Chapters Twilight stood alone in her library, Spike had gone to Canterlot to take care of some royal business. She skimmed through one of her books, one that had popped up before, Perplexing Pony Plagues . She was interested in one particular disease though, Trogo-Enkefalos.
"A disease in which a pony is deemed "undead". A bite from an infected pony will cause you to be condemned to the same fate. No matter what compassion is shown toward these ponies they can not be stopped. The symptoms are headaches, insistent coughing, random blisters, clammy skin, and bloodshot eyes. Eventually speech is replaced with collections of moans, pupils are so dilated that it seems as if only the whites if the eyes are there and blood spills out from every open passage in the body( pores included in more extreme cases). There is no known cure." Twilight scoffed, there was no way a disease could ever exist. Undead? That's like saying she believed in curses, undead ponies were just an old mare's tale. Twilight trotted upstairs to her bed, perhaps Spike would be here in the morning.
Spike awoke with a jolt. He was panting and sweating. Whew, it was just a dream. Spike slowly walked out the door. It was morning and he needed to make his way back to Ponyville. His meeting with the princesses had certainly been interesting. Celestia didn't seem quite herself, she had bags under her eyes, almost slurred her speech and a lot of the time looked hungrily at the other ponies in the room. Luna seemed just as concerned for her older sister but payed no attention to it. Spike was only brought to his senses when he crashed into a half asleep Celestia. She snapped her head around and growled at the surprised baby dragon. Celestia narrowed her eyes and galloped away. As soon as she had however Luna tapped Spike on the shoulder which caused him to jump so high he got his spikes stuck in the ceiling. As he desperately tried to free himself Luna started to speak.
"Spike I apologize, but have you also noticed a certain change in my sister? Tia doesn't seem herself, so I have a favor to ask you. Twilight will probably know what's going on so please tell her of my sister's action so that she may inform me." Luna flew away with one powerful pump of her wings leaving Spike stranded on the ceiling. After 20 minutes of pulling and pushing he fell onto the cold floor. The purple dragon casually shook his head and started to walk down the corridor. It's quite... A little too quite... Suddenly Spike heard a loud shriek coming from the courtyard. He tiptoed across the marble floor as he looked outside, he saw Celestia with her mouth on a young pegasus mare's back, her teeth were digging deep into the flesh and blood was spilling out of the wound. The princess slowly let go of the pegasus and watched as she fell to the ground. Spike was horrified at the scene and made a mad dash toward the door. Completely unaware that Celestia was watching with blank white eyes.
Twilight awoke to the sound of frantic knocking on her door and the occasional "Twilight open up!" She groggily brushed her hair and tottered downstairs. When she opened the door Spike frantically sprinted inside. Twilight cocked an eyebrow at her huffing assisstant and decided to ignore it. Instead she went back to her table to take another gander at her book. Spike quickly regained his composure and ran over to Twilight.
"Twilight I have something important to tell you." Instead of saying anything Twilight closed her book and sat down on the floor across from Spike. She motioned for him to do the same. As he sat down Twilight glanced at the book she was reading and at the notes she had taken.
"Okay, so this is really important, albeit a little disturbing." Spike quickly recounted his encounter with Celestia and Luna. As he explained every gruesome detail he saw the horror quickly growing in Twilight's eyes. When he finished the purple unicorn hung her head and sighed. Spike saw that she had taken notes on a particular disease.
"Spike, I know you might not believe me, I can hardly believe me, but I think that a disease is spreading." At this Spike rolled his eyes, thank you Captain Obvious. He picked up the notes as Twilight motioned him to and quickly read through them.
"Spike I think you can guess what happened right?" Spike nodded an affirmative and started gathering supplies for the trip to Canterlot. Twilight stopped him however.
"Spike, our friends should know about this too. This disease spreads pretty fast, it's amazing how Princess Celestia was able to fight off that biting urge for so long, we're gonna need all the help we can get." And as Twilight galloped out of the library another thought came into her mind. Canterlot is supposedly the safest place in Equestria. If the disease is there... Then where else has it spread...
Luna paced around her room, her sister had been tranquilized and put in a containment cell. That couldn't mean anything good. The doctors were still trying to figure out what had caused the sudden change of character in the princess while Luna waited impatiently for an answer from Twilight Sparkle. The alicorn stopped her pacing when she heard a knock at the door.Now who could that be? Luna threw open the door harder then she intended to and was shocked to see one of her personal guards standing there with a large bloody ring on his neck that appeared to be a bite mark. His chest was heaving up and down and he was covered in sweat. Luna looked at him with concern in her eyes, she tried to help him into her room but resisted.
