Equestria Revived

“Shouldn’t be much longer now. What are you in the mood for a side, beans or… beans?” said a griffon, roasting a corn piece over a small portable fire pit on a stick. Her friend, a light purple earth pony mare, rolled her eyes while looking over their pantry of three cans of beans, a bag of corn, and a few husks of corn with a jug of water resting on a shelf against the train car wall. “Yeah, yeah I know. We’ll have to go out to town.” Her friend shriveled in disgust. “I’ll go; you can just stay here. I know you don’t like crowds of the big city. Let me see how our garden is doing.”

Stretching her wings out, she flew down from their second story fire pit and looked at their poor excuse for a garden. The only thing that seemed to be growing worth anything were the green beans and a small potted parsley plant. Picking off a few sprigs of parsley and a vine of beans, she flew back up. “Behold our gardening prowess bared fruit!”

Her friend looked over, excited at first at the prospect of fruit, then frowned in disappointment, trotting up the makeshift stairs to watch the fire. “Hey, I would love for the chance to get some meat around here, you know, Morning Glory.” The griffon grumbled, turning the stick.

“Hey!”

They turned their heads to the sky, where they saw a small bat pony mare in silver armor and a monogram saddle bag flutter over quickly. “Greetings!” The griffon said.

“What are you two doing out here? Corpses are literally coming back to life and tearing pony’s limb from limb!” the bat pony said.

“Hi, my name is Grella.” The griffon said, shaking the lunar guard’s hoof. “That mare over there is Morning Glory. This is our home, for the time being. What’s your name?”

“Huh? Oh, right, manners… frick…” The bat guard cleared her throat and gave a salute. “I’m Night Guard Silver Star, from Canterlot stationed at the nearby survivor shelter of Stone Hooved Valley, I was put on duty of informing and bringing the citizens of the Everfree to the encampment as part of the recent evacuation plan presented by the great Princess…”

“Woah, take a breath there, solider,” Grella said, smiling. “We already know about that whole zombie business. I took some out with my Griffonstone riffle earlier today in fact.”

Silver Star cringed a little. “Gah… Griffonstone Rifle you say?”

“Don’t worry, I have a permit. Perfectly legal.” Grella scooted over. “Take a seat, Silver soldier.”

“I don’t really have time to sit down…”

“Because obviously so many ponies live in the spooky haunted Everfree forest.” Grella laughed.

Silver star sighed ant trotted over. She supposed it was a little chilly, so why not. “Well, why are you two here then?”

“You could say we don’t really have anywhere else to go.” Grella said. “Here, well, there it’s a lot more peaceful, even if the weather can be a little… unpredictable.” She picked up the stick of corn and smiled. “It’s all set and ready to eat!”

“So you two are... homeless?”

“No. We have a home, it’s right here, see?” Grella knocked on the solid metal train car. “We used to be homeless.”

“Oh… where did you get this trailer?”

“Well, It’s not a trailer, per say. It’s a Train car I bought off of a scrap yard. I flew it out here in this little clearing and we fixed it up over the summer.” Grella set the corn cobs on a tray and got up. “Hey, Glory, how’s the cooking going?”

Morning glory shrugged, opening a can of beans and emptying it into a pan.

“She doesn’t talk much, does she?” Silver Star said.

“Never said a word since I met her back in Manehattan. She’s a nice mare, though, as long as you don’t eat her beans.” She shrugged. “So, you want us to go with you to that place, don’t you?”

Silver Star straightened herself out and attempted to look more official than she actually was. “Yes.”

“Tell me about this place.”

“Well… we could use some more help with the survivors, but it has its own farm, and the hotels that popped up there have been utilized for housing.”

“Free housing?”

“Well… yes. We’re not monsters, we wouldn’t charge evacuees room and board in this kind of national emergency. It’s not too big, but it should have enough room for a good amount of ponies, and if we do run out of room we can export them towards the cities.” Silver Star held her head up. “You would be safe there, and once the situation passes we can help return you here, if you want.”

“Free food, board, and safety to sit on my tail and cower in fear? How about this. I’ll convince Morning Glory to pack our stuff and go out to the camp, but I’ll stay on watch here for a little while. If I see any ponies, griffons, changelings, or what have you, I’ll take them with me.”

“I don’t know if I can…” Silver star thought it over. “… well, beside my better judgement, I’ll allow it. But if I don’t see you at the gates in two days, I am going to be back.”

“Fair enough.” Grella said, taking a skewer of corn.

Silver Star nodded and glared at her. “Don’t make me regret this. I wasn’t here.”

