Chapters When The Dead Start To Trot
Chapter 2: Rules Of Survival
“Why should we?”
Applejack slowly regained her consciousness. She now was inside the dark school building. But she was tied up on one of the chairs. Her head still hurt a bit because of the one that hit her on the head.
The school didn't look much better than the hospital. Not just because of the darkness but also because the windows were smashed but also obstructed with wood boards. Tables and chairs were scattered everywhere.
Slowly, Applejack could recognize the two ponies standing in the back of the room.
The one was a mare she only knew because she and her two friends were pretty famous, at least in Ponyville. She was part of the flower ponies, Daisy.
Just then, she realized that Lily Valley, the pony she met outside that didn't seem to be alive or dead, was a friend of her. If Applejack would have to tell her, she wouldn't know how or even what to say.
The other pony was a pony she saw a few times before but she didn't really know anything about him. It was Doctor Whooves. She once heard a rumor about him being a time lord or something but she always put it off as a fantasy of some filly or colt.
She didn't know what was going on right now. Why would they knock her out in the first place? She didn't do anything to them.
“Good, you’re awake. I already thought Daisy hit you too hard,” Doctor Whooves said as he walked towards Applejack and wanted to free her.
Daisy then suddenly ran towards them and jumped on the Doc, preventing him from freeing Applejack.
“What is goin’ on?!” she called out, indeed a bit scared.
The Doctor managed to get Daisy off of him. He gave her a kind of threatening look and them began to free Applejack without further disorder.
“I think I owe you an apology for all of this here. I am sorry,” the Doc told her truthfully.
“Ya could better tell me what the hey is goin' on outside!” Applejack told him quietly but seriously.
“Do you really not know? I mean, this is already going on for like four months.”
“Four months?!”
Daisy just stood in the back of the room without saying a word, only looking at her with an angry face for whatever reason while Doctor Whooves told Applejack everything that happened four months ago.
“Well, it started with ponies dying because of the fever that ‘illness’ entailed,” he began.
“Granny! What's with Granny?” she yelled at the Doctor but also realized that he of course didn't know her.
“Well then, I think I can continue. After the first deaths, everypony began to panic. Celestia herself was asked millions of times what everypony should do, what she planned to do, but she didn't know. Then, a week later, an originally dead pony I don't know the name of started to trot around like nothing had happened. Somepony that knew this pony noticed and was shocked at the sight of course. But when she approached this 'undead’ pony, it bit her right in the shoulder, simply…,” he said, having trouble saying the last part, “ripping the flesh out.”
Applejack couldn't believe that this actually happened while she was in her coma. How could a fever cause this?
He continued, “Then, there were no rules anymore. Almost whole Ponyville seemed to have fled. I guess that they went to Canterlot - I heard many ponies saying something about it - because the city seems to be safe and free of the… walkers, as I call them.”
“Walkers?” Applejack didn't quite know why he named 'them’ like that.
“Yeah. All they do is trot and eat. They don't have any intelligence or something left.”
“How do ya know?”
“...” Doctor Whooves didn't answer at all. He just avoided her gaze and changed the topic.
“There is still one thing you should know,” he quietly said, still not looking in her direction.
“Wait, what? They’re not alive. But Ah saw’em moving.” She then remembered Lily Valley who also couldn't be alive anymore but was also still moving.
“But they’re not dead either.” This time, it was Daisy speaking. “I guess you could say that they are 'undead’.”
“Undead….”
“Right. But here is the point you must know,” the Doc continued. “Everypony who dies from a bite by a walker becomes one of them a while later.”
“They… return? What? How?” Applejack couldn't just believe them. “That's impossible!”
“It should be,” he said. “There's absolutely no scientific and logical answer or reason to it, but it happens. You return as one of those things.”
“But what can we do?” Applejack asked.
The Doc looked at Daisy. She didn't do anything at first, but then just nodded. He nodded back.
“Come with us,” he whispered and lead the puzzled as well as shocked and not understanding Applejack outside on the playground of the school.
“Why are we here now?” Applejack asked, clearly not understanding the whole purpose of that all.
She then saw one of those ‘undead’ ponies. 'It’ didn’t look as bad as Lily Valley but it still looked terrible. There were holes on its body in a few areas like the stomach, the shoulder and and even in the head so that you could see the brain. It was bounded to the fence.
“S-silver Spoon?...”
Applejack suddenly noticed that this was indeed Silver Spoon. The sight of the undead Lily Valley was already traumatizing enough for her but now a filly? She's been still so young…
“You knew her?” Daisy asked her, seemingly without any emotion in her voice.
Applejack didn’t answer her question directly. “She and Diamond Tiara had their… problems with Applebloom and her friends. They didn’t get along really well but this… and why the holes?”
“Well,” Doctor Whooves began to explain, “we tried to find out how to… well, get rid of them because they won't just die like normal ponies.”
“How do ya know that?” Applejack asked him although she was pretty sure she already knew.
“…” he hesitated.
“Ya two did this to her, didn’t ya?”
He didn’t look at her and didn’t say anything as well. Daisy returned her look but she didn’t bother giving her the now obvious answer.
Applejack couldn’t handle the thought of these two slicing open the body of a little filly. She already thought of running away but the Doc seemed to know what kind of thoughts were running through her mind so he put a hoof on her shoulder.
“Do not forget that she isn’t alive anymore. She was already undead when we had found her,” he calmly told her, actually calming her down a bit. “We didn’t want to do this but we had no choice. We need to know how to… handle them if we want to survive.”
“…He doesn’t seem to be lyin´,” Applejack thought. “Ah believe him. But still, why´d be holes there?”
“Why the holes though?” she wanted to know, looking back at the formerly Silver Spoon, croaking and trying to get free to get to them.
“After our… efforts to find the proper way of… disposing them, I wanted to find out what caused this so I tried to find some clues in them but it's hard to analyze anything without any tools,” he said. Applejack noticed that he always used less negative terms for what he meant, especially when it came to kill the undead ponies.
She also noticed Daisy’s annoyed looks every time he did that. She didn’t like to beautify it either.
“Ya ain´t losin´ the fear of doin´ it if ya beautify it,” Applejack thought to herself. She wanted to tell him but decided that this wasn’t the right time to.
“We figured out that stabbing them in the head and damaging their brain stops…”
“Kills them!” Daisy almost shouted. “It's enough with twisting the reality, Doc!”
“Ah wouldn’t call it like that but she's technically right,” Applejack admitted. “Ah think we should call it like it is. That’d make it much simpler for us.”
“Who said that you're gonna stay with us?” Daisy retorted rudely.
“Of course she will, Daisy!” Doctor Whooves said surprised. “Why wouldn’t she?”
“We barely managed to survive and get along with the food left in the school. With another pony, we’re all gonna die sooner or later.”
“We have to find food left in Ponyville anyway. Why not take her with us? I won't just leave her alone!” the Doc said surprisingly confident for Applejack who was getting quite angry right now because of Daisy. She just wanted to leave her to probably die.
Not caring about what she said right now, she angrily said, “Ah ain't endin´ up like Silver Spoon or Lily Valley, no matter what!”
“…W-w-what? Lily…” Daisy stuttered. Just then, Applejack realized what exactly she said. She of course didn’t know what had happened to her friend.
“Ah… ah’m sorry,” she quietly said. “But it’s true. They got her too.”
Daisy didn’t say anything.
Then suddenly, she jumped on Applejack, catching her off-guard and throwing her to the ground. Her anger was overtaking her.
“What have you done?” she yelled at her.
“Ah didn’t do anything! She just got caught!” Applejack tried to throw her off which succeeded in the end with the help of the Doc who pulled Daisy off of her.
“What are you doing, Daisy?” he shouted. “She isn’t responsible for this!”
Daisy was finally off of Applejack.
“Look, I am sorry this happened,” he told her. “But we need to help each other now.”
Daisy stood up, looked at Applejack mischievously and simply trotted away without losing another word.
“She probably just needs some time to handle this,” Doctor Whooves said, helping Applejack up.
“Ah need to find my friends,” she said and already wanted to go. She had the feeling that it wouldn’t end well if she stayed with them or more exactly with Daisy since the Doc seemed to be okay.
“Wait!” the Doc stopped her. “We need food. The reserves are exhausted. We wanted to look around if there's still some left. While we do that, we can look for your friends as well, together. There's also somepony I need to find…”
“Nothin’ here,” Applejack said. She went to another shelf and started to search again.
Doctor Whooves was looking through the shelves on the other side of the room. He didn't have much luck either as all he found this far were two cans of peanuts. At least Applejack had found a giant can of soup and a lot of bread earlier.
“Nothing here.”
The Doc began to be frustrated. This was already the sixth house they have searched through.
“Of course they took their food with’em,” she said.
“Yes, of course. I just didn't think that everything would be this empty,” he explained. “For me, it seems like there were unicorns in all the houses we searched through this far.”
Applejack chuckled. “And here we are, three earth ponies.”
She then realized that they were only two earth ponies right now.
“Do ya know where Daisy’s at?”
“I have no idea,” he admitted. “She said that she would help us searching for food but if that’s the case, she must have gone to another house, obviously.”
“Here!” she yelled and showed him another can which was full of corn.
“Great!” the Doc told her happily. “Thank Celestia that we have a can opener.”
“HELP!” they heard somepony shouting.
“That's Daisy!” the Doc remarked. “We must save her!”
“Yeah,” Applejack said. Although she didn't like Daisy and Daisy didn't like her, she wouldn't let herself down to her level. She wouldn't let somepony just die.
“Just when we talk about her.”
She couldn't suppress that thought.
After a minute, they already found the house Daisy was in. It wasn't that hard to find thanks to her screaming.
As soon as they arrived, they could see that around a dozen walkers tried to get in.
Applejack could make one of them out. As soon as she remarked the pony, she could feel her heart stop beating. She simply collapsed on the ground.
She could feel tears starting to form. She wanted to cry but felt like she couldn't.
The walker she remarked was Granny Smith.
The Doc went ahead and killed one of the walkers with something that remembers an ice pickle.
Before they went looking, the Doc had also given her a weapon since she could possibly need one.
Daisy had lost her weapon earlier when she wasn't attentive and got caught from behind. Her weapon which was a simple hammer got lost somewhere between the walkers.
Doctor Whooves then went right to the undead Granny Smith. She turned around to him before her body collapsed on the ground from having an ice pickle rammed into the head and with that in the brain.
“Applejack! What are you waiting for?”
She felt the tears starting to flow as she saw Granny Smith's body laying on the ground. She would never see her alive ever again. She could never talk to her again. It was over.
Her body was already rotten like the bodies of all walkers but there were no holes in her body, no bites taken out of it, nothing. She must have died from the fever and simply turned to one of them.
But still, the Doc was right. He had shown her how to kill a walker, how she should use her 'spear’ to kill them.
Letting her anger out, she ran towards the walkers.
“FOR GRANNY!” she shouted out loudly just before stabbing a walker through its left eye socket with her spear.
A few walkers have got in the store. Applejack ran around the house and found a suspected rear entrance which was luckily open. There were only three walkers left at the front entrance with Doctor Whooves and one of them was stuck in a window.
“He should be able to manage that,” she hastily thought.
There were luckily no walkers in the back of the store so that she had no problem pressing forward.
Daisy had somehow managed to climb onto one of the shelves that was high enough that the walkers couldn't reach her.
“What do ya want?” Applejack shouted at the walkers who almost immediately yet slowly turned around and started to trot to her.
The Doc already killed the three walkers that were left at the entrance and came inside as well.
The Doc has found Daisy’s hammer and threw it to her which was a bit complicated since he's had to throw it with his jaw but he still did it.
Daisy who had already climbed down the shelf took the hammer began killing the walkers as well.
One walker managed to 'sneak up’ on Applejack and she didn't notice.
Daisy went in her direction to kill the walker slowly approaching her from behind while she was busy handling two walkers coming directly to her.
But then, she stopped.
The walker came closer to Applejack.
Daisy just stood there and watched.
“Behind you, Applejack!”
Doctor Whooves had noticed the walker behind her.
He ran to her and killed the last walker in front of her since Applejack already killed the other one.
With that, she could turn around and kill the walker behind her.
She could barely kill it before it could sink its teeth in her left hind leg.
Its body dropped down on the floor. Applejack was unharmed.
Applejack then noticed Daisys stare in her direction. She knew that this walker was there but she just didn't do anything to save her. She would have let her get killed.
A few minutes later after they killed off all the walkers, they calmed down again and went back to searching.
“I am going back to get the food we left at the house. Can you come with me and help me, Applejack?” Doctor Whooves asked without knowing what Daisy just did.
But Applejack knew.
“Sure thing,” she said and went to him.
She threw one last look back to Daisy who looked back before looking in a different direction to avoid her gaze.
Applejack didn't tell him though that Daisy did that. It wasn't the right time. She thought that she should concentrate on getting the food and getting safely back to the school first before dealing with Daisy.
“That’s gonna be tough,” she thought.
She didn't know yet how to deal with her but she knew that she had to.
Or she was going to die...
When The Dead Start To Trot
Chapter 3: This New World
“I didn't know her but I am sure that she was a great pony,” Doctor Whooves said, standing next to an unbelievably sad Applejack.
They had buried Granny Smith who became a victim of the virus that killed ponies and turned them to flesh eating walkers.
At least the Doc said that this was a virus and no illness.
“No illness could ever cause something like this,” the Doc had explained to Applejack. He was sure about that.
“Ah’m gonna miss ya,” she mumbled quietly, looking sadly down on the ground.
“Ah promise ya, Granny,” she suddenly said, looking up with a much more serious look, “Ah’m not gonna let that happen to me.”
“It won't. I know that,” the Doc whispered to her.
After a while of silence, the two ponies turned around and trotted away. Applejack looked back once to the improvised grave they had built because of the little time they had, then turned back around and went back to the school with Doctor Whooves.
“Why did it take so long?” a really annoyed Daisy asked with yet another deadly stare at Applejack.
Applejack could almost say she got used to that. After that 'incident’ that had happened in the store, they first went back to the school to eat.
Applejack wasn't hungry though. Her stomach was hurting because of her hunger but she couldn't manage to eat anything. But when the Doc came that evening to her room they had set up together for her, he brought her some rests of that day’s meal which she then ate hungrily.
“I must tell you something,” the Doc interrupted the silence the three ponies were in since there was nothing to say.
“We already looked through Ponyville three times completely and yet there was nothing that could lead us to Applejack’s friends or to the pony I need to find.”
Applejack was wondering why he didn't address this one pony not just by its name.
“They must have left Ponyville already a while ago. But where could they have gone to?”
…
Silence.
“There was a train taking ponies to Canterlot,” Daisy then said, showing not a single emotion. “Almost the entire living population of Ponyville came on board.”
“What? When did that happen?” the Doc asked, obviously surprised. “I didn't notice any evacuation train.”
“How couldn't you?” she asked back. “It was loud enough to hear for everypony throughout the entire village!”
“Well,” he explained, though Applejack saw that he was clearly uncomfortable, “I was busy in my… well, investigating the virus.”
“And that was so loud ya didn't hear the train?” Applejack asked, knowing that this wasn't the honest truth.
“No, of course not that loud,” he admitted. “But it's sealed off enough from the train station.”
“Why’s he lyin’?” she thought.
Daisy didn't seem to believe him as well. She just rolled her eyes again.
“But back to the point,” he told them with an almost perfectly serious voice but it was still clear that he felt uncomfortable about the whole situation. “If the others all went to Canterlot, how can we get there?”
He looked at Applejack, then at Daisy.
“And why are you two still here?”
“I was in Manehatten for a while and when I came back, I could just see the panic, get to know what kind of happened and that was it. Before I knew what I should do, the train was gone.”
“What an incredible bad timing. Sorry,” the Doc said. “And what about you, Applejack?”
Daisy didn't say anything but she looked like she really wanted to know her reason although Applejack couldn't imagine why.
“Ah was in the hospital, layin’ in a coma, like it seems” she told them.
“In a coma?” the Doc asked back surprised.
“Fell down the stairs to the basement,” she said like it was nothing. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it.
The Doc didn't know what to say.
“Okay then, I guess,” he said awkwardly. “Sorry to hear that.”
He walked to the window and took a peek outside.
“We must look if we have a chance escaping with a train.”
“We don't,” Daisy answered. “There is yet another train but it's very old and wasn't used for like ten years. It probably doesn't work anymore.”
“But if it's the only chance we have, we must try,” Applejack replied. “But first, Ah must look for my family on the farm.”
“There is probably no one left but I understand how you feel,” Doctor Whooves said in thought. “I come with you.”
“What? Are you serious?” Daisy yelled, abruptly standing up and trotting towards him. “How much do you plan to do for her? You don't even know her!” She was completely angry, again.
“We are a group, Daisy!” the Doc actually yelled back which startled her a bit, never having seen this side of him. “Accept it!”
With that, he went to the exit.
“Come on, Applejack,” he said, still angry. “Let's go!”
“I feel sorry for you, really,” Doctor Whooves told Applejack, “but I already told you that this would probably happen.”