"Princess Luna, we have to escort you immediately to Ponyville." Luna was about to ask why but before she could her guard grabbed her and pushed her into her chariot next to a distraught Shining Armor.Quickly, two of her guards started to pull the chariot out of Canterlot. What Luna saw underneath her was the most horrific scene that she had seen in all her years as a princess. Ponies of every size and shape were galloping away from another hoard of ponies. But these were different, the eyes were white and unseeing. Many of the pegasi were missing their wings, only bloody stumps remained. The unicorn's horns were black and charred, unable to be used for magic. Every pony had blood seeping out from under their eye sockets, oozing from their ears and dripping from their mouthes and noses. Princess Luna saw some ponies underneath that she recognized. Princess Cadence (explaining Shining Armors mood), Fancy Pants, Sorrin (Wonderbolts), SpitFire (also Wonderbolts), and her own sister. Luna shook her head in denial, there was no way this was really happening, it must be a dream.
Twilight galloped over to Sweet Apple Acres as Spike was getting the supplies to Canterlot ready. She saw Applejack and Big Mac working in the fields, it being apple bucking season and all. Applejack waved her hoof at Twilight as she saw her coming. Twilight abruptly stopped next to Applejack and started to tell her about the crisis in Canterlot when Applejack suddenly stuck a hoof in her mouth.
"Now Twilight, Ah know that yer usually right sugarcube but this just sounds like you're spoutin' a lot of hewy." Twilight jumped back offended.
"Applejack, no matter how ridiculous it sounds it's true!" Applejack cocked an eyebrow at Twilight. It seemed like the summer heat had finally gotten to her head. Applejack shook her head and refused to believe it. No matter what she said it couldn't be true.
"Twilight Ah don't believe one word that yer sayin'. An' I'll only believe ya if Princess Luna herself drops out of the sky." As if on cue Princess Luna's chariot landed in the field. Applejack just stood there with her mouth open, not believing what just happened. She continually opened and closed her mouth, trying to think of an explanation to the extremely convenient coincidence. She shook her head, maybe it wasn't Luna, it might just be a chariot that looked like hers. It didn't mean she was in it. Applejack cautiously worked her way around the trees toward the chariot, she slowly stalked her way towards it and when Princess Luna jumped out of it she dove behind a bush. Applejack watched as Luna flew towards Twilight and strike up a conversation. First a look of shock was plastered on the unicorn's face, then horror masked her features, and it all ended up in flames as horror changed to sorrow. Applejack worked her way around the trees again and seated herself next to Twilight. Luna smiled at her and started over from the beginning. Little did they know that one of the guards had been nipped at the heel by an "undead" pegasus and was now thrashing around as he was overwhelmed by the disease.
Spike dashed around the library trying to find all the things on the list Twilight had given him. He desperately wanted to leave now but knew that it was probably better to follow Twilight's judgment. He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a knock at the door. Spike grabbed a rake and decided to pound anything that looked remotely like a zombie. When he opened the door a giant blow of confetti smothered his face, so he did the reasonable thing and hit anything in front of him with the rake. When he removed the confetti from his face he winced as he saw that he had hit Pinkie and she now lay unconcious on the doorstep. He quickly dragged her in and dumped a cold bucket of water on her face. Being Pinkie, she woke up screaming some random bit of obvious nonsense.
"My full name is Pinkamena Pie! Oh, hey Spike!" Spike absent-mindedly waved a hand and continued searching through the library. Pinkie just stared at him asking occasional questions which Spike answered with short prim answers. Soon Spike ended up explaining the whole story from his time in Canterlot to now. Pinkie looked absolutely horrified and agreed to get Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie dashed out of the tree leaving Spike to his own thoughts. But the only thought that was ringing in Spike's head now was one of dread.What will happen to Equestria?
Pinkie bounced in her usual happy-go-lucky way as she headed to Rarity's boutique. When she arrived at the door Rarity flung it open on Pinkie's face. Pinkie shook her head and bounced back up. She quickly explained to Rarity what Spike had told her, but Rarity appeared to not be listening, instead she was peeking out the shutters, her eyes darting back and forth with apprehension. Pinkie touched Rarity's shoulder with a gentle hoof but this was enough to make her dart underneath the couch.