“Oki doki, Soldier!” Grella winked and saluted as Silver Star flew off into the night.

Sitting down at the fire pit, Grella pecked at the roasted corn and looked over at Morning Glory, who gave her an uncertain glare while pouring half the pan of baked beans into a bowl, huddled up in her long jacket and scowling. “Well, it’s free!” Grella offered. Morning Glory rolled her eyes, drinking the baked beans like it was soup broth. “Yeah, I know you don’t like crowds, but hey, we can finally take a bath… hopefully.” Grella poured herself the other half of the beans. “We can pack everything tonight, okay? Everything besides what’s bolted down.” She rubbed her chin a little. “So, pack light.”

Autumn, for one, was mildly annoyed from one small thing in particular that made her head throb with a headache; she didn’t have any coffee that morning. Sure, it was something menial in hindsight, but to Autumn not having her sweet, disgusting coffee was practically the death sentence of her morning routine. Every hoof step since she left that morning made her head hurt even more, her face flushed for whatever reason.

At this point, she didn’t really care that they had been trotting down the forest path for what seemed to be hours and seeing what looked like the same trees over and over again. She longed to have at least a sample-sized cup’s worth of the bitter substance, and she didn’t even like the taste coffee. It was more of just something to get her awake and started in the morning. And oh man did she need a kick start that morning.

Cherry skipped ahead of Autumn, leaving her alone groaning in the back. Whirlwind flew down and sighed, “We’re lost.”

“How can we be lost?” Zian said. “It’s a straight line from here to Canterlot.”

Mech rolled his eyes. “Did you really think that we could get to Canterlot in one day on hoof? We left early to make it out of the forest by dusk, from there it’s a straight trot to Ponyville and then we can get a ride to Canterlot.”

“Do you really think they’re running to trains in the apocalypse?” Whirlwind said, rolling his eyes.

Autumn glared at him. “It’s not the apocalypse. It’s a tragedy, sure, but not the end of the world.”

Zian surveyed the sky. “It’s gonna rain.”

They all gazed up and trembled as the sky turned a dark grey over them. Mech smiled. “Oh, yes, that means that the weather team is going back to work! See, Whirly, don’t be such a pessimist.”

Zian shook her head. “Sorry, but weather doesn’t work the same here. It works on its own, with its own kind of magic.” She frowned a little, getting out an umbrella. “If it wanted to, it could snow right now.”

Mech stared up at the sky with a glare. “I don’t like this place.”

A light rain fell on them as they trudged down the same path, though a thick fog started to roll in as the wind caught up. Straining her eyes, Cherry stopped in place while looking through the fog. “Hey, I think something’s up there!” She backed up, joining Autumn at the back of the group.

“Just let it pass.” Zain said. “It doesn’t seem to notice us.”

“What if there are more?” Whirlwind said.

“Then we can make a run for it.”

Autumn backed away as the others stared at the creature passing the street, Cherry noticing and following her. Glurk. Autumn heard a noise in the bushes behind her, and despite having her own mind screaming at her that is was probably something out to eat her flesh, Autumn investigated, not seeing Cherry creep up to the bush with her. Gurk. Autumn got out a small wood bat she was appointed to carry at the museum, holding it in her mouth from the grip.

Autumn and Cherry froze at the sight of the zombie in the bush. It was only the upper torso of what looked like a unicorn, caked in so much blood and mud you could barely tell what color it was originally. It reached out to them with a meaty arm, wincing as it cried a gargled cry. “Hem… meh…”

Autumn stared at it as thoughts raced through her mind. ‘Kill it!’ Screamed a voice in the back of her head. ‘It’s one of the monsters that killed Simple Stitch! It probably killed Rose, too!’ The voice trembled a little as she still stood there, frozen. ‘They don’t think! They don’t feel! Why should you feel sorry for it? Come on, it would be so easy just to crush it… I wonder if it still has bits of Simple Stitch’s throat in its mouth…’ Autumn heatedly shook the bad thoughts from her head, yet still wasn’t sure what to do, and just backed away slowly.

“Miss Autumn?” Cherry trembled. “Is it trying to say something?”

Autumn looked at the creature. It was stuck in the bush, but looked like it had dragged itself for a while, leaving a blood trail behind it slowly washing away from the rain. Its eyes stared at her, big unblinking glowing pools of white. “Kih… a… meh…” It gurgled. It collapsed down, still reaching out a hoof. “…Paha… le… zeh…”

Autumn looked at Cherry and was about ready to just grab her and run, when Cherry trotted a little closer to it, but still a safe distance. “Are you okay?”