They had been at Sweet Apple Acres to find her family but when they arrived, they immediately realized that it was abandoned. They still looked around everywhere; they searched through the entire farm, but nothing.
They already almost arrived back at the school when Daisy came running towards them.
“Go! Go!” she yelled.
Applejack then saw them.
A huge herd of walkers was making its way to the three of them.
Without losing a single word, the Doc and Applejack began running as well. The walkers may not be fast but they are extremely dangerous in a herd. They were close as well.
She couldn't be sure but Applejack thought seeing walkers get into the school.
“The school! Did they take it?” she tried asking Daisy during their run.
“They did! And the food with it!”
“At least, we are now here where we wanted to go to anyway,” the Doc tried to lighten the mood up.
“But we lost all our food, my hammer and our only safe place which wasn't as safe as you said it was, Doctor!” Daisy countered.
Applejack had to admit that she was right in this case. They now had nowhere to stay and no food left.
“Stop demotivating everypony all the time, Daisy!” he became angry again. “Yes, we did, but we are here where we wanted to go and the walkers definitely got lost in the streets somewhere.”
“Wow, great news!” Daisy sarcastically answered. “You know, Doctor, you can't see everything from the bright side. There are things that are just shit and that's it. There are things that are just all negative and bad.”
“You can think like that; I don't care, but I think my way and 'that’s it’!” he argued with her.
Daisy once again had that mischievous look on her face and once again trotted away.
“We should check around and make sure everything's safe. Maybe we even find the train,” he said to Applejack although he didn't look in her direction at all. He trotted away as well.
“That's gonna end bad,” Applejack thought and followed him.
“When we find the train, we have to make sure we have enough coal to get to Canterlot,” she remembered him.
“I think this should not be a problem,” he said, completely calm again. “This is a train station and if the inhabitants left as frantic as Daisy described, I doubt that they took coal with them.”
Although he now had lost it already twice, he regained his calmness and brains really fast. Applejack really admired his self-control.
“You have probably been living here longer than me,” he then said. “Have you an idea where they could have stored it away?”
“Ah already went by train plenty of times but Ah´ve never seen some old train somewhere,” she admitted.
“Too bad.”
They went around a corner.
“Oh well, it seems like we already found it,” he said and pointed a hoof to a large barn. As they approached it, they could see a bit through a crack in the gate. The old train was indeed inside.
“Oh! That went faster than expected,” she stated with a surprised look. “We have luck for once!”
“Let's see if it works,” he happily exclaimed and tried to open the gate.
But it was closed.
“Ah thought so,” she said frustrated. “Havin’ luck twice in a row is too much to ask for.”
“The key must be somewhere around here,” the Doc said surprisingly optimistic. “And we will find it!”
“What about the hospital?”
“What?” Applejack turned around.
Daisy was back and looked at her, obviously wanting an answer.
“What’s about it?”
“Your family,” she shortly replied. “Or this pony you’re searching, Doc. Heck, anypony! Anypony could still be there! The hospital is huge and probably a safe place.” She hoofpalmed herself. “Why the hay didn't we go there before?”
“Safe? If there were any other patients left behind like me, but didn't get outside, they could've died. And with who knows how many walkers inside, it wouldn't be that safe,” Applejack thought.
But Daisy had a point. The hospital wasn't exactly huge but still one of the largest buildings in Ponyville.
But still, did Daisy really not think about possibly deceased patients? And there could still have been ponies before they were evacuated that took all the stuff the three of them needed right now.
Then, she remembered all the dead ponies she encountered when leaving the building, around two hundred of them. She also remembered all the dried blood around the corpses. Though many of them should have turned by now, there was enough blood around heads which indicated that they were stabbed in the head so that they won't turn.
That's also something the Doc and her had found out thanks to his… experiments.
He always said, “We need to learn the 'rules of survival’ of this world and for that, we only have one possibility: experimenting with walkers.”
He was right with that. She always had problems with slicing open a body or picking around in a brain. She still hated it and sometimes vomited but the Doc was understanding and helped her to get used to this 'new world’.
He then always remembered her that those things are not ponies anymore. She is just glad that Big Macintosh and Applebloom have got away safely as well as her friends.
Probably.
“Ah’ve never really thought about’em since… this here,” she said to herself. “Ah hope they’re all safe in Canterlot.”
“If you want to, Applejack,” the Doc suddenly interrupted the silence, “then you and Daisy could go to the hospital and look around. Maybe you’ll even find food but I don't have a good feeling about that.”
“Why only when she wants to?” Daisy returned, losing it again. “I need to find somepony as well, my other friend Rose.”
“Why didn't ya tell us earlier?” Applejack asked innocently. “Ya never said anything about Rose.”
“Because I never had any reason to tell somepony, especially you!” Daisy snarled.
“Stop it, you two!” the Doc stopped them. “Please!”
“Ah’m sorry,” Applejack said.
Daisy stayed silent.
“Let's go then,” she then said and went to the exit.
Before Applejack could do anything, Doctor Whooves put a hoof on her shoulder.
“Please be careful. You just can't trust her anymore. I can’t have her harming you. Watch out!”
Applejack nodded.
“Ah'm gonna be careful. Don't worry, Doc!” she calmly said. She actually cared about him since he has been so kind to her and she didn't want him to worry about her.
“Ah'm not gonna let myself be harmed.”
“I'm gonna check those rooms; you check these here, okay?” Daisy asked, suspiciously calm.
“Okay,” Applejack said. She didn't think that this could be any kind of trap. She couldn't have had enough time to set anything up, especially if it's in the hospital which isn't even that near the school or the train station.
They brought their weapons with them of course. Applejack knew that if Daisy would try to directly attack, she could easily kill her if she's fast enough.
“A spear versus a hammer. If Ah must, Ah'm gonna do it. …
But can Ah even?”
She probably would, she knew that, even if it's just her survival instinct.
It's just that although Daisy tried to let her die and would do it again, she was no walker. She was a living pony.
And Applejack didn't want to be a murderer.
“Everything’s clear!” Applejack said a bit louder so that Daisy could hear her.
“Here too!” she said back.
Applejack went in another room which was also free of walkers. There was yet another door in the room.
“Probably the bathroom.”
She opened the door.
Nothing. The bathroom was empty as well.
She then wanted to try if the water pipe still worked since the one in the school didn't.
She didn't have a shower for what felt like an eternity. To be exactly, it were exactly five months and nineteen days. She didn't have a shower during her coma as well of course but she didn't know that that's how long she’s been out.
She opened the water tap.
“It works!” she happily exclaimed, loud enough to hear for Daisy.
“What works?” she heard Daisy yell from the other side of the floor.
“The water pipe!” Applejack didn't care that Daisy was like an enemy to her right now.
“Oh yeah, here too!” it came back.
Daisy then galloped over to her room.
“I even found two cups,” she said, showing two simple cups filled with water.
“Here. You should drink something,” she said while handing Applejack one of the cups.
“Thank ya,” she said and taking the cup from her. She was indeed pretty thirsty.
For meeting her, she had left the bathroom.
“Oh, Ah wonder if the toilet works,” she then said and walked back in the bathroom.
The toilet still worked as well. She could flush it.
“Great!” she said and put the cup to her mouth.
Then, she stopped.
Why would Daisy bring her a cup of water? Maybe it was just her being paranoid but she more or less promised the Doc that nothing would happen to her and she couldn't trust Daisy so she simply emptied the cup over the still flushing toilet.
But if it was a trap, then Daisy would notice that she didn't fall for it and maybe would try something else.
Applejack didn't know what else Daisy could do but she knew that she would do something.
With that thought in mind, she opened the water tap and drank some water out of it.
Applejack came back to Daisy with a pretty wet face while acting like she was drinking from the cup. She hated that wet feeling but thought that it would be the best right now when it came to Daisy.
“Why are you so wet now?” she of course asked her.
But she already knew.
It has been indeed a trap. She once has worked in this hospital for a while and since then, nothing has changed its place.
She went exactly to the room where the strong medicine and other stuff like anesthetic were kept.
The cups were also there. She filled them with water and one of them, the one she handed Applejack, with anesthetic.
Of course you can't take too much of it since too much could kill you so Daisy simply overdosed the water by around ten times.
Applejack wouldn't have survived such an overdose.
“Just washin’ my face, ya know?” Applejack answered, trying to sound completely normal and calm but she thought that she failed that really bad.
“Okay, then,” Daisy also tried being calm and innocent but on the inside, she was pretty angry that her plan didn't work out.
They didn't find any food at all neither anypony. But they still found useful medicine which can usually be expected in a hospital. Usually at least but in a world with walkers trotting around and killing the living, it's unbelievable luck to find something like medicine somewhere untouched.
“Great news!” the Doc greeted the two ponies. “I found the key for the gate.”
“Fantastic!” Applejack exclaimed. “But does the train work?”
“Come with me!” He lead them to the now open gate. The train inside definitely looked old but also really nice and well taken care of.
“It works perfectly fine! Somepony took great care of it and kept it in shape!”
“So, we can actually get to Canterlot now?” Daisy asked, finally saying something. Since her trap on Applejack failed, she didn't say a single word. Applejack neither. What could she say to somepony that probably just tried to kill her for the second time?
“We can because there is more than enough coal,” he said and grabbed a piece of coal laying near him.
“Somepony seemed to have taken a trip on the train from time to time,” he added.
“Should we go now?” Applejack asked. She didn't want to seem rude but she just wanted to leave Ponyville as fast as possible and find her friends and family.
Hopefully the rest of them were unharmed.
“Fantastic!” the Doc shouted. “I love this train! It's old but still modern somehow. You understand, Applejack?”
“Not really,” Applejack admitted a bit ashamed. “Would ya excuse me, Doc? Ah’m just tired,” she told him. She was tired enough to take a nap even on a jerking train.
“Well of course, Applejack,” he answered. “I can fully understand you.”
“Thank ya.”
She looked for a place near the Doc where she could nap for a while.
Daisy didn't seem to plan to kill the Doc or anything but she was now obviously less trusting to him and didn't get along with him that well anymore. She was just completely insane by now.
But Applejack actually wasn't that wrong about Daisy that day.
“What is wrong with you, Daisy? Ever since Applejack came to us, you act completely… different. Where is the Daisy I met when the apocalypse began? Where is the Daisy I met when I was surrounded by walkers and who helped me to survive while risking her own life?”
It was way too loud to sleep. Applejack woke up and heard Doctor Whooves and Daisy arguing. But this time, it was different than the times before.
“I am right, am I not?”
Applejack never heard the Doc that angry before. He didn't seem like himself. It was like his personality was swapped with the opposite kind.
"I’ve never seen Lily this whole time. Then, Applejack came and just a while later, I found her. Or more what was still left of her."
Applejack could hear her starting to slightly cry.
"Applejack didn’t do it. I know it."
Then, there was silence for about half a minute. Applejack felt like she could hear the upcoming trouble.
She then only heard a loud bang. She shot up and ran towards the front part of the train where she had heard the two of them.
As soon as she arrived, she saw Daisy sitting on the Doctor’s back, pushing his head down through the open side door. He was already halfway through the door, his mane almost grinding on the rail.
“HELP! APPLEJACK!” he shouted his lungs out. He felt like his eardrums would explode from the wind rushing through his ears.
Applejack didn't need to be told twice. She immediately jumped on Daisy, trying to push her off of Doctor Whooves.
“Leave him alone!”
“You stay out of that!” Daisy shouted back.
“Ah certainly won't if a friend’s in danger!”
With Daisy distracted, the Doc somehow managed to hold himself up enough before falling down.
After Applejack had pushed Daisy off of him and kind of thrown her to the side, she quickly grabbed him and pulled him up into the room before he could finally fall down.
Daisy already got up by then and jumped on Applejack, catching her off-guard. She was pushed to the edge of the train now as well.
“You… ruined… EVERYTHING!” Daisy yelled.
Applejack couldn't get up. Daisy positioned herself on her back in a way that didn't allow her to get free.
“Applejack!” The Doc came to save her but Daisy was prepared this time.
She kicked out with her hind leg, hitting Doctor Whooves perfectly in the middle of his chest.
He struggled to breath and collapsed but still hold Daisy’s hind leg that just knocked him down.
“Let me go!” she yelled, kicking out again but missing the Doc this time.
That was Applejack’s chance.
While Daisy was kicking and with that not paying attention to her, Applejack raised her rump and did a little jump. She couldn't jump that high right now because of Daisy but it was high enough to bring her out of balance. Now it was Daisy's turn to slip to the edge.
Daisy could barely grab Applejack before falling down. While she hold Applejack's shoulders, she said, “You won't make it! I guarantee you that! With all the problems you cause, you’ll kill everypony near you including yourself!”
Applejack shook herself to get Daisy off of her.
And it succeeded.
In a last try of saving herself, Daisy tried to take ahold of the train somewhere but she slipped.
The uncontrolled train was moving really slow because the cole was almost out.
She fell down and rolled a bit forward in front of the train. Her head landed on the rail. She couldn't get up on time because of the pain from her fall. The train then came by.
Nopony’s skull can take that pressure. The brain of course also not.
She was almost immediately dead.
The train went by. The Doc recovered from her kick. Applejack didn't even realize that she just killed somepony.
“At least she’s not gonna turn…”
When The Dead Start To Trot
“Ah murdered somepony… Ah murdered somepony…”
Applejack was sitting in a corner of the waggon. She rocked herself back and forth. She felt like everything was crashing down on her.
“We had to…”
Doctor Whooves didn't feel much better as well. He even felt like he was more likely the one that killed Daisy.
“Daisy was just completely insane. She tried to kill me,” he added.
“He really doesn't know.”
“She tried to kill me as well!” Applejack yelled, clearly not knowing how to handle her emotions.
He didn't answer. She thought that he would be totally shocked or something but he seemingly wasn't.
“I thought so,” he said quietly. “I am so sorry, Applejack! I am so sorry!” he suddenly collapsed. Applejack could see that he started crying.
“Did she do something to you while you two were in the hospital? I shouldn't have let you go!” He really didn't know about the incident in the store though.
“She didn't,” Applejack said, knowing that Daisy actually probably did. She didn't want to make him more upset.
“Really?” the Doc asked back. He already thought that this wasn't the honest truth. “As you two arrived back at the train station, I could see the look on your face. I could clearly see that something must have happened. You know, you are a really bad liar, Applejack,” he told her, giving her a light smile.
“Yeah, Ah know,” she admitted. “But Ah’m not completely sure she did.”
The train stopped now completely.
“We should add more coal,” he said and stood up without saying something else. Applejack expected him to come back after filling up the boiler but he didn't. He stayed where he was and looked in the distance.
Applejack looked on the ground. The Doc had the same emotional and moral problems.
“How am Ah ever gonna deal with that? What if Ah meet Rose?”
“Hey, Applejack! Come here!” he then suddenly said. She could hear the fright in his voice.
She trotted towards the front of the train. As soon as she arrived there, she could see what shocked him like that.
“That's the train from Ponyville!”
“Everything's quiet.”
Applejack and Doctor Whooves stood on the right side of the train that was simply standing on the tracks.
“This really is the train that came from Ponyville, isn't it?” the Doc asked.
Applejack was startled by that. What happened to the train and the ponies? Why was it left alone standing on the tracks? What caused this?
Doctor Whooves positioned himself on his hind legs and watched through a window of a waggon.
Then suddenly, a walker jumped at the window the Doc was standing at which caused him to fall on his back.
“Ouch,” he said, having his right eye closed and rubbing his back.
“Everything's fine?” Applejack asked although she knew he couldn't have hurt himself much.
“Yes, sure,” he said and stood up. “I just didn't expect this to happen.”
She then realized that this definitely was one of the ponies of Ponyville. She did remember seeing the alive counterpart of that walker before a few times.
“Ponyville.”
“What?”
“Ah don't know his name but Ah saw this stallion on the market a few times before,” Applejack remembered.
“It's a pony from Ponyville,” the Doc repeated. He saw her starting to tremble.
“I am sure your friends are fine,” he guessed her thoughts. “I do not know them really well but I know that they are strong enough to survive, even Fluttershy.”
Still trembling, she turned her head to him fully.
“Ya know’em?”
“Well, I know Fluttershy, princess Twilight Sparkle since she is a princess as you know and now you.” He smiled at her.
“How can he smile now?” she thought. “In such a situation.”
“Why ya smilin’?” she suddenly yelled at him, causing him to jump back and fall back down on his already hurt back.
“What was that for?” he yelled back, actually a bit angry.
Applejack didn't say anything at first. She worried so much about her friends and also the other ponies that she just couldn't stand him smiling like that.
She helped him back up without saying a single word.
“Ah'm sorry! But we must find out what happened to those ponies,” Applejack apologized, then explained.
“Ready?” Applejack asked Doctor Whooves who was about to open the waggon door, holding his 'ice pickle'.
“Hopefully,” he simply said. He wanted to open the door finally but stopped shortly before he could do it.
“I understand why you yelled at me,” he said. “That smile was completely unfitting there. I am sorry too.”
“Ya don't need to apologize. Ah-”
A few walkers jumped against the door.