"Okay, Rarity, what's going on? You're not usually this jumpy, I'm the one that's jumpy." Pinky glared at Rarity for a few minutes while waiting for an answer. Rarity glanced around the room looking for a way to escape but could not find one. She eventually gave up and sighed.
"Pinkie if you really must know, it is because of what you told me just now." Pinkie thought about this for a moment. How could Rarity know about this already? She didn't even tell her until now and Spike couldn't have visited her even if he wanted to.
"Darling, you look so confused, let me enlighten you. I don't have time for a detailed explanation but I can give you one simple answer. Nothing much happens around Canterlot that I'm not aware of. I'm hiding in here because I fear that one of those undead ponies might ruin my gorgeous mane. Can you imagine!?" Rarity looked so distraught that Pinkie Pie almost felt bad enough not to drag her out of her home and into the library. Almost.
Applejack shook her head, she knew that the fate of Equestria rested on her shoulders along with her friends but she couldn't bear to leave her family behind. Sweet little Applebloom wouldn't make it very far, and Big Mac, hardy as he was, couldn't survive any longer than a week. Not to mention Granny Smith. Twilight gave a pleading gaze but nothing could change AJ's mind. At least until she heard a disgruntled whinny coming from the field where Big Macintosh was.
"Big Mac!" Applejack galloped away to her brother but it was still too late. Luna's guards had succumbed to the influence of the disease and had just bitten Big Macintosh. Applejack flew into a rage and charged right at the two pegasi. She headbutted one hard, to her disgust the stallion split right in two. Entrails flew everywhere and blood splattered across her stetson. The other guard tried to bite her but Applejack bucked him in the head. The guard's head flew right off his neck and went sailing through the air, it landed in a tree and the body collapsed. Applejack's heart sank when she saw Big Macintosh, his leg was splayed out to his side with two large bite marks right in the thigh. Applejack cursed under her breath and felt a sudden swirl of anger, frustration, sorrow and guilt build up in her. And with that, the flames of determination flared up as she swore to get every last undead pony back to the grave. At least until she heard a strange rustle from behind.
Applejack turned around to see the upper half of the guard's body pulling itself toward her using it's front hooves, blood stained the green grass as the split form spewed blood. The lower half had begun to move as well. Soon the legs attached itself to the upper half at the waist and tottered toward Applejack. She turned around to see the beheaded body kicking the tree. Trying to dislodge it's head from the branch. The head grinned, it's yellow teeth dripped blood and the black gums oozed a purplish liquid. Applejack had never been more disgusted in her life and the smell of rotting flesh made her gag in disgust. As one of the guards pulled towards her she kicked it's legs out from underneath him and ran away. Tears of loss and fear were streaming from her eyes, she regretted that she couldn't protect Big Mac, and she wanted to protect Applebloom, but she knew that it would be in everpony's best interest if she went with Twilight and Luna.
When she arrived where Luna and Twilight stood they gasped to see her covered in blood. Applejack quickly explained the whole ordeal with the guards and Big Macintosh in her southern drawl. Luna shed one tear before forcing herself to her feet. Her eyes hardened and she looked at the earth pony and unicorn before her.
"Twilight, Applejack, you must go get your friends. We cannot defeat this force alone." Before either pony could get to their hooves a familiar voice sounded from the front of the farm.
"Hey guys! We got Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie here! We're all ready to go." Twilight was surprised to see Spike with all the supplies and being followed by four ponies. Luna nodded in approval while Applejack dashed off to get her supplies. Rainbow looked pumped and ready to face the world. Pinkie was jumping up and down full of energy and vigor. Even Rarity had ditched the fancy clothes and such, she had her eyes narrowed into slits and looked ready to fight in a war. Even timid Fluttershy left dents in a tree as she kicked it, getting ready for whatever challenge that faced her. Twilight was shocked to see the drastic change in her friends. At that moment Applejack came leaping out of the barn.
"Everypony without wings, line up." The four ponies without wings lined up in front of Luna. Luna's horn glowed intensely as she summoned her inner power. Slowly one by one the ponies were enveloped in a dark haze. When it cleared each pony had wings. Rarity looked upon her wings with great pride (much to everypony's distress) , they were beautifully preened and glistening. They heard thumping from behind, the group of ponies turned around to see a chariot drop out of seemingly nowhere. The only trace of travel was a small rustle of feathers as the cart dropped. A familiar unicorn stallion jumped out with a relieved smile on his face.