“Kih… meh…”

“Are you in pain?” Cherry said. “I… I’m sorry…”

“Cherry, stop, get away from it!” Autumn said.

“But it’s good!” Cherry yelled. The rest of the group looked over to them, and Whirlwind quickly flew over and snatched up Cherry before she got too close.

“Stop!” She protested. “I Can help them! They’re not a monster, I can help them!”

“Are you guys in trouble?” From out of the forest, a Griffon flew out in a hurry. “I could hear a kid screaming. Are you alright?”

The group jumped at the appearance of the stranger. “We’re fine.” Zian said.

“You guys shouldn’t be out here, it’s dangerous.” She motioned. “Follow me, I have a place by the road over here. My name is Grella.” She turned towards the forest. “We should hurry. All your noise is going to draw then out here. Besides, night’s coming soon. Do you really want to be wandering around in the dark and fog in the Everfree Forest at night?”

“Well she does have a point.” Zian said.

Meanwhile, Cherry was still having a tantrum in Whirlwind’s arms. “Let me down, Mr. Meany! We’re not friends anymore! And I don’t wanna go! I wanna go back home!”

“Stop yelling!” Whirlwind said.

“Put me down!”

“No, you’ll just go running to that zombie and get yourself killed!” Whirlwind snapped back at her, following the others into the forest.

“Just put the kid down,” Grella said once they reached the train car, “I’ll keep an eye on her. Besides, if you both keep screaming like that, you’ll be endangering everyone.”

“Fine.” Whirlwind set Cherry on the ground, where she sat a minute then started crying.

“Your so mean, Mr. Whirly! I’m not talking to you anymore!” Cherry sobbed. “I want to go home! I don’t want to go anymore!”

“You guys can go inside,” Grella said, turning to the rest of them, “just knock on the door and say, ‘Cupcakes’ to the mare inside.” She looked at Cherry. “Hey there, shorty. My name is Grella. Do you want to go inside?”

Cherry looked up from her fit on the ground, her eyes widened in wonder. “Wow! You’re a Griffon!”

“Yeah, I sure am!”

Cherry wiped the tears from her eyes. “Sorry for making a fit… but that pony wasn’t a zombie!”

“Really.” Grella said. “Are you sure?”

“I mean, they were ugly… but they were hurt!”

Grella smiled and patted her back. “Yeah, I believe you. Say, it’s cold out here. Wouldn’t you rather go inside and warm up?”

Cherry looked at the old train car in delight. “Wow! I love trains! Daddy and I took a train once when we went to Canterlot! It was fun! Does your train go fast?” She was nearly buzzing with excitement.

Grella laughed a little. “No, it doesn’t move. It’s my home. Now let’s go inside, I’m sure that you don’t want to stay out here, do you?”

“No… okay.”

Autumn sat by the window in an old bag chair, twiddling her hooves as Morning Glory found some old fold out chairs. “So… at least I’m glad not to be the only earth pony in this little group of ours.”

Morning Glory shrugged, putting out the last chair for Whirlwind.

“She’s not very talkative.” Grella said, coming back inside with Cherry at her side. “Don’t mind her. She’s shy.”

Zian stirred in her chair. “So… what are you doing out here?”

“Well, we were getting ready to go to Stone Hoof Valley, but I’m guessing we’re all going that way, right?” Grella said with a smirk.

“Actually we’re going to Canterlot!” Cherry said happily.

“Canterlot? That’s so far away though…”, Grella laid back on the floor, “…the old fort Stone Hoof is just about an hour’s trot off the border of Everfree. It’ll be safer.”

Whirlwind shrugged. “Why not? I mean, if it’s safe…”

“I still want to go to Canterlot,” Autumn said with a frown. “My parents are there for a baking convention. I want to know they’re alright. Maybe… we could get a way to go to Ponyville at least from this Stone Hoof place?” She felt a chill run through her, but it was probably just a draft.

“Maybe… but security seems to be keen on making sure everyone is safe in the closest place possible.” Grella said, shrugging. “but hey, who knows, we might get to go somewhere once the situation gets a little more handled.”

“Cloudsdayle is circling Ponyville right now,” Mech said, “so I guess Whirlwind and I can go with you that far, at least.”

Whirlwind glared a little. “Maybe I want to go to Canterlot?”

“Why would you wanna do that? We don’t have family that far, not like you have any mares lining up the street waiting for you in Canterlot.” Mech shrugged, getting out an extra bottle of hard apple cider he snatched from the museum.

“Maybe I just wanted to do things on my own!”