“Oh Celestia,” she said. She usually never said something like that but it wasn't like she would care in that moment.
She nodded to him and he nodded back. She hold her spear tight as he opened the door.
Six walkers approached them at once. Or at least they tried.
Since they all tried getting out at once, they got stuck in the door frame. Only one of them got outside.
The Doc took care of the walker. The others still tried to grab them.
”They were from Ponyville,” she thought. She’s seen all of them before.
After the two of them killed the last ones, they were relieved that there were only three more inside.
“There is another door,” he said and pointed to the back door. “If there were more walkers inside, they must have gone out.”
“Yeah,” she replied. “They’d be gone for already a long time.”
“Exactly.” They searched through the entire waggon without finding anything useful.
“Seems like we have to search through the coffers,” Applejack said although she didn't want to in order to look for her friends and also for that somepony that the Doc looked for.
It took a while but eventually they went through all coffers.
Nothing. There was nothing useful to find.
“What a waste of time.”
“Indeed,” the Doc agreed, “but we could not know before we tried.”
“Ah'm gonna look again,” Applejack said and already started doing that.
“Okay, I will too,” the Doc said after a short moment of silence and started too. The silence then returned and it was completely silent for about five minutes.
Boom. A gunshot.
Doctor Whooves went to the ground.
Somepony shot him.
He fell on the ground and hold his shot leg. It was luckily not that bad bleeding. The bullet has gone right through it.
Applejack was completely shocked but reacted quickly and threw her spear in the direction of the door where the gunshot must have come from in order to protect her friend.
She couldn't make out who it was but she a figure of somepony fleeing. That somepony dodged the spear pretty good.
“Come back!” she yelled and ran after her - she was sure the figure belonged to a mare - without hesitating.
Applejack quickly grabbed her spear and threw it after her again as soon as she was outside and saw her.
It hit her but because of the hectic, she didn't throw quite accurate and only the side of the spear hit her.
But that was still enough to get her out of balance and fall. Applejack quickly rushes to her and held her in place, grabbing her gun and threatening her with it.
Applejack then realized that she knew this pony actually quite well.
“Twilight?!”
“It is okay. I think I can walk on my own, now,” Doctor Whooves exclaimed although it was totally obvious that walking really hurt him at least.
“I am so, so, so sorry!” Twilight Sparkle apologized for the fourth time. “I thought it was one of those things.”
“It is enough, okay?” the Doc answered her a bit annoyed. It just gets pretty annoying hearing somepony apologizing for the same thing over and over.
“So-,” Twilight began, then realizing that she would only annoy him more with yet another apologize so she stopped.
“What even happened here though?” Applejack wanted to finally know. “Where are the others at?”
Twilight then stopped in her motion and just stood there in silence.
“Just when I forgot what happened,” she mumbled, stammering. Tears immediately swelled up in her eyes, soon pouring down.
Applejack guessed that Twilight was at least as traumatised as her from the occurred events.
“Look, Ah'm sorry, Twilight,” she quickly said. “Ya of course don't have to.”
“No, no,” Twilight said, shaking her head, tears still flowing and her voice still trembling. “I should tell you everything.”
She became silent once again.
Then suddenly, Twilight more or less jumped at Applejack and hugged her tight.
“I am so glad you're still alive, Applejack.” She didn't seem to want to let her go.
Silence. Applejack didn't how to react to this.
“How?”
“Huh?” Applejack replied confused.
“How did you get here? What happened to you in the hospital? How?” Twilight asked again.
“It's not the right time,” Applejack answered back shortly, not returning her gaze. She wanted to tell her everything that happened but she didn't want to when she was still getting sick worrying about the rest of her friends.
“How?” Twilight asked again, not giving up.
Once again silence.
“HOW?” she now yelled more than asked.
“Ah woke up in the hospital, went to the school, was knocked out by Daisy,-” she shortly stopped at remembering the Doc and herself about Daisy and her death, “-was told what happened in his world, learned to defend myself, the school was taken by walkers, we took the train, now we’re here.”
She told Twilight the shortest version she could imagine although she wasn't sure if Twilight would still ask her about more details. She left her meet with Granny's walker and Daisy's death out on purpose of her story.
“Okay, who is Daisy and do you mean by ‘walker’ the trotting dead ponies?” Twilight asked, much to Applejack’s annoyance since her nerves were totally blank at that time but at least Twilight was now obviously calmer than before.
“She was my 'partner’ for five months,” the Doc answered truthfully. “But she… didn't make it.”
“Oh… was she also…”
Twilight didn't finish her question. She looked down, tears forming in her eyes again.
Applejack wanted to ask her to finally hear the full question but she knew better than to unsettle her even more.
“...devoured?”
“What? Devoured?” Applejack asked shocked. She didn't hear that ponies were or even could be devoured.
“Bitten,” the Doc shortly corrected.
At the sight of Applejack's shocked gaze, he asked, “ Did you not think of it before?”
“Ah guess it makes sense if ya can tell it like that,” she admitted. “Enough walkers, one pony and… ya know.”
“But what do you mean by ‘bitten’?” Twilight asked, meaning more Doctor Whooves than Applejack.
“Excuse me?” he asked back confused.
“Bitten ponies turn to one of these things after they… died because of the caused fever,” Applejack tried to explain.
“They turn?!” Twilight couldn't believe what she just heard. “I mean, I saw walkers biting them but there were always that many that they just…”
She once again stopped during her sentence but Applejack already knew what she meant to say so that she didn't need to finish this time.
“What am I only going to do now?” Twilight then said to herself, loud enough to hear for Applejack and the Doc.
“What ya mean, Twilight?”
“I'm not feeling that well but it's okay.”
Filthy Rich laid on the bench of the waggon in front of the waggon the Doc and Applejack hit.
They didn't say anything since they both knew what would eventually happen to him although Applejack never saw somepony turn.
“The Doc probably has,” she thought. “Hopefully not somepony close to him.”
“I'm fine. Don't you worry, guys,” Filthy Rich tried to calm them down a bit. His shoulder still hurt and you could clearly and - for Applejack even worse - easily see the flesh sticking out from his wound.
He obviously didn't know that he would die soon.
“Just a little fever. The wound is clean and doesn't even hurt that much,” he added. “I would try to sell these wound-cleaning techniques if I could.”
All three of them stared at him in disbelief, even though Twilight seemed to have already heard something like that before from him.
But still, that he was able to make such a comment without shaming himself to death during such a time was unbelievable for Applejack.
“I just found him a few days ago,” Twilight told them. “He was running away from walkers coming from the west and I simply helped him.”
“She saved me!” he happily corrected. “I'd have died for sure if she wouldn't have come along.”
Applejack looked at the Doc and he looked back at her. They both didn't want to tell him in order to not depress the mood anymore.
Twilight who now also knew what would happen to him soon had a hard time looking and especially speaking to him.
“What's the matter?” Filthy Rich asked surprised. He of course noticed the awkward silence the four of them were in.
“Just hard to comprehend,” Applejack then tried to break the awkwardness.
“Comprehending what?” he asked back, not understanding what she could mean by that.
“Anything.”
Filthy Rich still didn't get it but much to Applejack's delight, he didn't ask any more questions.
“But what happened here though? Ya didn't finish last time,” she asked especially Twilight, feeling too uncomfortable to speak with Filthy Rich anymore.
She didn't like having to ask Twilight again but they needed to know what happened.
“You're right. You should know it,” Twilight then quietly said.
“I can if you don't want to,” Filthy Rich then said.
“Twilight didn't say anything. She just nodded her head.
“I wasn't here when they tried to escape from Ponyville,” Filthy Rich began. “I was in Manehatten at this time. But from what I heard from Twilight, they ran out of coal because they burned it way too fast so that they were stuck here on the tracks. Then, after pretty much everypony panicked, a 'herd’ of ‘walkers’ as you call them came and… well, got them,” he told them.
There were no real details but Applejack and Doctor Whooves of course understood what happened.
“That's why I didn't know what happens when you are 'bitten’,” Twilight whispered to Applejack, making sure Filthy Rich wouldn't hear her. “All ponies were simply completely killed by those things.”
“When was he bitten?” Applejack whispered back to Twilight.
“One and a half day ago,” she answered.
Applejack didn't answer this time. The Doc had once told her that bitten ponies would only have around two days until they turn. He said he’d have heard it a few days after the apocalypse began.
“I once read about so called 'zombies’,” Twilight then suddenly changed the subject. “Undead ponies who wander around and try to eat the fresh flesh of living ponies.”
“So, what exactly happens now?” Applejack answered. She wouldn't have expected Twilight to have read something about something like a zombie apocalypse before but she didn't even care anymore right now. She was only surprised that there actually was a book that tells about those kind of things.
“But then, she realised that if this book is about the walkers, then maybe there was also a cure for the virus explained in it.
“Do ya still got the book?” she asked, startling Twilight a bit with her sudden interest.
“In the castle,” she said, still surprised and slightly confused but also having an idea what Applejack could have want to say. “I didn't take it with me of course.”
“Maybe a cure’s explained inside it,” Applejack said loud enough for everypony to hear in the waggon.
“What? A cure?” the Doc asked.
“It would be possible,” Twilight said. “I at least don't remember reading something about a cure, but I didn't read the whole book yet.”
“Then we’ve got to return to Ponyville,” Applejack exclaimed, leaving the Doc and Filthy Rich, who didn't know the context, confused.
“Later,” she added, addressing the two of them.
It was relatively hard to change the Doc’s opinion to not return and continue their way to Canterlot but eventually Applejack could convince him. She saw this as the only chance they had to save all still living ponies.
They took some of the coal onto the other train since they had to switch the train in order to get to Canterlot but they were careful to only take the coal they needed and not more. In case they would have to leave it behind, they would at least not lose all the coal.
On the way back to Ponyville, Applejack had a bit luck that Twilight wasn't paying attention when they reached the spot where Daisy died. Her body of course still laid there on the tracks but only now Applejack could see what the train wheel did to her head. She felt the urge to vomit again and was glad she was able to barely hold it back so that Twilight wouldn't see Daisy.
Filthy Rich of course stayed in the waggon. He first wanted to come with Applejack and Twilight but almost immediately broke down as he tried to walk so that the Doc stayed with him because of his wound.
After calming down a bit again without Twilight noticing, she asked her, “Where have ya been the whole time, Twilight?”
She and the Doc have once checked her castle but they couldn't find anything or anypony.
“I was in Ponyville for the first three months, I think,” she answered. “As it started, I informed princess Celestia about the happening and tried to help everypony in Ponyville. I wanted to organise everything so that everypony could flee but because of their panic, it was impossible to manage.”
“Yeah,” Applejack simply said. She didn't know what else she could have answered with.
“I put the bed in front of your door.”
“What?” Applejack asked. She never expected to hear anything about the bed blocking her door again.
“I put the bed in front of your door,” Twilight repeated. “It was when everything started. There were the first walkers and everything went down in the hospital. I went to your room and checked on you but you were still in a coma. And of course, I couldn't take you with me so I quickly put a bed in front of your door to block your room from all walkers. I just hoped that you would wake up in safeness. But on the other hoof…”
“What 'on the other hoof’?”
“On the other hoof, I also hoped you wouldn't wake up.”
Applejack didn't answer.
“I didn't want you to have to live through something as horrible as this here. I thought you would have been completely caught off-guard from waking up in this new world,” Twilight explained, obviously feeling bad for what she just said before her explanation.
“Ah get ya.”
“Thanks.”
There was nothing except awkward silence as they approached Ponyville.
“Anything?” Twilight asked while throwing out all the books and looking for the right one. She had no idea where she had left it.
“Nope,” it came back. More books fell to the floor.
They already looked for about twenty minutes and still didn't find the book.
“Where could I have placed it at?” Twilight murmured to herself. She has just went through an entire shelf again and went on to the next one.
They looked through all the shelves and threw down the wrong ones. Twilight always loved sort outher books. She would have no problem doing it again.
That is, if she would ever get the chance again.
“There it is,” Applejack then yelled. Soon enough, she realised she shouldn't be so loud to not attract the walkers to them since the Doc once noticed how much walkers are attracted to noise as he studied them.
“Really? Great!” Twilight happily said and trotted over to her.
“With her magic she quickly looked through the book and found a page named 'the cure’.
“Perfect! What it's sayin'?” Applejack asked, hating to have to wait to get the answer. She has never been a patient pony.
Twilight began to read. “'The cure of the virus to stop the apocalypse is…’”
She stopped and looked at the page with a mixed look of shock and hopelessness.
“What? What?!” Applejack asked impatiently.
“‘... Inexistent.’”
Silence.
“That can't be. That can't be.” Applejack couldn't believe that there was nothing they could do against the walkers. “Nothin’ to stop it.”
Then, she grabbed the book that Twilight then frightenedly released from her magic and threw it away.
Unfortunately, she wasn't quite attentive and was way too loud. A few walkers got attracted. The two of them could already hear them.
“Applejack!” Twilight angrily shouted.
“Sorry, sugarcube,” she quickly said without much emotion. “We've got to go.”
They didn't have any kind of problem getting out since Twilight could quickly teleport them outside. They were pretty lucky there weren't any walkers near the train.
“He is sweating pretty bad, just like we both found out it would happen, Applejack,” Doctor Whooves whispered to Twilight and especially Applejack, careful to not let Filthy Rich hear it.
“You found out?” Twilight asked, not understanding what exactly he wanted to say with this.
“He found out, to tell the truth,” Applejack corrected. She still didn't even know how he found that out but she didn't feel like asking.
She had a bad feeling about that.
“What we’re gonna do with him?” Applejack asked. “When he dies…”
Applejack never really got along with Filthy Rich but seeing him laying on a bench, sweating like that and almost unable to move…
Just like Granny Smith.
“We're going to wait for now, about him,” Twilight said in a tone that made clear she didn't want and would not discuss her decision, “and move on to Canterlot.”
“Sure thing,” the Doc said, noticing Twilight’s tone as well. He didn't have the nerves to discuss anyway just after finding out that there is no cure.
At least not yet. He now also wanted to get to Canterlot to help creating a cure for the virus.
“Okay then,” Twilight said, now in a leading tone Applejack would never have expected to hear from her friend.
“As the walkers came inside, the others fled,” Twilight suddenly added. “I'm sure they're safe. They can take care of themselves, even Pinkie.”
Applejack couldn't help herself but to smile at the thought of Pinkie attacking the walkers with her party cannon and cupcakes. She quickly put that thought aside since this kind of inattentiveness is what gets you killed in this world. But she also knew that it was good she didn't lost her humour yet since it showed her she still had her sanity, at least in her opinion.
“Let's move on, then,” Doctor Whooves said, sounding a bit impatient which surprised Applejack. “We shouldn't stay too long on the tracks like that for so long.”
“Yeah, he's right,” Applejack said. “Can ya handle the train drive alone?” she asked the Doc who was already on his way to the front part of the train, a bit hobbling.
“Well sure I can. I would not mind a little bit of help though.”
Applejack laid in a surprisingly comfortable bed. The sheets were rather dirty but you can't have high standards in a world like this.
It was quiet but she still could hear the walkers outside, trying desperately to get in. They banged against the door and the windows unstoppably.
Applejack looked up at the ceiling and didn't say anything. She just stared at the blank ceiling.
Doctor Whooves was next to her, sitting on the very edge of the bed. He didn't say anything either.
He was seemingly in deep thought, but in reality, he just didn't know what to say.
They were there for already about thirty minutes and still didn't do anything. Applejack would have tried to sleep but she couldn't. Not only because of the walkers but also because of what had just happened.
Doctor Whooves felt the need to break the silence and simply said the first thing that came to his mind.
“I am sorry.”
When The Dead Start To Trot
Chapter 6: I Could Die Tomorrow
“Help!”
“I'm coming!” Stellar Eclipse yelled back to the pony he heard now for the ninth time shouting for help. He tried getting to her as fast as he could which wasn't as hard as he had expected since the streets were completely empty with pretty much nothing to fall over.
As he approached the only pony he had heard until now, he began hearing others as well.
“Just stop! You're attracting even more of them!” some other pony seemed to shout at the other pony who had just yelled for help again.
“Somepony has to be there outside!” another pony responded shouting.
Stellar Eclipse has then arrived at the scene and saw what happened. There were five ponies, all trying not to fall off a dumpster standing at the back wall of a house, completely surrounded by walkers who all tried to grab them. A lot of walkers.
“I'll help you!” Stellar shouted, immediately attracting some of the walkers to him. He stuck his knife in the head of the first one he met. The mare with apple greenish gray fur and the blue and light fuchsia mane who had tried to kill the walkers before already then went back doing it to help Stellar Eclipse.
The other four ponies were a light aquamarine coated unicorn mare with a pale, light greyish cyan mane, a red coated, big earth pony stallion with an orange mane, an earth pony stallion with light amber coat and a grayish tangelo mane and a unicorn stallion with gray coat and a gray and brown mane.
The gray stallion had a small pistol he hasn't used until now since it's really loud but he thought that this would be a good chance of using to quickly get rid of all the walkers. Now, that there are three ponies who could help and that this unknown stallion had already lured them away a bit, they could get away from there before the new walkers could get them.
