An Investigation on Friends Both Crazy and Dead
~ Dead Pony Rising ~
Day 0
The mall is infested with the undead. I am alone atop a gazebo, a small park in the center of the mall surrounding me, as hordes of the undead gather beneath me. I don't know how all this happened, how these things died and came alive all throughout this city, or why the Royal Guard told Celestia a far-cry of what has happened here.
She would never have sent me to investigate the story if she knew what truth awaited me. I didn't know what these creatures were at first, and that ignorance almost cost me my life. My scales were a good defense against teeth, but they would endure for so long. When I finally knocked one out with a plank a wood, a green slug crawled out of its undead body, and I briefly wondered if that was the source for the dead to walk again.
Just as this had become apparent to me, a strange bee buzzed around my ears. A swarm of undead surrounded me in the park, so in my final acts of life, I took photos of all of them to explain my death, and squished the bee underneath my foot. Doing so, however, caused all the surrounding slugs to eject from their owner’s and perish.
I’m not going to lie and say I’m not terrified. I’m not going to say that I can easily brave the nightmares of this mall to do good for all outside its confines. I’m almost wetting myself as I write this, and I want nothing more than to just crawl into the ball and cry. If I could, I would just sit and wait for the girls to save me.
But unfortunately, it's the other way around. I don’t know where they are, or if even if they are still alive. My scales offered me protection against scratches and teeth, but if one of the dead were to feast upon my being, I know my body would be no match.
But I’m the only one that can brave this mall and maybe make it out alive. I wish those other than me, those who are brave and know how to fight could have my precious defense, but I know it a waste to continue to think like so.
I must be the one to brave this mall, find the source of the undead so that they do not spread, but, most importantly of all, save my friends before it is too late. I will find them, no matter their state, and do all that I can to make the world right again.
In case this be my last entry. Celestia, this is my farewell. You did nothing wrong by sending me here to investigate, you were only worried about the others, and that’s nothing to beat yourself up over.
Just make sure, if you find this journal and camera, you’ll make sure such an event never happens again.
Day 1
I heard her speak.
I thought her to be dead, in a way unlike the others, who continued to stalk me through the many corridors. Her voice could never leave me for as long as I lived, but hearing its pitch even through the static made me worry immediately.
It had an edge to it, one far worse than the times she lost it before. I knew that something was different inside Twilight Sparkle, snapping her whole being, but the surrounding sights left me little doubt on what could’ve caused it.
She stopped in the foot court, ever so glad to see my face once again, though she wished that I never came. She explained that only failed ponies belonged here, though she supposed, an exception could be made for a terrible dragon.
I didn’t know if she could hear me speak, but I did so anyway. I asked her what had happened when Celestia had sent her away, why she never sent a letter back after finding out what she did, and if the other girls were close to her now.
Twilight only told me how many games we would be playing, how many other players we had to join in the fun, both like us and not. I caught her meaning, though I wish I hadn’t. I began to regale what I’ve learned so far to her, as if she were still the somewhat rational mare I knew her to be.
But she kept insisting that she wouldn’t be doing my homework for me. I don’t know if it was the static in the speakers or actually the tone of her voice, but I caught a hint of sadness as she spoke, stating that she had failed to solve the mystery.
The sadness disappeared as soon as it came.
Twilight told me it was quite obvious Celestia had sent me to uncover the story, which I was the one that would have to try and stay alive and figure things on my own. She doubted that I’d make it any further than this, but if I did, she would love to compare notes.
Though, in talking to me like I was a baby once more, she made sure that I was to keep this story to myself. It was the reason I was sent instead of somepony else, for my lips could be sealed by those I deemed better than me.
Having her speak to me like I was a baby again...it made me feel like one. Without meaning to, I began to cry, tears spilling at the prospect of being alone in this mall, despite the one closest to my heart being there was well.
I just wanted her back. To have her save me from this hell and tell me everything was going to be okay. I don’t know if my tears worked or not, but her voice did lose some of that slight edge, though her words more than hurtful.
She told me to look into the faces of the undead, which I did, and then to stare into their expressions. The zombies behind the counter were too stupid to climb over it, so I knew myself to be safe from their horror, and proceeded to look just what kind of expression they carried.
It was one that I held the day of my arrival.
The faces looked terrified as if they were about to witness their death. I wondered if this to be the truth, as if all the undead before me had died with those faces of horror, and were forced to carry it until their death again.
Or maybe, just perhaps, in the depths of their bodies, that a fraction of their being still lives. Powerless to the shrouding darkness that blankets over them, forced to feel their limbs walk forever, and their teeth to sink into the flesh of their brothers and sisters.
Twilight then told me that if terror continues to plague my face, then soon, she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two of us. Out of whatever kindness she had left within her, she told me that the others were still alive in the mall as well.
She made a note to say that they were actually alive, but never, would they be the same. The six of them had seen the truth and been driven to insanity, and that they would meet the end that awaited them in this mall.
I don’t know why, but that gave me the bravery I needed. I no longer cared about the terror on both my faces or on theirs, of the fear that hovered around the mall, or even what kind of end I may meet in this mall.
But I proclaimed to my best friend that I would survive this mall, that I would find our friends, that I would face whatever this truth his and drag them back from their insanity. knew my courage to be fickle, but I held it for as long as I could.
Twilight laughed and laughed like my words were nothing but lies. She told me about the faces again, mention the reasoning behind their terror, and then asking me about my own. She asked just one simple question.
Was I afraid of the death surrounding me, or unwillingly feasting upon my friends?