“So, we’ll just go to Stone hooves for now, then we can travel to Ponyville together, Mech can go to Cloudsdayle, Whirlwind and I go to Canterlot, What about the rest of you?” Autumn said, trying to come up with a conceivable plan.

Zian shrugged. “My family lives in Ponyville, I suppose I could stay with them. Cherry, are you sure you want to go to Canterlot?”

“Well…”, Cherry thought about it a bit, “…I don’t really have anywhere else to go… I could go with Miss Autumn to Canterlot!”

Grella sighed. “We can work something out. Honestly, I’d be too bored in that crowded shelter. I’d rather go where things can get done. Morning Glory and I don’t really have anywhere else to go, we’re really just staying at the fort for free food.”

Morning glory shrugged and nodded, eating a cold can of beans.

Sitting around in silence, abruptly the roof sounded like it was being pelted with rocks falling from the sky, which really wasn’t too far off. “It’s called hail.” Zian said, seeing their confused and horrified faces, apart from Grella and Glory. “Pegasus weather control doesn’t really need it, and it rarely happens outside of the non-pony controlled lands.”

“So, this is hail.” Mech said, looking outside, Cherry rushing over.

“Woah, it’s like snow!” Cherry smiled.

“Kind of. But it’s very dangerous to go out when hail is this big.” Zian said in a cautious tone. “They’re chunks of ice falling from the sky, heavy rain freezing mid fall.” She yawned. “I’m used to it, we get that kind of weather in the fall around here, sometimes even in the spring and summer, too. Like I said, the weather works a little differently.”

“Yeah, Miss Redundant.” Grella laughed. “From what I remember, the Griffon kingdom acts kind of similar. I mean, we control it a little, but it mainly does its own thing.”

“But… how do you get clouds without pegasi?” Cherry said in shock. “What about rainbows?!”

“Well… it’s kinda hard to explain. Equestria is… different from the rest of the world. In truth, it’s scary how controlled ponies are.” Grella scratched the back of her neck. “I mean really, they raise and lower the sun and moon, they control their own water cycle, it’s like… would it do that naturally anywhere else? Well, aside from the sun and moon.” She sighed. “Some Griffons doubt they even control that, but for those of us old enough to remember the day the sky froze dip those thoughts in ice water.”

“I never really thought about that…” Whirlwind pondered.

Autumn trotted over to an empty extra bed. “Is this one free?”

“Oh, yeah. Those came with the car. There are only four, so someone here might need to share.” Grella said with a smile, “Although… I don’t think there would be room enough for everyone.”

“Ugh, why do you keep saying every ’one’?” Mech grumbled. “I mean, sure I can understand ya’ being a Griffon and all, but it’s just… strange.”

“Um…” Zian flustered.

“Well, Whirlwind and I can sleep on the floor if you want.” Mech offered. Whirlwind opened his mouth to protest, but Mech promptly got him to stop in his tracks. “Are you really going to ask the nice mares to sleep on the floor? It’s common courtesy, Whirlwind, didn’t I raise you better?”

Cherry frowned a little and squeaked at the sound of thunder. “C-can I sleep with you, Miss Autumn?”

“Yeah, I think there’s enough room. Do you have your blanket?”

Cherry frowned. “I think it got a little wet…”

“That’s fine… just hang it up.” Zian said with a little disappointment, climbing onto the top bed.

Whirlwind and Grella were still talking when Autumn rolled up against the wall, still in her nice warm jacket, pulling up the blanket they had neatly on the bed, Cherry climbing up and curling up to sleep. Slowly, Autumn let the night consume her and she drifted to a soothing slumber.

“Remain calm, every pony!”

Rose repulsed at the thought of being calm, Starburst still encased in her magic as she set her on the bathroom floor. They had narrowly escaped the fast monsters that came from almost out of nowhere. “Starburst? How are you feeling?”

“Simple Stitch…” Was all Starburst said, repeating the words like a mantra as tears rolled down her face. She almost didn’t notice the blood running down her own face, being knocked down by the zombies but having just enough time for Tea Rose to snatch her up and hurry to safety. Her leg had a huge chunk bitten out of it, and if it wasn’t for Professor Sunny Flare’s cauterizing spell she would have bleed out less than an hour prior. They still didn’t like the look of the infection. Starburst didn’t care if she couldn’t feel her body, she was blinded by the image of Simple Stitch screaming in terror.

Rose frowned. “Did you hurt your face? Let me look.” Rose pushed Starburst’s bangs out of her face and nearly puked. “Um… Professor Sunny Flare?”

The old yellow unicorn came by and looked. “Oh dear, this doesn’t look to good. Let me look through the med kit, we could… we could at least try to numb the pain a little, dress it up, then once we can get professionals to take a look at it…”

“Who are you kidding, no one’s coming for us!” Said an old stallion in a top hat.