Already having slayed some of the walkers, the stallion began shooting some walkers. Killing the walkers together, they managed to get rid of them pretty quickly.
Stellar had some problems though as he noticed that his knife sometimes got stuck in the heads of the walkers as he rushed. It didn't make it easier for him that many more came approaching him slowly because of the gunshots.
Eventually, the three of them killed off all the walkers without any further problems. But a whole herd was already coming towards them.
“Come with me!” Stellar shouted at them and lead the way back to his new farm house home. He wasn't sure if that was a good idea but he had searched for help for such a long time. Now he had the chance of getting it and joining a group.
“Who the hay are you?" the mare with the apple greenish gray coat asked Stellar, panting while running next to him. Stellar couldn't go much faster and that this mare seemed to be a pretty fast runner didn't make it easier for him leading the way to the farm house those ponies probably couldn't know of.
“Up the hill and then northwest!” Stellar told the mare who was obviously really holding back to not pass him. She nodded. He didn't answer her question but she knew that this wasn't something that had to be told right now.
“In this direction!” she shouted over her shoulder to the other four ponies following the two of them who then began to quicken the pace.
“But do not leave him behind!”
As Stellar arrived at the farm, the others were already there and also had started looking around and investigating the outside of the house.
“Hey!” he snarled at them. “That's my home, okay? I just saved you!”
“Helped,” the gray stallion grumbled back, continuing investigating without even looking to Stellar who didn't hear his mumbling.
“We gotta make sure everythin's safe,” the big, red stallion answered before the leader mare could. “Don't wanna die immediately.”
“You think I would've cared about y'all if it would've been a trap?” Stellar countered annoyedly.
“Why not?” the stallion quietly answered, almost sounding aggressively.
“Thanks for helping us out, by the way,” the leader mare interrupted Stellar and the stallion before they would really start fighting. Stellar Eclipse may not have looked like it but he really would have fought this stallion if he would have continued.
Stellar didn't answer but kept staring at the stallion who still hasn't turned away from him and has kept staring at him as well.
“So, what's your name again?”
He figured it wouldn't be good to start a fight with a member of the group he could have had a chance of joining. With that, he then fully turned his body towards the mare, gaining a quick look of what the others were doing. The other two stallions were still investigating, the stallion he had just argued with has been going to the unicorn mare with the cyan coat who was sitting on a bench and simply looking around.
“The name's Stellar Eclipse,” he responded, already sounding way calmer. “And who are you ponies? How did you even get here? There's pretty much nothing here in the area.”
She looked away for a short while, obviously thinking about what to say. The awkward silence stayed for a while as the mare still thought about her answer.
After finally returning her gaze, she said something to break the silence, not to answer his question, however.
“I'm Bon Bon and these are-”
“You didn't answer my question,” Stellar interrupted, seeing that there was something she didn't want to tell him.
Bon Bon looked at him for a few seconds silently.
“I'm Bon Bon,” she repeated. Stellar realized it wouldn't do anything asking her again. She didn't want to answer his question and so she wouldn't.
“The unicorn is Lyra Heartstrings, the stallion with the amber coat there is Caramel, the gray stallion is Charming Blade and the stallion you already almost started a fight with - I’m sorry, it's just the way he is - is Big Macintosh.”
Stellar repeated the names in his head while looking to the respective pony in order to remember the names for later.
“You didn't see a pony named Sassaflash, did you?” Caramel suddenly asked Stellar, walking in his direction.
“No, I'd probably remember. I mean, it was hard enough finding somepony here as it was,” he responded, confused at the sudden question.
“Just give up,” the gray stallion whose name was Charming Blade told Caramel, still investigating and once again not even looking to the pony he was talking to. “You won't find her.”
“I won't give up!” Caramel suddenly said angrily. “She's my marefriend!”
Stellar was surprised hearing something like that. It wasn't the fact he seemed to have tried to find Sassaflash for a seemingly really long time but he didn't expect hearing about love again, in a world like this.
“Marefriend?”
“Yeah, why?” Caramel asked back.
“Nothing, nevermind,” he cancelled his question. He didn't want to talk about this topic now, although he wasn't sure why himself.
“So, why are you here? Or more interesting, how long you've been here?” Bon Bon then asked Stellar.
“I'm not sure how long it's been. Around three months, I guess,” he answered. He had a list where he had counted the days of him being on that farm but eventually he had lost track of it and didn't care about it anymore.
“That long?” she said surprised. “So you've been plundering those houses over there, right?” she concluded all of the sudden and pointed with a hoof to the houses where he had met her and her companions.
“Yeah,” Stellar quietly admitted. Then, there was another awkward moment of silence.
“Could we stay here for a while, maybe?” the unicorn mare Lyra Heartstrings then asked, feeling as uncomfortable as Stellar during the silence.
“Well,-” he began, only to be interrupted by Charming Blade.
“No need to. The walkers are gonna be gone soon, then we can move on.”
“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh shared his opinion. “We ain't knowin’ him.”
“And I don't know you,” Stellar began snarling again, “and I'd still let you in for a while.”
“Why would anypony leave a place like this?” Caramel asked shocked but also kinda happy, eyes opened wide. “This place isn't just huge but also safe!”
“But it's a lot of work,” Stellar admitted as he entered the house. “You've gotta make sure everything stays safe like the doors and the windows, the fence must stay in shape, and more.”
“For a place like that, it's so much worth the price!” Caramel simply said. It seemed like he didn't even really listen to Stellar.
“Where we're stayin’ at?” Big Macintosh asked in an unfriendly tone. Stellar wasn't sure if he had actually changed his mind about staying here for now or if he felt pressured by Bon Bon. She seems like a master of manipulating ponies, the way she had talked with him about staying here before they had entered the house.
“Well, two of you can grab themselves the couches, two others can get the guest bedroom, but I'm afraid it ain't really big. Could become pretty tight,” Stellar told them, knowing that whoever was getting the bedroom, they probably would have problems fitting in that one, small bed.
“The couches are big enough for you two, Big Mac and Charming. Would you take them?” Bon Bon said in a tone that made clear she didn't want to discuss it.
“Why should we take’em?” Big Mac asked slightly angry, again.
“You heard him, the bed upstairs is small. Caramel and Lyra would have the best chance of fitting in together,” she responded in the same tone as Big Macintosh had asked her.
Neither he nor Charming Blade answered.
“I'll take this one here,” Charming Blade then exclaimed and threw himself on the couch.
“Show some manners,” Bon Bon mumbled to him quietly, but seriously.
Charming Blade pretty much completely ignored it. He just leaned back onto the sofa, crossing his forehoofs behind his head.
“Do you have an idea where I could sleep?” she then asked and turned around to Stellar.
“You could sleep in the guest room. No problem, you deserve it, I-” Lyra began. She sounded like she would be feeling completely uncomfortable sleeping in a bed with Caramel. Stellar had no idea why, however, as Caramel seemed like a really nice guy.
“And you do too,” Bon Bon interrupted her and looked over her shoulder to Lyra. Stellar couldn't help himself but notice how often she'd interrupt others while speaking. “You take the bed.”
She then turned her head back around.
“Maybe you still have some place in your room?” she asked Stellar. It sounded completely neutral, but he still didn't like the question.
“I'm not sure,” he stuttered out.
“Come on! You know you've got some place left.” She then grabbed him and tucked him upstairs with her, giving him time to get up the stairs, though.
After seeing that arguing with Bon Bon wouldn't get him anywhere, he gave up and let her in his room. Night time's already begun.
Before going in, she quickly wished her 'friends’ a good night and then quickly closed the door.
“She always knows how to get to them,” Charming Blade quietly told Big Macintosh, still laying on the couch, having his eyes closed.
Lyra and Caramel didn't say anything and rather just walked upstairs to the bedroom and closed the door behind them.
“Eeyup!”
“Why exactly do you want to sleep in my room now and not with Caramel?” Stellar asked Bon Bon once they got to bed. “That 'deserving’ thing isn't all, I know that.”
“You’re right, Stellar,” Bon Bon sighed. She tucked the pillow a bit. “It's just that Lyra is really not good with strangers. She’d simply freak out.”
Stellar felt like he didn't need to answer that.
“Now,” she quietly said, “I think you can guess the other reason.” She turned around to him slowly, eyes half lidded.
The feeling he had felt earlier when she had asked if she could sleep in his room came back.
“Oh no! I'm not doing that!” Stellar quickly exclaimed, eyes wide opened. He slid to the edge of the bed, nearly falling off.
“Come on, Stelly,” she said in that exact same tone again. “The world is dying and you could die tomorrow. I could die tomorrow. Anypony can die anytime.”
She blinked at him mischievously. “Or do you wanna say you're still a virgin?”
“No, I'm not!” he exclaimed. “But I don't have a marefriend currently,” he added before she could ask him about that.
“You're still holding on to the old morals, aren't you?” she now asked neutrally, sounding a bit disappointed.
“It's not that, but,” he began stuttering out nervously, “it just feels wrong.”
Bon Bon looked at the ground, Stellar avoiding her gaze as well.
“Well,” she then broke the silence, “I guess I'll better sleep on the floor, then.” She hopped off the bed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her slowly and quietly, not wanting to possibly wake up Big Macintosh or Charming Blade.
Stellar didn't stop her, thinking it would be better after what just happened.
He tried to forget it and go to sleep.
But first, he made sure to lock the door properly. After getting out of his wheelchair kart he had put on again of course.
He stepped back to his bed and put the wheelchair kart off again.
“She's right,” he mumbled to himself before closing his eyes. “Everypony dies.”
“Ah'm hungry.”
“Kitchen, Big Macintosh,” Stellar, tiredly since he didn't sleep well last night, told the red earth pony stallion.
Charming Blade, Lyra and Caramel already were in the kitchen, eating breakfast. He already felt anger swelling up inside of him because they didn't even ask him. But they didn't eat as much as Stellar would've expected, not close as much.
Bon Bon wasn't with them. He just wanted to look around where she was but he only had to turn his head to the right and saw her looking through a bookshelf.
“Not hungry?”
She grabbed one of the books on the shelf with her mouth and put it down on a little table in front of a red, comfortable armchair in the living room that was right next to the kitchen.
“'My Little Dashie'. A classic.” She sat down in the armchair. She then returned to his question. “I didn't ask you, so I didn't take anything.” She pulled out a chocolate bar. “Except maybe that. Sorry.”
“No problem,” he smiled at her. Then, he quickly looked back in the kitchen. Lyra poked around in her cornflakes.
“I didn 't even know I still had some.”
“Why are they eating so little anyway?” he asked curiously. He had thought they'd be as hungry as a timberwolf. Except Big Macintosh, they didn't really seem to be hungry.
Bon Bon, who had opened the book and already begun reading, didn't answer immediately. Like the last day, when he had asked her about where they came from, she first thought about her answer.
“We had a good meal a while ago already.” She snickered. “Or what a 'good’ meal is nowadays.”
This time, Stellar didn't believe her at all. Her response sounded way too faked to him.
“Okay, I guess,” he then said, trying to sound like he'd actually believe her. To lighten the mood, he thought adding something humorously would be a good idea.
“Well, you didn't ask me about the book as well.”
She giggled a bit. “Well, I suppose you wouldn't need a book to survive.”
Stellar sat down in the armchair next to her.
“Hey,” she seeked his attention. Stellar turned his head to her fully. “I just want to apologise for yesterday. It,... it just kinda came over me.” She looked at the ground.
“No need for apologising, I get it,” he accepted her apology.
“Thanks,” she quietly mumbled, smiling. Stellar noticed her turning her head towards the opposite side. Did she just blush?
“But now, what are we gonna do today, Stellar?” she now asked him more seriously, no blush to be seen.
“Well, I don't know. Plundering, I guess,” he told her unprepared. “I kinda had to break up my round yesterday. But the lurkers are still out there, probably.”
“Lurkers? That's how you call them?” Bon Bon asked amused.
“How do you call them?”
“Geeks. And Charming calls them 'roamers'.”
“If there'd be an official name for them, it'd would be a bit easier. But it's not like anypony would care,” Stellar said, adding the last part to prevent Bon Bon from saying anything about it.
“Right.” She then stood up without actually even having read much more than one sentence of the book and placed it back on the shelf. “Okay then, let's go!”
“Now immediately? Why?” he asked, caught off-guard.
“The early bird catches the worm,” she responded quickly, grinning.
“I doubt we'll get many competitors out there,” he countered, smiling back. He liked her. She was a serious, kind of harsh leader but she could be a rather nice friend as well.
“Caramel!” she then suddenly shouted to the kitchen. It didn't take long for him to arrive since he had finished breakfast already a while ago.
“Yeah?”
“You're coming with Stellar and me, plundering,” Bon Bon now said in a much more serious and leading tone.
“You know I'm useless when it comes to this. I couldn't even really shoot the… the things there,” Caramel tried to change her mind, although he sounded really hopeless but also scared. He knew he couldn't change her mind.
“Then get a gun and we'll teach you everything. Right, Stellar?” She turned around to face him. “I mean, you know how to use a gun, don't you?”
“Of course I do!” he quickly confirmed. “It's just that I lost mine a while ago when a few lurkers sneaked up on me from behind and I had to flee.”
Without hesitation, she shouted again to the kitchen, “Give Stellar your gun, Big Mac!”
Stellar could see and basically feel his need to protest but it seemed like he knew that arguing with her was useless too, so he just threw his weapon to her.
“All the way over here without a problem? Damn, this guy sure is strong.”
“You already want to give me a gun? We basically just met,” he said surprised.
“You let us keep our guns as well, remember?” Bon Bon then told him. He was too afraid to admit but he actually just forgot about that part of making sure everything's safe.
Because he didn't say anything else and didn't respond, she exclaimed, “Let's go, then!”
“Don't forget it, Caramel: You gotta destroy the brain.”
Bon Bon handed him the knife Stellar had given her earlier when she wanted to practice.
Caramel carefully and nervously took it and walked towards the trapped walker. A tree had crushed down on him and had destroyed his hind legs and half of his body.
“I have to, don't I?” he asked again, hopelessly.
Bon Bon didn't even waste energy answering his rhetorical question. He sighed.
When he stood in front of the walker, he held the knife over its head. He turned his head away and closed his eyes, but Bon Bon stopped him before he could stab the walker.
“No! You gotta see where you're stabbing. You can't shoot if you don't look either. That's the only way to learn it.”
She pushed his head back into position, making sure he'd look. She hated doing that since she knew how hard it was learning it. She had to learn it all by herself, in the middle of a fight with a few walkers.
Caramel looked at the walker trying to grab and devour him. Then, he stabbed it in the head, killing it instantly.
“Good, Caramel! Good!” Stellar cheered. It felt weird but he felt like it could maybe help.
“See? I mean, it's not like you've never done this before!” she admitted with a smile.
“Yeah, but I had to.” Caramel avoided her and Stellar’s gazes. “I don't wanna die.”
“That's a thing a real survivor needs these days,” Stellar then told him. “The will to survive.”
“You think I don't know that?” Caramel then suddenly asked angrily which surprised both Stellar and Bon Bon.
He walked a few hoofsteps away from them.
“I hate living in this world. It's just an endless nightmare.”
He turned back around and faced the two other ponies with a determined look on his face.
“But I can't give up like that! I want to survive! I want to live!”
He then became more quiet again.
Quietly, he mumbled, “And I need to find Sassaflash.”
Stellar felt a sudden flash of sadness running through him. He didn't really have anypony to find since he had know clue of where his parents could be and he knew better than to just run around searching without any clues of their whereabouts.
Stellar trotted to him and patted him on his right shoulder while saying, “ Hey. I understand you. And don't worry, you'll find her. We’ll help you, all of us.”
He knew it contained a risk that the others wouldn't want to help looking for her but he needed Caramel to calm down for now.
A walker came approaching them in the distance.
“Can I try shooting now?” Caramel asked for a gun.
“I don't know,” Stellar told him unsurely. “We can't waste bullets and I doubt the walker herd from yesterday's already gone.”
“But they can't be really near us, now. We'd have heard them by now if they would be,” Bon Bon added.
“Yeah!” Caramel quickly confirmed. “No problem! Just taking a few shots and that's it. We'll be gone for long before they could even smell us.”
“And we really smell,” Stellar thought, smiling.
“Okay then,” Bon Bon ended the discussion. “Let's do it. But let's go in this house here first. We could use a pillow to silence the shots.” She pointed to a house nearby.
“Great idea!” Stellar said. “That's one of the few houses I haven't checked yet.”
“Why?” Caramel asked shortly.
“The food inside the farm house lasted long enough so that I only had to start plundering a while ago,” he explained.
“You lucky bastard, you,” Bon Bon said ironically, grinning at Stellar who could only return the grin.
As they opened the door which luckily wasn't locked, they split up and looked through all rooms first. Bon Bon also quickly found a bedroom with more than enough pillows for the training.
“Pillows!” she tried to quietly shout.
“Let's check upstairs first as well,” Stellar told her as he came past her room.
“I can do that,” she quickly said before he could get out of her hear range. “Can you show Caramel how to shoot with the pillow? I think you can do that stuff better than me.”