"Twily! I'm so glad you're okay!" Shining Armor rushed toward his sister but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the wings. A look of confusion overtook his features. Without a word Luna gave a pair to Shining Armor. He looked fondly upon them for a few minutes. Then his face became slightly downcast but he still had a strained smile on his face. Twilight pondered what would make her brother so sad. Then she remembered, Cadence. She was an alicorn, the wings probably reminded him of her, and it was most likely too late to save her. Twilight leaned against her brother in an attempt to comfort him but unfortunately the fruits of her labor did not show. Even she felt sadness well up in her at the thought of her childhood babysitter being lost to the disease slowly spreading through the land.
"Enough, we must be off before we fall as well." Luna prepared to take off when a little purple and green dragon tapped her on the shoulder. Luna smiled sheepishly at her forgetfulness. In a flash of magic, Spike sprouted a pair of wings. He flapped them proudly and puffed out his chest. Twilight looked upon his vanity with minor distaste but said nothing about it.
"Princess Luna, what will happen to the rest of the town?" Princess Luna looked at Twilight with sorrowful and guilty eyes. She sighed and let her actions speak for themselves. Twilight backed away in horror, her beloved town, the place where she first met her friends, would crumble.
"Hey ya'll, I hate to be rushin' things but shouldn't we be a goin'?!" Applejack pointed a hoof to where the guards and now Big Mac were approaching them. All the ponies gasped as they saw the disfigured bodies of the undead. Princess Luna and Shining Armor took off leaving the 6 ponies. Rainbow Dash was the first one to come to her senses and notice the danger they were in. Then she shouted loud enough to snap the others from the trance.
"Hurry up!" The other ponies snapped their heads to Rainbow as she took off into the air. She was followed by Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie. Spike, Rarity and Twilight hot on their tails. The eight ponies soared through the air, looking at the sights as they went. Most cities appeared untouched by the ravenous hunger of the undead. But Canterlot was in shambles and "miniature" ponies in Ponyville dashed around looking for a way to escape. Twilight was disheartened by the loss but was even more troubled by their destination. They were headed for the outskirts of Equestria.
Luna gently turned around and dove towards a dense forest. The other ponies questioned her motives but followed. Soon they were all settled on a soft mossy floor. Luna looked around to make sure no one was looking and sighed.
"I'm geussing you are all going to seek answers. Correct?"
All the ponies nodded. Luna took a deep breath and pointed a hoof at Twilight. Motioning her to go first. Twilight cleared her throat.
"Princess Luna, I'd like to know how Celestia caught the disease."
All eyes turned toward Luna expectantly, it seemed that everyone wanted to know that answer. Luna's eyes darted back and forth between ponies, she didn't seem too comfortable with the subject. But eventually she gave in.
"If you must know it is an ancient ailment. It has been thousands of years since the disease had infected ponies. My sister had caught it then. Ever since, she has been fighting off the disease. I had no idea she was still ill. I could have helped her, but I was ignorant and foolish. I could not help but notice the subtle signs she dropped that indicated the upcoming result. She would stare hungrily at ponies at times and Tia would often have coughing fits. I let these go, I cared little for them, perhaps she had a cold. But that wasn't the case. Of course, the symptoms had only shown recently, but that is still no excuse."
"Um, if ya'll don' mind me askin', how did everypony know about the zombies in Ponyville?"
At this Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably and beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Everypony eyed Fluttershy accusingly. Why would she be so uncomfortable with this question? Eventually the yellow pegasus broke under the pressure.
"Alright it was me! When Pinkie told me there were zombies, I got scared! She wouldn't let me go back into my house so I panicked and ran screaming through town. I kept yelling that zombies were coming and then Pinkie started screaming and soon everypony was screaming! I told you! Now please stop staring at me! I mean, if you don't mind..."
Everypony turned away from the now near to tears Fluttershy. Instead they again turned to Luna who looked about as nervous as Fluttershy. But one thing caught her eye.
"Where is Spike?"
Everyone looked around, he was nowhere to be seen. They heard a rustle in the trees and saw a little purple and green blur tumble out of it. Spike sat up and shook his head. Everypony laughed at his antics but Spike didn't seem to happy.