“Please, stop scaring every pony, dear. We don’t need that right now.” Said an elderly mare with a high-class hair bun.

Sunny Flare glared at the old man. “Just give me a minute. She’s our only wounded, I don’t want blood on my hoofs.”

Rose sighed and sat back against a brick wall as they continued to argue. “Sorry about that back there.” Rose looked up and saw Dragonsblood with a smile. “They can be so inconsiderate.”

“What do you mean?” Rose said, sniffling.

“My father, your mother.” Dragonsblood sat down next to her. “It isn’t fair.”

Rose almost laughed. “You still hung up on that? At this point I doubt that’s still going to happen.”

“But what if it does?” Dragonsblood sighed.

“It’s okay, I guess. I mean… you’re not the worst.” Rose smiled a little. “Definitely not the worst I’ve had.”

“I’m sorry. Why do you do… that anyway?”

Rose sighed. “Tiptoeing around the subject? Good… because I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“This whole system is messed up.”

Rose smirked and whispered. “You wanna run away with me and not get married when this is all over?”

“I would gladly.” He paused. “I mean, It’s not that you’re not an attractive mare or anything… it’s just…”

“You liked my friend Autumn, didn’t you?” Rose smiled.

Dragonsblood cringed back. “What? No, of course not.”

Rose frowned. “Then you really shouldn’t have flirted with her. She’s… sensitive. I think she was starting to like you, too. I mean, she ran away when she heard the big marriage announcement. And really, it is just rude.”

“What, I was just making friendly banter. I made a business deal, and I mean she is very… well, interesting.”

“Interesting?” Rose raised an eye to that. “Do you just like her because she’s an average earth pony? The gimmick of a cute vulnerable little earth pony from a small town in the country? And you don’t know Autumn, she doesn’t exactly get flirted with every day, she took you seriously!”

He sighed, glaring at the tile ceiling. “Okay, okay, I get it, I’m sorry. I’ll tell her I’m sorry the next time I see her, okay?” He waited for a rebuttal, but instead got nothing as Rose stared at the floor.

“She’s dead, isn’t she?” Rose said softly. “I don’t see her here…”

“Maybe she got somewhere safe?” he suggested.

Rose laughed a little. “Yeah, maybe. Maybe…”

Hours passed in the dirty old bathroom, Starburst eventually fell asleep, and Rose went over to make sure she didn’t die threw the night. She looked up at Primrose, who in the meantime, was chatting it up with the other dignitaries. She counted them in her mind to pass time, undoing her mane and combing it with her magic.

‘Seven pretty unicorns sitting in a bathroom.’ Well, more like bloody tired unicorns, but nonetheless. Starburst stirred a little in her sleep. “She doesn’t seem to have any brain damage. Her eye was really bad, though.” Professor Sunny Flare said. “And I could suppress the nerve damage to her leg, well in best cases she won’t be able to use it without extreme physical therapy. And in worse case… well, if the infection is as bad as I think… I know ponies I can refer her to for a prosthetic, I’ll even help pay for it. It’s not like that much matters anymore, but the least I can do is help in some way.”

Rose glanced over to the ageing mare that had to be a little older than her own mother. “Why are you telling me this?”

“You two seem close. I normally talk to the family, but…” she sighed, rubbing her temple with her hoof, “by Celestia, the things I’ve seen all my years in medicine, this... well, you think I would be used to this by now.”

Rose groaned, slipping off her dress and using it as a blanket. Primrose snarled at this, but continued her conversation. “So, I thought my son of mine was going to continue with his Viola lessons, but then there he goes to Ponyville to be, guess what, a tomato farmer!” Some of the dignitaries withered in disgust. “But then, apparently, his skills were good enough to impress the Princess for him to help be a provider for the Canterlotian Royal Farmers Market, they use his produce in all the best restaurants in Canterlot, you know.”

“Why you thought a stallion named Berry Medley would be a musician still eludes me, dear.” Said Rose’s father, an older unicorn stallion with a white coat and a short blue tail and mane and a spiraling long beard.

“I was going to name him Berry Melody, but I thought the other colts at school would make fun of him.” Primrose grunted softly.

“Yeah, like you were doing Cashmere and favors, Prim.” He laughed. “Or our other son, Sugar Pine. Really, Sugar Pine?”

Primrose blushed. “It… it was a trend at the time. Things were… you know what, does anypony else have anything to say else to keep our minds off things?”

There was a silence, as everypony just sat on the floor and waited.