“Okay,” he simply said. He had his problems doing that as well but he would do it. Caramel was a good guy. A bit too 'shy’ for this world, but he could do it. He was strong enough.
Not long after preparing a sort of shooting stand at the window with the pistol he had received earlier before they had left the farm house, Caramel arrived.
“You ready, Caramel? Just remember, they're not living. They're not ponies. And if you don't kill them, they'll kill you.”
Stellar immediately noticed how childish that must have sounded to Caramel and he didn't mean to say it that way but at least Caramel would definitely understand what exactly he meant.
“Sure.” Caramel trotted over to the window and grabbed the gun with his hooves, shakingly holding it.
“Try that walker over there.” Stellar pointed at a walker not far away from the house entrance.
“Okay then,” Caramel said, panting slightly.
“He's nervous as hell.”
He shot. And he missed. But at least the walker didn't notice.
“Dang,” Caramel whispered angrily.
“Try again. But use another place on the pillow,” Stellar advised him.
He put the pistol on another part and lined up again.
Another shot. But the walker still wasn't down.
“Did you seriously just shoot without lining up properly?” Stellar asked, now also a bit angry.
“I didn't even shoot at all!” Caramel defended himself.
He then heard crashingupstairs.
Without waiting for Caramel, he grabbed his gun and ran upstairs as fast as his wheelchair kart would allow him. Caramel followed shortly after.
Upstair, he found an open door which lead to a bedroom. As he came inside, Bon Bon said in a corner, panting.
“You're alright, Bon Bon?” Stellar asked worriedly.
“Yeah, I'm fine. A geek just surprised me, that's all,” she scoffed, but sounded like she was lying.
“That's not all, is it?” he asked back.
Just then, he realized that there was a pretty big injury on her chest. A walker had bit her.
“The geek,” she put it off and pointed at the dead body of the geek laying on a bed.
Neither Stellar nor Caramel even knew what a bite wound from a walker meant because they didn't have to deal with it before.
“Come on! Let's get you to the farm house first!” Stellar quickly added.
He wanted to help her getting up but she denied.
“I may be injured but I can still walk.”
Caramel who had tried his best not to vomitbut had failed and Stellar went as fast as they could back to the farm house.
“How ironic,” Bon Bon suddenly said after they've been silent the whole way back, before she entered the door to the house.
“Just yesterday, I told you everypony could die anytime, that I could die tomorrow.” She turned around to a puzzled Stellar Eclipse who didn't quite follow her.
She then lowered her voice.
“How ironic.”
When The Dead Start To Trot
Chapter 7: Some Cake And Tea
“So, what do ya think about this?” Applejack asked Doctor Whooves, looking around in the entry hall of the house they had received by Celestia. It wasn't that big but still pretty huge for only two ponies.
“What do you mean by that?” the Doc asked back, overwhelmed by happiness. “This is fantastic! We're safe here and do not have to worry about walkers getting in at all.”
“We can't get soft,” Applejack coldly responded. “We made it that far. If we get soft, that's it.”
Doctor Whooves walked to Applejack and put his hoof on her shoulder. With a soft look and voice, he told her, “Applejack, I know that. But in order to not get ‘soft’, it is not necessary to keep worrying all the time. Enjoy this.”
He pointed his other hoof into the room they were in.
“This might be a one-time chance. Enjoy it. You deserve it.”
He then trotted away and explored the house more, not even having seen the rooms upstairs yet.
Applejack stayed in place for a while, silently. She kind of shared his opinion but was still unsure, though.
“Wow! Hot water!” she heard from upstairs. She didn't see him but she was sure he had immediately started washing his hair.
She wouldn't do it. She didn't want to get used to all the modern luxury things again in case something would happen to this place.
She hated having to shove her greasy mane out of her eyes so often or to shove it under her hat but she preferred that than having a clean mane that would only get dirty and greasy again.
She then decided that it couldn't hurt if she would investigate the house a bit more. But even after seeing the whole house, she still wasn't sure if this was a good idea.
In the end, she just sat on the ground for about ten minutes while Doctor Whooves washed his mane as thoroughly as possible.
“Do you have a towel down there?” she then heard him shouting. “I do not think I have one up here.”
Applejack didn't answer. Instead, she just went in the kitchen where she had seen a towel earlier and went upstairs.
As she entered the bath, she could see him standing in front of the bathtub, holding his wet mane out of his sight.
“Here.” She threw the towel over his head, startling him a bit which caused him to jump slightly.
“Do not sneak up on me like that!” he sarcastically said, smiling.
Applejack couldn't help herself but to laugh a bit, a bit of her good mood returning to her.
“See? Laughing is not that hard, is it?”
“Shut up,” she answered sarcastically as well.
“Now I am asking you this,” he then said. “What do you think about this?”
“Ah guess it can't hurt stayin’ here for a while,” Applejack grinned. “But still, we can't allow ourselves to get used to this.”
“Like I said before, I know that. But we will not let that happen,” he agreed.
He then started rubbing his hair dry.
“Want to check things out here in the city? We did not see your other friends yet,” the Doc asked her calmly.
“Sure, planned to anyway,” she responded and left the bathroom. Downstairs, she grabbed the gun she had with her. She had got it from Twilight before they entered Canterlot to talk to the guards without getting in trouble.
Applejack had decided that she wouldn't leave without it, even in Canterlot.
Applejack and Twilight walked through the dirty streets of Canterlot. Doctor Whooves has gone to some other place to look for somepony. He's been sure he would find him or her in Canterlot. All around them, ponies were sitting or laying on the ground or on benches, either traumatised or without any kind of emotion on their faces.
Then, Applejack first noticed some ponies in orange vests, like they were lifeguards at a beach or a swimming pool, handing out food, blankets and other useful things to the ponies.
She wanted to ask Twilight about those ponies but decided against it. She probably wouldn't answer anyway.
But she wanted to at least attempt to ask about what she's been doing in Canterlot once again.
“What exactly ya’ve been doin’ here in Canterlot before Ah met you at the train?”
Twilight, like Applejack very much expected, didn't answer.
“You really won't give up on that, will you?” she then coldly said, not even turning her head to Applejack.
“No,” Applejack shortly responded. “Ah won't.”
Twilight sighed and stopped walking.
“Why don't ya want to tell me anyway? Ah don't get it,” Applejack asked confused.
She kept staring at Twilight who had her eyes closed, facing the ground.
“I'm not sure myself, I must admit,” she stuttered, “but I guess it's because of the things I saw when working here.”
She paused.
“Like… what?” Applejack carefully asked. She knew better than to remind her friend of some of her traumatising experiences but she also was curious.
Twilight trembled. “We once had two survivors here, a young couple. One of them had his,...” Twilight stopped and took a breath. “He had his stomach ripped open.”
Applejack guessed that the injury wasn't that bad since you can't survive an injury like that if you still can walk or get somewhere else in any way.
“He of course didn't survive. We buried him shortly after he quickly bleeded out.”
“And his marefriend?” Applejack wanted to know.
“They were both male,” Twilight revealed.
“Oh, 'kay,” Applejack understood. “So, what happened to the other stallion, then?”
“I don't really know,” Twilight admitted. “I think he left Canterlot. I tried to talk him out of it but I think he still left. I didn't see him afterwards again.”
Applejack didn't know how to respond to that. She just couldn't understand why somepony would leave this city completely. Being outside sometimes makes sense to her like she had just told Doctor Whooves half an hour ago but in the end, she didn't want to leave Canterlot forever.
“Now, shall we do something more positive and pleasant?” Twilight then ironically interrupted their conversation.
“Sure, what is it?”
“You'll see. We're almost there already,” she indirectly answered.
Twilight then pointed a hoof at a building that looked like it had been used as a museum. Applejack hasn't often been in Canterlot before and didn't really know what it had to offer before the apocalypse.
The building was heavily guarded. All guards were equipped with bulletproof vests and almost all of them had machine guns. They even also were on the roof.
“What the hay's in there?” Applejack asked confused, wondering what would be that protected but also pleasant for.
“Like I said before, you'll see.” Twilight smiled at Applejack.
When they approached the guards, unlike the guards at the entrance, they didn't hesitate moving out of the way and allowing the princess and her friend entrance to the building.
It was pretty dark inside but it was still bright enough to see. The lights were dimmed and the windows heavily obstructed.
In the middle of the room were guards, standing around a showcase, only way more protected and secured.
Applejack at first didn't even recognize them, but on second look, she could see the Elements of Harmony.
She didn't know when they had managed to get them to Canterlot. She as well never expected to see them again.
As soon as Twilight and Applejack approached them, the purple gem began to glow, just like Twilight's cutie mark.
Applejack's didn't. The orange gem didn't either.
“Strange,” Twilight stated. “It should glow.”
“No harmony,” Applejack mumbled, staring blankly at the the showcase and the Elements of Harmony, then at Twilight.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked confused.
“No harmony,” Applejack repeated with the same blank stare. Then, she suddenly became angry and yelled at Twilight, “There ain't no harmony! It ain't! There is no…”
“AJ?”
Applejack stopped in her movement. She looked to the darker side of the room which was hardly visible. The other Elements of Harmony began to glow.
Rainbow Dash alongside the others - Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity - stepped forward into the more lighted part of the room for Applejack and Twilight to be clearly seen.
Applejack stared at them. She made eye contact with all four of them constantly, tears welling up in her eyes. Her mouth trembled.
She stumbled towards Rainbow. She and the others came closer to her as well.
Applejack more or less threw herself at Rainbow, hugging her a bit too tightly. But Rainbow didn't mind right now, embracing her as much Applejack embraced her. Even the usually so tough Rainbow Dash now cried for once.
“How did you make it out?” Rarity asked again, having been ignored by Applejack. She has been silent but obviously annoyed by Twilight asking her to explain what she had meant with 'no harmony’ earlier, over and over again.
Applejack sighed, not wanting to be spammed on now two sides and answered Rarity first, making Twilight silent.
“Ah woke up in the hospital,” Applejack began telling them everything that had happened to her.
“You just woke up like that?” Fluttershy squeaked, interrupting her.
“Yeah,” Applejack quickly confirmed and then resumed continuing her story. “Ah went outside and found two ponies who Ah survived with for a few days. We then found a train and came to Canterlot. That's basically everythin’ important.”
“What happened those ponies?” Rainbow Dash asked, sounding affected by Applejack's story.
Applejack felt like she had to lie about Daisy. She felt like it wouldn't be a good idea telling them, at least not yet.
“Devoured,” she said, sounding way more coldly than she had wanted to.
“Devoured?” Fluttershy squeaked again, putting her hooves in front of her mouth, eyes mostly shut.
“Yeah,” Applejack lied again.
“And why?” Rarity asked.
“Before we found the train, she had gone to a nearby store,” she answered, thinking that it wouldn't be necessary to lie any further, that it would be pretty obvious what would be the result.
“And there is no harmony left.” Applejack looked back to the Elements of Harmony, all glowing except hers.
“Don't give your hope up like that,” Rarity wanted to cheer Applejack up.
“Ah didn't, at least kinda,” she answered. “But Ah know that these ain't gonna stop this whole thing. Impossible.” She quickly nodded towards the gems.
“We have encountered other things we thought were impossible to overcome but we did it,” Rarity countered a bit worried about Applejack.
“That ain't been the same,” she hissed back. “Even Chrysalis with her changelings, even that ain't the same. It's been a whole army but we could defeat them just like that. We aren't able to do that with the walkers.”
“You call them 'walkers’, AJ?” Rarity asked, actually sounding a bit amused. “For me, they're 'morts’.”
“Doesn't matter. They are what they are,” Pinkie Pie said coldly and depressingly.
Applejack had already wondered why Pinkie hasn't been saying anything. She had seemed kind of happy to see her but it was obvious that her smile had been full of pain.
“Ya know, basically she's right,” Applejack agreed but decided to quickly change the topic upon seeing Rarity’s angry look. “What's up with ya anyway, Pinkie?”
Pinkie looked sad at the ground; her mane was a bit flattened like Applejack had seen only once before.
“She saw how the Cakes got devou-” Twilight began explaining to Applejack but then stopped to not remember Pinkie too much about it. It was now obvious what happened to the Cakes anyway.
“And of course the other things that everypony else saw as well,” Twilight then added.
“Ya will get over it,” Applejack turned to Pinkie. “We all will and have to.”
“Do you know how that actually feels? How it changes you?” Pinkie slowly asked, slowly bringing her head up to face Applejack, coldness once again in her voice. “Even Pound and Pumpkin…”
Applejack cringed a bit, feeling really sorry to hear that.
“Y'all can bet Ah did see things,” she told her, feeling kind of offended by Pinkie acting like she was the only one who saw terrible and horrifying things. “Ah saw like two hundred dead ponies at once in front of the hospital, Ah saw a pony cut in half, Ah saw Granny Smith as a walker and Ah have no Celestia-damn clue where Big Mac and Applebloom are!”
She nearly screamed that last part, catching the attention of all guards in the room. She stared at Pinkie with angry eyes, feeling tears welling up at remembering herself about her family.
All girls looked at her either sadly or shocked.
“Applejack,” Rarity said with a calm but sad voice. “I am so sorry to hear that.”
“No, stop it,” Applejack stopped her. She really didn't want to be coddled.
They stayed silent for a moment. Pinkie Pie eyed Applejack the whole time, although Applejack wasn't looking back.
“Look, Applejack. I'm sorry,” Pinkie started apologizing, realizing she had made Applejack angry.
“Ah get it, Ah get it,” she quickly but kind of heartlessly accepted her apology.
After a few more seconds of awkward silence, Applejack then finally spoke for herself.
“Ya got any idea where Applebloom and Big Mac could be?”
“I don't know, AJ. Sorry,” Rainbow Dash said.
“I didn't either, darling,” Rarity then said.
“Ah did.”
Applejack turned around to the front door they had entered earlier. Her eyes widened, just like when she saw her friends.
“Ah'm so glad to see you again, cousin.” He pushed his hat back on his head.
“Braeburn.” Applejack could feel tears coming up again. She quickly stood up and trotted towards him. She threw her hoofs around his neck. He hugged her back, being close to tears.
“Ah'm so happy to see you too, cousin.”
As they stopped embracing each other, Twilight and the others were obviously surprised about Braeburn being there. Applejack didn't know how they couldn't have known but didn't care.
Applejack wanted to know more about Applebloom's whereabouts but also wanted to know what had happened to him, leading to him being in Canterlot instead of Appleloosa.
“Ah can show ya where she should be,” Braeburn then suddenly said.
Applejack looked to Twilight and her other friends but they all quickly nodded. Applejack nodded back and trotted alongside Braeburn outside as they trotted down the avenue.
“Ah've come here after those things invaded Appleloosa,” Braeburn began explaining while showing Applejack the way to where Applebloom seemed to be. “Most of the inhabitants got away. Ah wanted to follow them, but my path was then cut off.”
“By the walkers?” Applejack asked back for more details.
“What? Walkers?” He asked, looking at Applejack with a confused look.
“'Them'.”
Braeburn needed some time to process what Applejack had said but eventually understood what she had meant.
“So that's how ya call them?” he smiled. “Sounds kinda funny, Ah must say.”
Applejack shortly smiled back.
“Ah learned that phrase from the Doc.”
“Huh?” He sounded surprised. “Doc? Like a real doctor?”
“To be honest, Ah don't even know,” Applejack admitted. “Ah just know that his name is Doctor Whooves.”
“Or at least it seems to be.”
“Doctor Whooves, huh? Never heard of him before,” Braeburn told her.
“He's from Ponyville, so it makes sense,” Applejack explained further.
“Still. Another doctor in Ponyville? Ah thought you only had the doctor in the hospital and doctor Fauna.”
“Don't ask me. Ah didn't really know him before. Ah heard his name once or twice but never knew how he looked or who he really is,” Applejack said.
“Well, ya still don't. Ya basically just told me that,” Braeburn said and sheepishly grinned.
“Shut up,” Applejack playfully shoved him away from her.
They both smiled and went silent for a minute.
“Where we're heading to now anyways?” Applejack broke the silence.
“Where Applebloom should be if she's really here,” Braeburn shortly repeated.
“And that is where and what, smartass?” she said mischievously.
“Ah don't know what to call it. A foalgarten, maybe? Ah dunno, something like that, Ah guess. Ah've never really been there before.”
Braeburn pointed to a building near them.
“That’s the building Ah was talking about.”
As they got closer, they could clearly see that this building was way less guarded than the other buildings they have seen in Canterlot.
As they approached, the guards nodded towards Applejack, seemingly knowing her. It gave her hope that Applebloom was inside.
As they went inside, about a dozen foals stayed in place and looked at them. But Applebloom was nowhere to be seen.
“Where's she at?” Applejack mumbled to herself.
“How the fuck could that happen?” a male voice yelled from the back of the room, obviously not caring that there were foals in the room who could easily hear him.
“I'm sorry, okay?” another stallion answered annoyed. “I'm also just a stallion like you. Not more.”
“But letting yourself be robbed the keys so easily?” the other stallion asked back.