"What's so funny? It's hard to control dragon wings, I mean you're ponies. I'm a dragon! We're obviously different and I don't appreciate you making fun of me."
"We're really sorry Spike, do you want me to throw you an apology party?!"
Everypony glared at Pinkie, now wasn't really the time. Pinkie dipped her head but remained cheerful as always. All heads turned toward Spike. The little dragon didn't take the hint but started to explain anyway.
"Have you ever controlled dragon wings before? They're not like feathery pony wings. They're really hard to use, in a sense, I mean for me. I'm just a baby dragon and it's not natural to have wings right now. So I tried diving but I didn't close my left wing right so I swerved off to the side and BLAM! Landed right in the tree. I got stuck there for a moment but I got out. By the way, thanks for helping me!"
"Spike, I'd like to know how you managed to leave Canterlot and come to our library so fast."
Spike shuffled his feet uncomfortably. This was obviously a touchy subject for Spike. Twilight couldn't guess why but pried nonetheless. He would tell them whether he liked it or not.
"It's... uh... complicated."
"What do you mean, complicated."
"*gulp* Complicated as in jumped on some random pegasus's back and told him that if he didn't take me to Ponyville on before noon tomorrow that I would burn him to a fiery ember. Then burned a bit of his mane as an example..."
Spike looked away in shame, he knew his actions were rash and uncalled for but necessary. He didn't notice that a certain blue pegasus was biting her lip. Her eyes watered and her upper lip quivered. Soon Rainbow Dash was rolling on the floor laughing.
"You and the! Burning! Haha! The mane! Hahaha! Priceless!"
After a few minutes the laughing stopped and left an uncomfortable silence. But one question still remained
Where will they go?
"Princess Luna, where are we headed? Where can we go to the outskirts of Equestria."
Shining Armor had been the one to break the silence and voice everyone's thoughts. Luna stood tall and proud, she knew that the answer would not please the others but it was necessary.
"We are going to the kingdom of the changelings."
Gasps went all around the circle of friends and muttering could be heard. Whether it was positive no one could tell.
"Princess, their queen almost destroyed my wedding along with the whole kingdom of Equestria, why would-"
Luna shoved a hoof in his mouth, her eye was twitching and she knew that if he wasn't shut up now he wouldn't stop until he ran out of complaints. He had developed that knack during his time in the castle after the spell's power still gave him headaches.
"I know that everypony thinks very badly of Queen Chryshalis and her army of changelings but in fact long ago we were allies. The changelings ate meat, they did not feed on love. The changelings were respected as they respected us. At least until the disease spread, it started with one of the ponies. His name was Star Rider. A well-respected unicorn, no one knew how he got the disease, but we knew it was dangerous. We studied him carefully, we got much information from him. But we could not keep him here for fear of infection to others. So we banished him from Equestria, we kept a close eye on him with one of our pegasi. Eventually he stumbled upon the changeling empire. He was welcomed with open arms, our pegasus scout flew as fast as he could to tell us but it was too late. Star Rider had already infected changeling after changeling and soon the whole empire had succumbed to the disease. Soon they went towards Equestria looking for others, by then the scout had reached us and we had gotten word. The council of twelve consisted of the most powerful magic users in all of Equestria, Tia and I pleaded for their assistance and they agreed to help us. But on one condition, that we would not hold them guilty of what became of the changelings. We agreed to their terms and set off to exterminate the disease. Tia and I held them off while the council looked for a solution. They found a powerful spell that would repel the disease, but someone needed to absorb what was left of it. Tia volunteered and that is how she got ill. The changelings... The spell was so powerful that it charred their skins black and their manes were exposed to powerful magic radiation to the point that the color had turned bright green. Their beautiful wings were destroyed and holes bored through their bodies. The magical residue left in their bodies allowed them to change shape. But it was the burning hatred left for us that turned them into the monsters they are today. Tia and I have mourned the loss of our friendship since then. Over the years the disease wells back up at times inside the changelings, so they have discovered a cure. We must go to them , they are our only hope."
All the ponies, including Spike, nodded with grim approval. Without another word each pony got to their feet and started to set up camp. Luna had set the sun as Celestia was no longer capable of doing so. As the tents were set up, Luna stood watch over the night. Nopony felt like eating but everypony knew that this was going to be their last peaceful night.
