turned around, only to be greeted by a terrifying sight. It was Scootaloo,. getting up from the ground.
“No..NO NO NO NO NO!” Rainbow Dash screamed. Scootaloo was turning. “This cant be happening, why...why did it have to be her!” The tears rose in Dash’s eyes as Twilight lit up her horn, ready to put a rest to the now undead filly. As Twilight was about to fire Rainbow Dash simply said “No.” and walked in front of Twilight. She approached the struggling pony, now made monster, and stood still.
“I’m sorry kid…. I'm so sorry... “ Rainbow Dash said, almost inaudibly. She held the filly down, avoiding the snapping jaws of her former friend. With a quick and strong motion Rainbow Dash brought her hooves down on Scootaloo’s head. The blood splattered on Rainbow Dash’s face and hooves.
Everypony stood quiet, even Rainbow Dash, no cries, or even as much as a grunt from her. It was eventually Fluttershy who broke the silence.
“Come on.. Let’s get moving.” She whispered, and motioned her hooves to the others. Rainbow Dash silently trotted along with them. She wanted to cry, but she felt it necessary to be strong, for Scootaloo..
The closer they got, the louder the sounds of grunts became audible. When they finally reached the farm the sight was no better. There was a trail of blood. A trail that led to Big Macintosh and AppleBloom, sitting on her brothers back. Underneath them, laid a fallen Rarity, and AppleJack. Macintosh’s hooves were imprinted into the heads of the both of them.
All they could do was stare at each other. Whether the looks were those of fear and hurt, or even anger.
“Yeeup.” Big Macintosh said as he walked over to them.
“Where’s Scootaloo and SweetieBelle?” AppleBloom hopefully asked.
Their gazes fell, Rainbow could only get out “No”
AppleBloom’s face very quickly became tear ridden as she sobbed. Her sister, her granny, and now her friends were gone.
1 Hr Later
Twilight blasted through the head of one of the dead, revealing the road out of Ponyville. The one that would lead to the train station . The five survivors gently trotted down the road.
Twilight, turned around and just stared. The fires, and the now dying screams were more than enough to tell her that Ponyville, the place she called home for years, was gone. She turned back around, and caught up to the others. They all simultaneously looked at one another, before galloping away from Ponyville.
None of them knew exactly where they would go, or how far the infection had spread, but they just kept on running, to death, or to serenity, nopony knew.
Author's Note
Whoops, this WAS suppose to come out Monday, but i got a bit busy with school, and yea.
None the less, i hope you guys enjoyed the final chapter!