“Hello. Are you searching for a foal?”
Applejack turned around. Next to her was now an older mare with a clipboard who seemed to be a kind of foalgarten teacher.
“Applebloom,” Braeburn instead answered her question.
The two stallions started arguing again, even louder than before.
“Excuse me for a moment, please,” the older mare calmly said and walked to the stallions.
Applejack didn't really listen to them but she heard the older mare more or less shouting at the stallions but still wasn't loud enough to really drag the attention of the foals who had gone back to playing. Shortly after, the mare returned and the stallions were completely quiet.
“She kinda reminds of Granny. She also had that fire in her even at her age.”
“Excuse me,” the mare said as calmly as before all of the sudden. She then looked at her clipboard and nodded. “I got Applebloom on my list.”
“So she's really here?” Applejack was really happy to hear that. “But where's she? Ah don't see her anywhere.”
She looked at a picture of Applebloom, then looked around as well.
“Are there any other rooms here?” Braeburn asked, concerned as well.
The mare didn't answer but instead shouted one of the stallions over.
“What happened to one of the foals?” Before he could even respond, she interrupted and added, “Don't lie to me. There's one missing, and you know why.”
“Well,” he began, rubbing the back of his neck, “there actually was one foal who wanted to get out and look for her friends and her family. I of course didn't let her out.” He sounded like he was afraid she would execute him right there immediately. “She was really pissed but let off. Later, I found my keys missing and the window in the back room is open. She probably climbed out.”
“What?” Applejack yelled at him, forgetting all the foals who immediately looked in her direction. Braeburn could barely stop her from jumping on the stallion and beat him to a coma.
As Applejack calmed down, she trotted to the back room without saying a single word. She couldn't resist giving the stallion a deadly stare though.
In the back room, the window was still widely opened. Applejack also saw that there were a few walkers coming close to the building.
“So you are saying that you cannot do anything?” Doctor Whooves asked shocked.
The other science doctor, a blue coated stallion with a messy gray mane, who was preparing some sort of test which involved dissecting a walker brain, sighed annoyed and turned his head halfways to Doctor Whooves.
“It seems like I can't! But I'm still trying something here as you can clearly see, so just go now!”
He turned his head back around and started dissecting the brain in front of him.
“You will not find anything useful in there,” the Doc stopped him. “You would find some virus having activated the basic instincts like eating with all the other nerves shut off. That is it.”
“What's the deal with you?” the science doctor then turned fully around, sounding angry. “I know you're not even a real doctor. You don't have any of kind of skills a doctor would or could have. And you don't have any kind of degree, do you?”
“I thought you would know that you cannot compare all kind of doctors just like that,” Doctor Whooves responded cheeky. “So, what skills are we talking about?”
The next thing that happened was the Doc landing hurtfully on his back after having been thrown out by one of the guards.
“Ouch!” he exclaimed. “Not again.”
Feeling unappreciated by the other doctor whom he had only tried to help, he made his way to the train station where he, Applejack and Twilight had arrived only about two hours ago. He wanted to have a look from Canterlot from the outside now. He actually had taken his ice pickle with him when he had left the house earlier.
“I know you, don't I?”
“Huh?” Doctor Whooves asked surprised and turned around. A few hoofsteps away from him stood a mare with a very pale yellow coat and moderate raspberry mane with light raspberry streaks, looking at him in thought.
“Doc?” the mare asked surprised, having remembered him.
“Rose?” the Doc asked back. Rose had been one of his pre-apocalypse companions before their paths had separated because of her moving to Manehatten for opening a flower shop there which had been a lifelong dream of her. She eventually moved back to Ponyville but they never really crossed paths again.
“Doc!” Rose happily exclaimed and hugged him. “You're still with us!” The Doc then proceeded to hug her back, smiling.
They then let go of each other.
“Not that I thought you wouldn't,” Rose then added. “You just can't be sure anymore.”
“I understand,” the Doc then said. “How did you end up here?”
“With the evacuation train a few months ago, that simple,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “And you?”
“That would be a story a whole lot longer than yours, there,” he said. “I think I could tell you it better if we were somewhere more comfortable, maybe classically in addition with cake and tea?” he asked smiling.
“With cake and tea, huh?” she repeated smiling. “That's the Doc I know. With that gross mint tea, I suppose?”
“And you'd drink that gross pear tea?” he asked ironically as well.
“Touché,” Rose grinned.
“Right now, I wanted to take a look of Canterlot from the outside,” he then changed the topic. “Do you want-”
“Sure thing. I'll come with you,” she interrupted him, knowing what he wanted to say. “I know how to deal with the mud heads.”
“Mud heads? Why do you call them like that?” the Doc asked confused.
“If you destroy the brain, and I really mean 'destroy’, then it looks like mud, and-”
“How are you taking it so positively?” Doctor Whooves asked back, having overheard the 'and’.
“And,” Rose continued, “it just doesn't sound so depressing. It's just nicer to say it like that.”
“Oh, okay. That's also a way of seeing it,” the Doc simply said.
Continuing talking about various things, they walked to the train station.
“Where you're heading?” the same guard that had argued with Applejack earlier asked him as Doctor Whooves and Rose arrived, still remembering him. He could feel her in his opinion pointless hate for him since he didn't do anything to her. He still felt really uncomfortable, though.
“Heading outside,” he replied, trying to sound as chill as possible, also to play steadiness to the guards in front of Rose.
The guard didn't ask anything else, nor did any other guard as they just let them through. He didn't look back to them but he could feel their burning looks following him.
The outside of Canterlot looked better than he had expected but still wasn't really good. A lot more walkers were coming towards Canterlot than he had expected.
Other than that, there actually hasn't really been anything interesting.
“What is that? A house?”
It indeed was a house.
“A house outside of the Canterlot wall? Why would they abandon it?” Rose asked surprised and confused.
The two of them started coming closer to the building when suddenly, the door slammed open with a few walkers being pushed out by somepony who appeared to be foal.
“What the…?” the Doc said quietly.
It's indeed been a foal. And she was actually strong enough to push the walkers away. At least for now.
Rose pulled out a gun the Doc didn't even notice before and began to shoot the walkers since the foal slowly got overpowered by the three walkers but she wasn't really trained with her gun and missed plenty of times. Eventually, one of the walkers got her and bit her in the leg.
“Stop.”
“Huh?”
“It is not worth the bullets,” the Doc said.
“I won't leave her to die!” Rose shouted to be audible for Doctor Whooves.
“She got bitten!” he shouted back. “And she is getting weaker. It is too late.”
Applejack climbed out of the window and looked around. There was fence with a hole that wasn't really visible at first look. The walkers in the area luckily didn't notice her when she climbed out.
For a moment, she ran around, looking for a clue of where Applebloom could be. Shortly after, she found a trail of small hooves that seemed to be from her little sister.
After following the trail for a while, she could make out a house directly behind the wall. And next to the house, there was Applebloom. Applejack herself didn't know how she could make her out from that far away.
She ran as fast as she could and then even saw some other ponies not too far away from Applebloom. She was quick to recognise Doctor Whooves.
“Doc! Doc! Help her!” she screamed out of the bottom of her lungs. He then trotted to the walkers and finally started killing them.
Applejack became incredibly angry at him for basically leaving her to die. But for now, she picked her gun and shot the walkers with way more precision than Rose.
After having killed the three walkers, Applejack quickly hugged Applebloom.
“Applejack, Ah'm so-” Applebloom began.
“Safe it for later, sister.” Applejack would usually never call her just by 'sister’, but she wanted to let Doctor Whooves know who she was.
“Look, I did not know she was your sister,” he quickly defended himself, hoping Applejack would understand him and not start to hate him. “I mean, we cannot help everypony we meet. And she was already bitten.”
“What?!” Applejack then saw the bite wound on her leg. She then also noticed all the walkers who came approaching them.
“They must have heard the gunshots!” Rose said scared. “Let's get her in the house!”
Applejack picked up Applebloom together with the Doc.
Inside, they put Applebloom on the nearest couch and put a closet, a table and a few chairs in front of the door to block it.
Applejack then punched Doctor Whooves in the face as hard as she could, all of the sudden. She stayed silent though.
Ironically, she still helped him back up. The Doc rubbed his cheek.
“Can't we do anything, Doc?"
“I can understand you. And I think something still might be possible,” he said. He then started looking around and added quietly so that Applebloom didn't hear, “I need a bone cutter or something.”
Applejack wanted to protest in shock but the Doc interrupted her.
“I cannot guarantee anything but I once heard that somepony bitten got his bitten leg cut off and survived. This pony then didn't turn. But like I said, I cannot guarantee anything.”
Applejack didn't want to but she knew that she could trust Doctor Whooves and that this would be Applebloom's only chance of surviving.
After looking around for a bit, Rose found a saw in toolbox and brought it to the Doc.
“If it's the only chance, do it,” Applejack said with tears in her eyes. She was afraid of losing her sister one way or another.
Applebloom had fallen asleep. Unfortunately, there was no way of putting her in anesthesia and since the walkers were beleaging the outside of the house, they couldn't leave the house for now.
Doctor Whooves prepared himself for cutting through Applebloom's leg. He had never done something like this before. It was completely different than anything else he's done so far.
He took a deep breath and then nodded to Applejack who was heavily shaking. He could see her tears but she didn't have that sad look on her face.
The Doc then started cutting. Applebloom immediately woke up and screamed her lungs out, tears coming out of her eyes uncontrollably. Not long after, she fell unconscious. Applejack with her.
After about a minute, the leg fell to the ground. Rose began bandaging the stump with some towels and bandages Applejack had found earlier.
“Do you think she'll make it?” Rose asked, looking at Applebloom with worry in her eyes. “She's still so young.”
“I do not know. But I have my ice pickle in case she does not.”
Applejack laid in a surprisingly comfortable bed. The sheets were rather dirty but you can't have high standards in a world like this.
It was quiet but she still could hear the walkers outside, trying desperately to get in. They banged against the door and the windows unstoppably.
Applejack looked up at the ceiling and didn't say anything. She just stared at the blank ceiling.
Doctor Whooves was next to her, sitting on the very edge of the bed. He didn't say anything either.
He was seemingly in deep thought, but in reality, he just didn't know what to say.
They were there for already about thirty minutes and still didn't do anything. Applejack would have tried to sleep but she couldn't. Not only because of the walkers but also because of what had just happened.
Doctor Whooves felt the need to break the silence and simply said the first thing that came to his mind.
“I am sorry.”
“Ah get it,” Applejack said calmly. “Ah can understand why ya didn't want to save her at first. Let's just forget it.”
“Thank you so much,” he said, wanting to lighten the mood. He then smiled briefly and said, “When we are back in Canterlot, I will get us some cake and tea.”
When The Dead Start To Trot
Chapter 8: Welcome To Your Release
“You're back already?” Charming Blade asked surprised. “Caramel broke up, didn't he?”
“Save your charm for later!” Stellar hissed back.
“I got charm coming out of my ass. What do you expect?” he grinned.
“Bon Bon is injured,” Stellar snapped back.
“Huh?” Big Mac answered.
Caramel and Stellar brought her to the nearest armchair they saw which was the one she had sat in before they went outside to train Caramel and go plundering. At least they had planned to do that.
“I'm fine, guys. I can do that myself,” she interrupted.
“No, you're not,” Charming Blade coldly said. He then gave Stellar and Caramel a quick look. “Don't they know?”
Stellar looked confused. “What are you saying?”
“That bite is her death sentence. 'Cause that's how you eventually turn.”
Stellar looked at him in disbelief, eyes wide opened.
“Bon Bon?” He turned around to her.
Bon Bon looked to the ground for about half a minute that was filled with silence. She then looked up again.
“Yeah, he's right. It is,” she confirmed.
Stellar's eyes widened even more. He had really started liking Bon Bon although he wasn't sure if he actually had fallen in love with her.
He didn't know how he should handle his emotions and feelings now. He turned away again and went outside. There he went to the nearest tree and started punching it. It hurt but it was like he didn't even realize.
He finally found somepony he more or less got close to and then she had to die that soon.
“Should I talk to him?” Caramel asked sadly, having got told the truth that abruptly and shockingly.
“No,” Bon Bon said, pushing herself up. “I'll do it.”
“Ah don't think you should do that, now,” Big Mac who knew about the the consequences of a walker bite as well told her with a voice mixed of sadness and seriousness.
“I got this,” Bon Bon responded in the same leading tone she always used again.
Stellar has stopped punching the tree and was now leaning against it. He only half noticed Bon Bon approaching him.
She then stood in front of him and thought carefully of what to say first.
“Sweetie Drops.”
Stellar looked at her with sad and cold eyes.
“That's my real name. Sweetie Drops.”
“Why did you never tell me?” Stellar asked coldly.
“Because it actually is secret,” she admitted.
That got Stellars attention but still he only waited for Sweetie Drops to further explain.
“I'm from Canterlot and princess Celestia's agent for Ponyville. I was supposed to look for other survivors and bring them to Canterlot,” Sweetie revealed her story.
Stellar stared at her surprised and confused. He at first couldn't believe it but he was sure that she wouldn't lie to him like that.
“I landed here in this area after I lost track of where this camp called 'Release’ is,” she continued. “That's how I landed here.”
“And the others?” Stellar wanted to know, sounding calmer again.
“I first found Big Mac near the train tracks. He told me his little sister would have been rescued by some team Canterlot had sent. Although I never heard from such a team.” She mumbled this last part more to herself than to Stellar.
“Where's Charming from?”
“Wait a minute,” Sweetie Drops put him off. “Then, I met Caramel. He was hiding in a house somewhere near Appleloosa, completely barricaded. He seemed scared to death of something I still don't know. In the end however, I managed to convince him into coming with me.”
“And Charming?” Stellar asked again.
“Why are you so interested in him?” Sweetie smiled sarcastically at him.
“I just can't read him. He's basically a mystery to me.”
Sweetie then presumed telling her story. “I met Charming not too long ago. Lyra, Caramel and I were investigating a house near this farm here and found him inside investigating as well.”
“Lyra was already with you?”
“She always was. I know her since we were little fillies.” Sweetie's look saddened. “We've been friends for so long now… and this is how it has to end...”
Stellar could see a few tears forming in her eyes.
“Where even is she?” Sweetie then added and turned back around. Before she began walking to the house, she looked over her shoulder. “You're coming with me?”
“Is she even gonna wake up at all?” Applejack asked herself concerned, running in circles, not even risking seeing Applebloom's fresh stump.
“She is just still unconscious,” Doctor Whooves confirmed. “She did not lose too much blood. I am sure she will be fine. It does not help telling yourself that over and over,” he also added once again, trying to finally calm her down a bit.
Applejack didn't even seem to notice though and kept running in circles.
“Please stop,” Rose asked Applejack. “You're only making everypony even more nervous.”
“Do ya even have an idea what Ah have to deal with right now?” Applejack screamed at Rose, getting the full attention of the walkers that were still outside the house roaming around. They then started groaning loud again. “Who even are ya?”
“I’m Rose, or Roseluck if you're fancy,” she shouted back with almost the same determination and strength in her voice.
Applejack froze. She remembered the name 'Rose’. Daisy had said something about a friend of hers named Rose. Applejack had feared meeting her because she felt like she was the only reason Daisy now was dead.
“Hey! Anypony there?” Rose looked in Applejack's eyes, beginning to get pissed. She had a stronger temperament than others would expect from her.
Applejack didn't notice her. She simply had a blank stare in her eyes at the thought of Daisy's death. She saw it happening over and over again in front of her inner eyes.
A while after Rose gave up getting Applejack's attention back, the Doc interrupted the silence.
“We should not just stay here. She will need more medical help.” He gave Applebloom a quick glance.
“Ya’re right,” Applejack then suddenly snapped back. “But how we're supposed to get out of here?”
“Somepony needs to distract them while the others sneak out. Simple,” the Doc suggested.
“Simple?” Applejack asked back. “Yeah, easy. Distracting the walkers is the safest thing ever!”
“Calm down!” Rose snapped back angrily. “You're not helping us at all acting like this!” She pushed Applejack a bit.
“Don't ya touch me!” Applejack hit her hoof back. “Ah don't know what ya had to go through but Ah doubt ya ever saw your little sister with one leg cut off!”
Rose stayed silent. She didn't how to respond to that.
“You're totally right,” Rose tried to spontaneously formulate an answer. “I don't have a sister.”
Applejack felt kind of provoked by the way Rose had said that last sentence but didn't think she wanted to do that.
Rose noticed the look on her face and quickly said something to calm her down again. “I saw similar things though.” Her voice began to slightly crack. “I had to see how my mother first got devoured and some days later, my father went missing and I never found him again. And then, I got separated from my friends Lily Valley and Daisy.”
Applejack really had to restrain herself to not spill out the truth about the two of them. She wasn't sure why but she felt like she couldn't hold the pressure of knowing what happened to them while being with Rose.
“About Daisy, we-” Applejack began, not thinking clearly, quickly interrupted by Doctor Whooves who was predicting what she was about to say.
“We heard of her before but we didn't see her in Ponyville.”