~ Dead Pony Rising ~
“An Investigation on Friends Both Crazy & Dead”
Day Ø
Spike gave a surprised cry, trying to pushed away the pony that had grabbed both his claws. It brought its face ever closer to his, its mouth clamping open and shut, getting ever closer to the exposed flesh of his neck.
The drake tried to pull away from the zombie, pushing back as hard he could against the force and reeling his head. But he was only treated to the sight of more of the walking dead shambling ever close to him, forming a circle for which he saw no exit.
Spike felt his tense muscles go numb as any lingering strength left his body, the pressure against him increasing tenfold as fell to the ground. The weight of the dead was upon him now, it's drool falling from the charred lips onto his face.
The distance between them was shortening, the gurgling cries of the dead were flooding into his ears. He still held the zombie back with whatever energy he still had left in his body, but knew that everything he had done up to this point was just a wasted effort.
The nearby zombies were only a few feet away.
The branches of the tree next to the dup held no branches that could lift the drake to safety. But, below at its base, something leaned against the tree that ignited a lost hope in Spike. Using the last of his resources, he pulled his arm free from the zombie's grasp, allowing his clamping tree easier access to his neck.
Before it’s teeth could set upon the flesh, something whacked its owner across the face. Spike had reached out to the acoustic guitar leaning against the tree, grabbing it by its neck, before swinging over to the zombies side.
The impact sent the zombie flying off him, doing a small twirl in the air before its face ate the dirt of the ground. It wallowed there for a moment, making some more incohperhesile sounds to the now rising dragon’s ears, as he swung the now busted guitar over his shoulder.
Without hesitation, he swung the body of the wood onto the back of the zombie’s head, repeatedly. The others were getting closer. Their bodies and masses too big for anything the drake could hope to throw at him, but at least, he was able to take at least down one with him.
Finally, after many blows, the zombie did not wallow or move again. Spike felt something akin to a ticker go off in his head, causing endorphins to flood through his weak body at the thought that taking them down could almost be like a game.
He dropped the guitar next to the corpse, panting his final breath, and looking to the others as they approached him. His eyes glanced downward at the camera that hung over his chest, wondering if he should take one last photo.
A trembling claw took ahold of the lens of the camera, raising it shakingly its owner’s eyes. This would be his final shot, taken mere seconds before his death, and would convey those still alive how he had died.
‘They should be clever enough to put two and two together,’ Spike thought as he flipped the camera on, aiming it at the hordes of the undead. It was weird he could their horrified faced in the camera, horror inflicted by the way how they died, and maybe perhaps, how they walk unwillingly to feast upon their brother and sisters.
‘There’s enough evidence in here to show what happened inside this mall.’ He snapped the shot, blinding the dead with the flash. They paused for a moment, as if blinded, but he knew not to have hope that this would last for long. ‘I just hope that whoever find this...that they know the way that I died, and delete the photo before showing Celestia. I don’t think she’d ever forgive herself after this.’
Just as the drake was about to take his next shot, he heard a sound like something pooping next to him, and turned just in time to feel something slick across his forearm. He thought that a zombie from behind had finally take hold of him with his teeth; that he would join their way in life in but a few moments.
But to his surprise, he found that some sort of green slug had leapt onto his forearm. It’s circular mouth tried to bite past his scales, but its tiny teeth were no match. Around his ears, the dragon heard the buzzing of the bee.
“Oh come on!” Spike exclaimed as he ripped the slug off from his arm, raising it into the sky before throwing it down onto the ground, catching the bee in its trajectory. He then rose his foot and slammed it down upon the two, squishing them both as he twisted his heel. “I can’t even die by being eaten alive without insects beginning to annoy me?”
Finally, he heard a pop, though it did not come from just beneath his feet. Emerald eyes were forced back up to the crowds of the undead surrounding him, stopping once more in place as their hooves reached for their head, as something popped out from their necks.
It was more of those green slugs, landing upon the grass. Before them, the bodies they had inhabited fell as well.
“Huh?” Spike looked at the following corpses with mystery implanted across his face, bringing his foot away from the two things he had just crushed, and drawing a connection between the two events.
He saw some dead ponies in the distance taking notice of the event, more interested in the still flesh than what had occurred. Spike saw them as well, though his eyes caught sight of the gazebo that stood in the right of the park.
Without a second thought he began to run, darting between the fallen bodies in fear of them not being truly dead, and keeping a constant eyes of those starting to swarm around him. A metal baseball bat laid on the grass before the woorden construction, causing Spike to swoop down in his dash to take a ahold of it, before tossing it up onto the wooden roof.
The drake felt his legs tense as he prepared himself to lead, hearing the sullen cries from just behind his back, as he leapt up into the air and took ahold of the edge of the roof. He hung there for a moment, feeling something tickle his feet.
Spike struggled to pull himself up, leaving the grasp of the dead before they could even take hold of him, as he rolled onto the wooden roof. His every breath was a pant, one that chilled the burning sensation he felt within his pleading lungs.
Once he wasn’t vacuuming the air around him, the drake began to sit up. His eyes were plastered on the sky, which was totally free from that plagued him just below, but he knew to lose himself in his gaze would only mean to fall to illusion.
Waves of the undead began to gather around the small gazebo he sat upon.
They were all confined inside a shopping mall, one filled with things more than just the undead.
And help would not be arriving until three more days.
Spike gave a sigh, removing the camera strap from around his neck and placing the thing at his side. Then, he took out his notebook and pen from the pouch of the strap, laying them both against the wood.