It seemed weird to Rose and she immediately thought that something wrong.
“Don't play me like a fool. That ain't working,” she told them with a suspicious look.
“Come on, Roseluck,” the Doc tried to divert her assumption. “Do you really think we would be lying to you about something as serious as that?”
“You being fancy is something I would expect from you, Doc.” Rose snickered quietly. “I wouldn't know why you'd be lying and I don't think you would unless you would have killed her.”
The Doc coughed in his hoof after about a minute of silence.
“Well, I think we should return to thinking about how we get out of here.” He stepped to the windows and peeled outside. “These walkers just do not want to leave.”
It was right then when a walker jumped at the window, startling the Doc.
“You see?”
“Yeah, but like Ah said, it ain't safe at all. You just gotta trip and ya're pretty much dead,” Applejack reminded him.
“But what else is there to do?” Rose countered. “We won't get out there by just running out.”
“I think our best call is to be quiet and wait until the walkers are too. Then, one of us sneaks out and lures them away. I will do it, if you do not want to.”
“No. You're the only one here who knows how to take care of the filly.” Rose then remembered, “Applebloom.”
“Yeah, Ah’ll do it,” Applejack offered herself to do the job despite how dangerous and stupid she felt it would be.
“You don't have to,” Rose then surprised Applejack. She would never have thought Rose would just risk her life for a stranger like that.
“Ah'll do it,” Applejack confirmed her choice. “We've waited long enough doing nothing at all.”
“Huh? Applejack?”
Applebloom finally woke up after a few hours. It really surprised Doctor Whooves that she woke up that fast though.
“Applebloom.”
Applejack's voice cracked way worse than Rose's did a while ago. She stumbled to her little sister and threw her arms around her. Applebloom made it despite her being that young.
Neither Doctor Whooves nor Rose could do anything else than smile at the scene playing in front of them. Applejack cried her eyes out and let Applebloom almost no space to breathe who was only looking confused around her, not realizing what exactly happened a few hours ago.
Stellar couldn't do anything else than feeling bad and expressing that really well. He could barely hold his tears back.
Sweetie Drops and he entered the room Lyra and Caramel had slept in during the night. It looked exactly the same as it had as Stellar first entered the room when he found the farm but it still seemed way darker than ever before.
The room itself wasn't anything special and it didn't have many things to offer. The best you could find except the bed was a pile of comics stashed underneath it. Stellar never understood why anypony would keep them under the bed and not just put them on a shelf or on a nearby table. He just guessed that some foal loved to read those before sleeping which the parents didn't like because he or she needed the sleep for going to the foalgarten the next day.
“I'm sorry.”
Lyra was reading one of these comics while laying on the bed. Ironically, it was the comic and more child-friendly version of 'My Little Dashie’. The same story Sweetie had been reading before going plundering with him and Caramel, shortly before she got bitten.
Lyra then looked up to meet Sweetie's eyes. “What? Sorry for what?”
Sweetie broke her gaze and shut her eyes tight, obviously holding tears back.
She then looked back at Lyra again and responded. “For leaving you like that.”
“You mean going plundering? That's nothing to feel sorry about,” Lyra told her confused. “I don't get it.”
Only now Lyra really noticed the bite wound on Sweetie's chest. She also didn't know what it meant for Sweetie.
Lyra stood up with a worried look on her face and stepped towards Sweetie.
“Oh no, what happened?” She reached out to touch the wound carefully but Sweetie stepped back a bit.
“That's what I meant with leaving you,” she left Lyra confused. “I got bitten. By a geek.”
Lyra didn't answer and instead just stared at Sweetie, giving her a look that told Sweetie to finally tell her what exactly she meant.
Sweetie took a deep breath.
“The bite is what I meant.” She paused. “A geek bite kills you eventually.”
Lyra didn't know how to react to this. She kept opening and closing her mouth over and over with nothing coming out. She shakily stepped around a bit.
“W-what?” she then finally stuttered out.
Stellar felt terrible being there and feeling like he couldn't do anything to help Lyra.
“Lyra…,” Stellar tried to calm her down.
“Is… is it true?”
He stayed silent. He didn't think it would be necessary to actually answer to give her a response.
Understanding what Stellar was implying with his silence, Lyra continued stuttering confused, “No. It can't be, it can't be.”
She then threw herself on the bed and covered her face in the pillow. But it didn't silence her sobbing.
Doctor Whooves had had to carry Applebloom on his back into Canterlot. Applejack knew she needed to make sure her little sister would learn to walk on three legs.
They directly went to Celestia since they had no idea where they could find a doctor, except Doctor Whooves, or where to turn to now. They weren't even sure if there actually was a doctor in Canterlot although it was most likely because of the city's importance and size, even after the apocalypse started.
Celestia however either didn't want or couldn't talk to them directly. At least a guard told them that.
“Applebloom’s missing a damn leg! What could be more important than that?” Applejack screamed at the guard, earning herself the attention of all nearby ponies.
“None of your business.”
Applejack then gripped the guard by his neck and pulled him closer, making a second guard react. He pointed his spear at her.
“We had to cut her leg off, 'cause she got bitten. Ah don't even know if it works. Let me to her. She probably can do something with her fancy magic,” Applejack whispered angrily at the guard, seemingly even unsettling him a bit.
“Let go of him, ma’am!” the other guard told her in mixed voice of calmness and anger.
“Don't ya call me ‘ma’am’!” Applejack let go of the guard and stepped to the other one. “How old do ya think Ah am?”
“I don't care. Now go,” he coldly stated.
“Ah'm the Element of Honesty. And ya seriously want to turn me down?”
“Yes. Because the Elements ain't worth shit now these days,” the first guard answered.
“So your friend can't speak for himself or what?” Applejack snapped back.
“AJ,” the Doc calmly said. “Come on. We can try later again, maybe.”
“No, you can't,” the second guard then quickly said and left it at that.
Rose and Doctor Whooves could basically feel her blood pressure rising but luckily Applejack didn't get to do anything. Maybe she'd even have attacked the guards.
Twilight had arrived at the scene and used her magic to stop Applejack from doing anything that would have lead to her getting kicked out of Canterlot.
“Oh Celestia, good I found you. I need your help, AJ.” Applejack then noticed Rose bowing her head.
“Don't do that, please,” Twilight asked Rose who in reaction swiftly brought her head back up.
“I'm Rose - or Roseluck, to be exactly,” Rose introduced herself to Twilight.
Twilight's glaze then switched to Doctor Whooves who was still carrying Applebloom.
“You found Applebloom! Fantastic!”
“Hi, Twilight,” Applebloom weakly muttered. She hasn't been doing great after her amputation. Then, Twilight noticed Applebloom's stump. Her eyes went wide at the side.
Applejack didn't want to remind herself again nor did she want to completely distract Twilight, although she knew that it was mostly because of her, so she interrupted and stepped between Doctor Whooves carrying Applebloom and Twilight.
“So, what did ya want?”
Stellar didn't know where to go now. He was with Sweetie Drops, Lyra, Caramel and Big Macintosh on his way to this camp Sweetie had told them about. She had said that she had seen it from the distance when geeks began approaching her and she had to flee. Only Stellar knew that she actually was on her way there, having got the mission from Celestia herself, but she had wanted to check the surrounding area first.
Charming Blade had stayed behind at the farm. “To protect this place and stuff,” he had said. Stellar didn't think that would be necessary but he didn't bother trying to get through to Charming.
“Where we're goin’?” Big Mac asked annoyed, although Stellar was sure that he heard some uncertainty in his voice that he tried hard to hide.
“Let me think for just a minute, okay?” Stellar snapped back, hearing this question for the fifth time in only ten minutes already.
“Ya had time to do just that,” Big Mac growled. “More than 'nuff. We've been wanderin’ around for two hours with no results.”
“Then you do it better!” Stellar almost shouted at him. He was sick of hearing Big Macintosh complaining about him leading the way because no other pony volunteered.
About half an hour later, Big Mac found a sign to which a map with instructions on how to get to the camp Release was attached.
“That is it!” Sweetie happily said despite knowing she perhaps wouldn't even get there. “Camp Release!”
”Ah don't like it,” Big Mac promptly replied. “And not just the name.”
“Well, I agree on the name part,” Lyra then said, “but I don't get why you see a problem in it. Or literally every other thing.” She muttered that last part, showing a side of her Stellar hasn't seen until now. She's always been the reclusive type, although her still red eyes which were the result of her crying did mild her presence.
“Why would there be a camp out in the open just like that?” Big Mac responded more calmly this time. Stellar noticed he was always calmer when it came to talking or interacting with Lyra in any way.
“Why wouldn't it? There still are nice ponies around.” She gave Stellar a quick glance. “Like him.”
Stellar couldn't help himself but to blush a bit, even for just a few seconds. It was just… he didn't know how to describe.
Caramel staying silent the whole time was another thing Stellar had noticed. He was a bit shy but he could talk for a few hours if he wanted to and was around ponies he knew.
“What's wrong, Caramel?” Stellar interrupted Lyra and Big Mac. He didn't want to take the risk of an argue building up. “Why so silent?”
Caramel didn't even seem to notice that he's been asked a question.
“Huh, what?” he then suddenly said, confused.
“Why are you so silent?” Stellar repeated, carefully avoiding sounding annoyed. He hated having to repeat things.
“I don't really know,” Caramel admitted. “I think it's just Sassaflash. I hope that I find her in this camp but…” He sighed. “I just have a feeling that tells me I won't.”
“I have too,” Big Mac coldly mumbled. He didn't intend to let Caramel know though. He looked saddened. “Ah'm sorry, Caramel,” Big Mac then apologized which deeply surprised Stellar, “but it's just my feelin’.”
“Can we just keep going, please?” Sweetie then asked. “I'm not getting any better by standing here.”
“Right, sorry,” Caramel apologized. Big Mac didn't say anything but rather simply nodded his head.
“Thing is, are we gonna make it till it gets too dark?” Stellar asked the group. “I mean, it's already pretty late and we don't have too much reservations with us.”
The reservations were about ten cans of peaches and beans, some hay sandwiches and a few soda bottles. Since there only were two relatively small backpacks in the farm house, it was about as much as they could take with them.
“If we hurry up, then it should be possible,” Sweetie said. Stellar could see the sweat glistening from her forehead. His worries about her bite wound began to stir up again. And they intensified even more.
“Hopefully they have some medicine for her at Release…”
Rose had returned home with Applebloom. Applejack didn't really like it but not only did Rose seem trustworthy, she wanted to have the Doc with her as he always had the chance of finding a peaceful solution for a conflict, that wasn't hard to comprehend in her opinion.
When Applejack and Doctor Whooves were lead to a nearby pub by Twilight, they could see what her problem was. From what felt like a mile away, you could hear the chaos and screaming and shouting from inside.
“I hold them off with my magic but there are too many,” Twilight explained the situation.
“And what are we supposed to change about’em?” Applejack asked, not really understanding her point.
Twilight sighed. “I saw how you were reacting to the guards at the front entrance.” She then admitted, “And a bit how you were to the guards at the castle. And I thought, maybe, you could just go in there and see if you can change anything about it.”
“What do ya expect from me? Going in there and kick them to death?” Applejack responded. She was quick to realize that it sounded way more serious than intended.
“No!” Twilight shouted. “Why would you say that?” She sighed again to calm herself down. “You're the Element of Honesty. Everypony knows that. Even if you think that it isn't worth anything anymore.”
She basically spoke out Applejack's last thought. Sure, she had told the guard at the castle that she was the Element of Honesty but considering how many ponies still believe in the Elements, she figured it would have been her best bet.
Now it was Applejack's turn to sigh. “Fine, Ah’ll see what Ah can do.”
Inside, everything was in complete chaos. Tables and chairs were lying around, bottles were thrown around. The floor was sticky from all the beer, whiskey and all the other alcohol. It was the perfect pub fight.
“Stop!” the Doc tried to shout over the screaming but had no chance of being heard. Applejack then tried something. She climbed on top of the counter behind which the bartender cowered. He looked up at Applejack.
They didn't change a word with one another as Applejack stood on the counter and screamed her lungs out. She didn't say anything, she just screamed.
At least most of them were now stopping and focusing on her. Some other ponies who were just way too drunk to notice anything at all were still wandering around but not more.
Applejack dodged an empty beer bottle right before it could hit her in the face.
“Fuck off!” one of the actually lesser drunk stallions yelled at her. “You're boring everypony!”
Twilight didn't notice Applejack picking up another bottle, this one being completely filled with beer.
The stallion may not have been completely drunk but still too drunk to dodge the bottle of beer hitting him directly on the nose, making it bleed.
He stepped backwards a bit, staggering. He couldn't control his staggering and stumbled over his own hooves which lead him to hit his head on a table.
Thud!
He broke his neck and died immediately.
Some friends of him needed a moment to comprehend what just happened to their friend but all eventually did.
Applejack also didn't realise what she had caused at first. She had caused another pony's death. She knew that she didn't do it directly but she knew it was her fault.
One of the other stallions, an unicorn, then suddenly drew a gun that he had somehow managed to smuggle inside the bar and opened fire on Applejack.
A bullet hit her right in the left shoulder. Applejack shortly screamed in pain before quickly throwing herself behind the bar before more bullets were coming her way.
She harshly fell to the ground, right on her wounded shoulder. The bartender was still cowering there and grabbed the nearest pair of towels he could get without having to risk getting his brains blown out.
The other stallions and mares luckily didn't have any guns on them and were obviously surprised that their friend had smuggled one in. They all were still too drunk to do anything about him trying to shoot Applejack though.
“Let me handle this,” Twilight asked Doctor Whooves quietly, once again shocked by what just happened. Too quietly, however, as he then tried sneaking up on the armed stallion to grab his gun.
Unfortunately, in his drunken state, the stallion randomly turned around and opened fire again. The Doc however dodged quick enough to let the bullets fly past him.
Then, Twilight stopped the stallion with her magic.
The stallion was immediately afterwards completely unable to move or do anything except for breathing, speaking and looking around.
“Now, what the hay is going on exactly?” Twilight then yelled. With the princess here and noticed, even the most drunken ponies became silent. Most of them sat down on a chair or the floor, some other ones more or less simply fell to the floor.
The bartender slowly rose up from behind the counter and stuttered, “T-there’s been an a-argue about the next t-train going to Release.”
Doctor Whooves meanwhile went behind the counter to help Applejack with her wound as best as he could for the moment. With the fewest of supplies, he bandaged her properly and managed to stop the bleeding a bit.
Meanwhile, Twilight found out that everypony had been arguing about who would take the next train to Release which eventually had lead to total chaos in the bar.
After the drunken ponies were sent home (or teleported outside if needed) Twilight looked after Applejack. Luckily, the Doc actually had some experience with those kind of wounds.
“I will stitch it up later,” he told Applejack. “The wound is not that bad.”
“Thanks, Doc?” she mumbled her appreciation and then turned to Twilight. “Now, anythin’ else ya wanted us for?”
“Yes,” Twilight said, sounding a bit confused. She didn't really know how to properly interact with Applejack after her putting off a bullet wound that easy. “Like the bartender said, there's this camp called ‘Release’. I actually wanted you to check it out. If it's really a camp you can live in, it could be an important partner for Canterlot.”
“You do not expect Applejack to go, do you?” the Doc asked Twilight.
“Well, originally, I did,” she admitted, “but now, in her current condition,...”
“'Course Ah'm comin’ with y’all,” she quickly interrupted Twilight. “Ah'll be damned if Ah let myself be beaten by such a wound.”
“I honestly admire your dedication, Applejack,” Doctor Whooves told her, smiling.
“Well,” Applejack then continued, “when does that train arrive?”
“See? We're not that far away!” Caramel happily exclaimed. As soon as he saw Sweetie's bite wound however, he promptly calmed down and his smile vanished.
He was right however as they already could see the camp in the distance. It looked like the whole complexe only had one huge building in the middle which seemed to have been a pre-apocalypse fabric.
After about another half an hour of walking, they finally arrived at the front entrance of Release. Looking through the gate, Stellar could see somepony quickly approaching them, an unicorn mare.
Stellar also noticed that it was surprisingly quiet inside. Not the kind of unsettling quietness however. It was more like a safe quietness. He couldn't see them but a lot of ponies were talking to one another, completely chill, like the apocalypse never happened, like everything was still normal.
Stellar loved it.
The train was really shaky and seemed even more unstable. Applejack felt all the while like the ground beneath her hooves could simply suddenly break.
Luckily, it didn’t happen. After arriving at the terminus, they were a lot closer to the camp than expected, as they basically were just next to it.
Applejack together with Doctor Whooves and Rose who they had picked up earlier and told her everything investigated the place a bit more from the outside. Applebloom had stayed with Twilight during that time.
“Ah think it’d be the best if we simply sneaked up on’em. Wanna see them before they see us,” Applejack suggested and unsaved her silenced 10mm pistol Rose had found in her house earlier.
“Come on, Applejack,” Doctor Whooves put her off. “Why would you want to do that? They then definitely will not partner with Canterlot. You will scare them off.”
He wanted to put her gun down but she refused.
“Maybe it's not that bad,” Rose then told the Doc. “Maybe they think that we're clever enough to know how to be secure and they like it.”
“Possible,” the Doc had to admit. “The chances however are not that high.”
Applejack didn't even listen to him anymore and started climbing up the fence.
“Applejack, what are you doing?” Rose hissed at her. “I agreed with you but I didn't think of this!”
Applejack was quick enough to be on the other side of the fence before her companions could do anything about it. “Then what did ya think Ah meant?”
Rose wasn't sure herself but Applejack didn't even give her a chance to answer as she had already turned around and started sneaking towards the nearest entrance of the building.
“Applejack!” Doctor Whooves tried to quietly shout, not getting her attention, as expected.
Rose and Doctor Whooves looked at each other for a moment before Rose then climbed over the fence as well.
“You cannot be serious about this.”
“You can't change her mind. I'll make sure she doesn't buck everything up, hopefully,” Rose quickly explained herself before going after Applejack, leaving Doctor Whooves behind.
“Rose!” he shouted at her.
But she didn't listen to him.
Inside the building, they first came into a small corridor that was rather empty. Some shelves were hanging from the wall, some others had already fallen to the ground. A desk from a nearby room was laying on the floor and Applejack and Rose had to climb over it.
As Applejack, leading the way, was slowly pushing the door open, she quickly closed it again as she had seen a guard standing on the opposite side of the room.
Rose wanted to turn around and find another way when they heard slow hoofsteps coming closer.
“Celestia damn it!” Applejack angrily hissed through her clenched teeth, trying to hold the gun steady.
“Quick! There!” Rose pointed at the fallen desk, with the plateheading towards the door.
Applejack didn't need to be told twice. She rushed over and jumped behind the desk, followed by Rose.
As soon as they found some way of being completely covered, the guard blindly opened fire once he had opened the door.
The desk was well built fortunately, massive oak, that wasn't going to be destroyed that soon with bullets.
Once the bullet fire died down, Applejack decided to lie down with her leg noticeable for the guard. She knew it was risky but thought that it could be a good chance of shooting him.
The guard took his time as he didn't come back until a few minutes later. Applejack had already thought he'd be that gullible to think that he'd have killed them for good.
The guard slowly walked towards the desk as he noticed Applejack's leg sticking out. Rose who now had the gun kept her aim steady and prepared to shoot.
Then, the guard sticked his head over the desk instead of going around it and Rose quickly fired, missing him by a mile. The guard stepped back, shocked by the sudden gun shot. He ran back towards the end of the hallway and pushed an alert button. The warning signal could easily be heard in the entire building, maybe even outside.
Rose fired again, missing one more time before hitting him in a leg.
He still was able to hold his gun however as he then started shooting at them again with his 12. 7mm submachine gun.
Applejack and Rose hid behind the desk again. Applejack angrily took Rose the gun away and then looked into a drawer in the desk.
For some reason, there was a grenade inside! She quickly noticed however that it hasn't been finished and wouldn't explode. It still came in handy though.
She acted like she'd activate it and blindly threw it into the guard's direction.
The guard just saw the grenade and threw himself out the door. Applejack took this as an open invitation. She quickly aimed and shot him directly in the head.
“We gotta go,” she then said in a normal voice. “The whole team's gonna be after us now.”
“What is that alert for?” Caramel asked the mare that had let them in.
“Don't you worry about that,” she put it off. “They'll handle it. No problem.”
“Ya sure?” Big Mac asked.
“Yep!” she happily said. “You're safe here.”
She then turned back around to them and grinned.
“Welcome to your Release!”
When The Dead Start To Trot
hav“I can't take it anymore, I can't.”
She sat in a dark corner of the little cell she was being kept in. She somehow once managed to get herself a rope as some of the slavers were getting the pony next to her out of the cage and tied her up. When they weren't looking, she grabbed one of the ropes. She knew they wouldn't miss one rope when there still were about eight others left.
She felt miserably whenever she saw that rope because every time she saw it, the scene of that poor pony getting dragged away replayed in her head. She didn't remember what her name was but she had seen her in Ponyville before, plenty of times.
That was a month ago.
Ditzy Doo, more commonly known as Derpy, still had that same rope and still felt miserably whenever she saw it.
Everyday, she was taken away through the building to a room in the back of a hall where she had to help them preparing the meals. After about four hours she was allowed to quickly shower while a guard watched her which made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. She could only shower for about two minutes which wasn't enough at all to get properly clean before she was dragged away again. Then she was taken back to the cage and had to stay in there for the rest of the day before the cycle repeated itself.
Sometime in the evening, she usually got food and some water. Only usually though. Derpy was used to it by then that she sometimes got nothing to eat. She knew she would go to bed hungrily whenever she heard drunken screams from the outside. They never took feeding the slaves seriously.
Derpy once again looked at the rope. She had wanted to use it for a long time but never got the chance to. Long before she had arrived, another pony had committed suicide by somehow impaling himself, she was heard. Ever since then, the slavers were much more careful to not let their slaves die.
Her work schedule, if you can call it like that, was almost always the same. Being dragged away tied up whenever the slavers felt like it, then being handed an extremely sharp knife. Derpy didn't even try to kill herself with it. She could be brought to the clinic fast enough to be saved.
Once the captives who either haven't been chosen to be slaves for some reason or slaves who were no longer needed were brought in, Sassaflash, her slave partner, hold the captives in place while they were hanging with their head down from the table, above a huge trough.
Derpy knew the pony laying in front of her that time. She never really had an interesting relationship with her but she has been a partner pre-apocalypse when she was working as a mail mare.
Sassaflash held her in place and looked pleasingly at Derpy. She wanted to get over with it as fast as possible.
Derpy then went down to her as she laid on the table, facing the trunk. She brought her knife down to her former mail mare partner. They looked each other deep into each others eyes, although Derpy felt like their gazes missed each other by miles. She couldn't explain.
Then, she slid her throat open. Blood gushed out the wound into the trough, dying it once again in fresh red to cover the old, dried blood. She almost instantly started screaming and even a bit gagging. Derpy could see a bit of the inside of her throat and the red flesh. The blood continued gushing out. Sassaflash had a hard time getting a hold of not only the bleeding pony but herself.
Derpy remembered the day she started working as Ponyville's mail mare. Due to her clumsiness, she never got used to the job as good as others but quickly became by far the most known mail mare in all of Ponyville. She even had had packets with the message that it only should be delivered by her and no other pony.
She remembered the day Equestria together with the rest of the world went down in flames. She was delivering a package for a customer that only wanted packages delivered by her. She was an elderly but kind-hearted mare. Granny Smith had never judged Derpy because of her crossed eyes.
“Hello? Anypony there?” Derpy had shouted into the house. When she realised the door was open, she simply entered and looked around. She became pretty anxious seeing the house abandoned, empty of any living creature. Except the undead Granny though who had had heard Derpy and fell down the stairs to greet her.
Her former partner was still bleeding although it was beginning to come to an end. When she then bled put and drew her last breath, Derpy once again felt like the beginning of the end has started from scratch.
But it didn't. It just continued and became worse. And she knew that.
It didn't take long for Applejack and Rose to get outside. They tried to be as stealthily as possible.
But when they were outside the building, a few guards with their machine guns were already awaiting them. In front of them, there was a rather large unicorn mare. She probably was almost as big as Celestia herself.
Applejack remembered what one of the Canterlot guards had said when she alongside Doctor Whooves and Twilight wanted to enter. The guard mentioned some unicorn with wings taped to her body. Just like this mare.
“I'd have preferred you taking the front entrance but okay,” the mare calmly said.
Applejack and Rose stayed silent. Applejack felt like they'd been shot dead in a few seconds if they did anything.
The mare then stepped forward.
“Since you decided to use a side entrance, I doubt you have been greeted properly. Or at all. I usually don't do this so this feels a bit awkward.” The mare took a deep breath and said, “Welcome to your Release”.
Everypony stayed silent for a few seconds. You could see in the mare's eyes that she felt as awkward as Applejack and Rose did.
“Redemption would be more fitting, would-,” Rose wanted to speak up but Applejack quickly silenced her by putting her hoof to her mouth.
“Maybe,” the mare said in thought. “But I don't think we're gonna change it anytime soon.”
Three other guards then came trotting their direction. One of them trotted faster and directly approached the mare.
“Found two intruders, ma'am!” She saluted and then trotted back to the other two guards holding Doctor Whooves and Twilight hostage.
Applejack's eyes widened. Why did they get captured? And where did Twilight even come from all of the sudden?
The mare noticed her glare.
“I suppose you know them. Don't they know it's a bit rude to sneak up on somepony like that like they want to stab us in the back with a kitchen knife? You should have been a better example.”
She slowly walked towards Doctor Whooves who was slightly but still visibly shivering. She stared down to him and raised his head with her hoof so that he would look her in the eyes.
“A shy one, I see. Or can't you handle authority?” She let go of him and stepped over to Twilight.
“And here's princess Twilight Sparkle, princess of friendship.” She spoke with disgust in her voice. “Seems like your ‘services’ aren't required anymore, are they?”
“You sure speak a lot,” Rose then said with almost as much disgust as the mare.
“Shut up!” Applejack snapped at her angrily.
The mare seemed to ignore her and continued. “I sure like your wings.” She slid her hoof underneath Twilight's left wing and weighed it. “Light.”
She then went back to Applejack and Rose.
“My name,” she now calmly spoke, “is Lucky Charm. Now, I know that it sounds kind of… exaggerating, if you want to call it like that, but I didn't get to choose. I am the leader of this little place we call home.”
She signaled the Doc and Twilight to come over to her. To the guards, she said, “You two stay there.”
The two ponies walked over to stand next to Applejack. She could basically feel Whooves’ fear.
Applejack then decided to speak up to tell her why they were actually there. “We're comin’ from Canterlot. Princess Celestia herself asked for a partnership if possible.” She really tried to sound serious and to hide her southern accent for this.
Lucky Charm looked at her before she started to laugh. Really hard.
“A partnership?” she rhetorically asked as she calmed down a bit. “We don't need no partnership. Why would we?”
“Why are you laughing?” Doctor Whooves then said shakily.
“You wouldn't accept us anyway,” she said after a short silent pause. “Somepony would find out anyway and it was all for nothing.”
Lucky Charm then sent the four ponies off into the building, guarded.
Inside, they were brought to a little room in the back of a huge hall in which a lot of desks were standing around. Here, ponies seemed to be working on various things like clothes, weapons and medicine.
In the room, right in the middle, there was a big trough. The guards took them to a table behind it and tied them up on top of it, with their head hanging down. The through was dyed in a dry red tone like blood and it smelled just like that.
Applejack didn't bother restraining as she knew they all would be dead before she could achieve anything.
Whooves who was to the left on the table looked next to him and felt his last meal coming up when he saw a dead mare hanging down, her throat slid open and it seemed like something - or somepony - has ripped it open.
Lucky Charm then came trotting in with a list in her hand.
“Well, looks I can now spare the promotion to somepony else.” She then looked to Applejack and Rose. “So, which one of you was it?”
Rose and Applejack looked at each other confused for a second.
“The guard you shot, in the food hall?” she asked deadpanned. “Gosh!”
“Y'all have an entire hall filled with food?” Applejack asked shocked. “It was huge!”
“Yeah. Don't worry though. I'm sure you'll do great in there,” Lucky Charm said with a smile on her face. She turned her gaze back to the clipboard.
“What have you done to this mare?” Doctor Whooves asked her with a shaking voice.
The mare then looked up at him, then at the corpse of the mare next to him.
“She bled out. What do you think happened to her?”
The Doc didn't what to say at first before building a question in his head to say out loud.
“Why did you do that to her?”
Lucky Charm has gone back to the clipboard flying in front of her, surrounded by purple magic.
“We gotta feed everypony here somehow,” she said calmly. “We tested a few ways and everypony loved the way the meat tastes when the pony it belonged to was bled out. And sliding the throat open is the most effective and easy way.”
Applejack felt like her whole stomach was being pumped out, like she would vomit if she would only eat a dust particle right now.
“Look,” Lucky then said as she looked up from the clipboard again, “I know what you are thinking now. Something like 'Cannibals! How could you? You must die!’. But all those ponies out there, the residents, they're innocent, okay? They don't know what exactly that meat is from.”
“And you're telling me that nopony ever got suspicious?” Twilight asked angrily.
“No, I didn't. That was you,” she countered. “Of course there were some ponies who became suspicious. That's only logical. But they didn't last very long. I can be very convincing.” She smiled.
She then shouted to some ponies outside to come in. Four ponies entered the room, two of them were guards. The other two were Sassaflash and Ditzy.
Doctor Whooves’ eyes widened. Almost screaming, he shouted, “Ditzy!”
Ditzy's eyes widened as well and she quickly ran over to him. “Doc!” She cried and hold his head. “You're alive!”
“Well, that's gonna change soon,” Lucky coldly said with a slight tone of joy and put the clipboard aside. “Sorry, I had to resign you to a section before we can eat you. Took longer than expected.”
Derpy turned towards Lucky Charm, tears in her eyes. “Please don't. Please!”
“I like you, Derpy, really,” she began.
“Don't call her like that!” Whooves shouted at her. Applejack has never seen him like that before. She had seen him being angry before but this was different. This wasn't because of two ponies he knew arguing. This was because of somepony being treated - or being called - a certain way.
Lucky ignored him and continued. “But they came in here killing somepony. And we can't tolerate that, can we?” she rhetorically asked with an innocent tone in her voice.
“But,” she then started again, “because it's you, I'll spare him for now.”
“Thank you!” Ditzy said, calming down a bit.
“With that, I mean that he'll be the last one we kill. Or to be exactly, you.”
Before anypony else could react, she then turned to a guard. “Who tied up the princess?”
No response.
“You know we can't eat an alicorn. What were you thinking?” she snarled. She then hold Twilight in her magic while untying the rope.
“Having an alicorn here is a really special occurrence. We can't eat you. I need your wings.”
“What?” Twilight and Applejack asked simultaneously in shock.
“I already have a nice little collection. But the pair of wings from the princess of friendship, princess Twilight Sparkle herself? Now that's a chance I can't risk to lose.”
“Then why wouldn't you kill me first?” Twilight asked, sounding angry but being really feared in reality. Her masquerade worked though.
“I never cut off the wings of a living pony. Anything you do with a corpse except of burying or burning it is just completely morally wrong. Eating however...” She paused. “We don't have enough 'normal’ food left. Three quarters of our food is pony meat. We really know how to get anything eatable off a pony's corpse.” She obviously took some kind of pride in it.
“Ya can't do this!” Applejack then shouted at her. Her nerves were wrecked.
“Calm down, AJ,” Twilight then suddenly calmed down and smiled at Applejack. “It's going to be okay. Don't just always lose your head. You have to stay calm and think clearly, okay?”
Applejack was surprised at her sudden calmness but Twilight was right. She had lost her head too many times the last few days. She really needed to learn how to control her emotions.
Lucky Charm then seemed to put her under a spell that stops her from moving. Twilight still tried to stop Lucky but she couldn't.
“I'm not too familiar with magic and I don't know many spells but I really know those ones,” she then firmly stated before trotting off with Twilight. “By the way, I think I changed to mind. Start with the stallion.”
“What?” Ditzy then shouted with fear. “But you said-”
“Yeah, I said. But now I said something else. I never made a promise, remember?” Lucky then asked sarcastically, a mischievous grin on her face. She then turned around and walked through the door.
“And also, Derpy,” she added, “don't forget to to be especially careful with him. You know it's rather rare for us to have a stallion to eat.” She closed the door behind her and the guards.
Two guards were left in the room now. One of them trotted behind the Doc and the other hold his weapon to Ditzy's face.
“Get going!” he demanded without a single tone of hesitation.
Ditzy then slowly walked towards Whooves and stood still in front of her. Ditzy felt worse and worse. The guard stood directly behind her.
Ditzy took the knife she had gotten earlier firmlier now. The same knife she has used for at least fifty times before. It was already a bit rusty. The edges however were kept sharp all the while to make sure that it cuts the throat of that poor pony open enough to allow the pony to bleed out.
“Do it now or you'll die!” the guard behind Ditzy then shouted again. She looked at Doctor Whooves and saw the understanding in his calm eyes.
Ditzy placed the knife in position on Whooves’ throat.
Then, she turned around and threw the knife into the guard's left eye. He dropped to the floor.
The other guard as well as Applejack, Rose and Doctor Whooves first stood in shock before the guard regained her senses and put the weapon up. Rose however kicked her with a leg. She could barely move it but it was enough to bring her to drop her weapon.
Ditzy quickly grabbed the knife stuck in the guard's eye socket and then threw it at the guard. It went right through the cheek.
She couldn't say anything. Instead, she just quickly went to the Doc, Rose and then Applejack and managed to untie them with the help of the knife.
After Applejack was freed, Whooves was there and basically threw himself around Ditzy who could only return the hug. Both cried into one another's shoulder.
Applejack felt both sad and happy for them. But even though she didn't want to, she had to break this moment of intimacy.
“We gotta go. Now.” She stayed calm, just like Twilight had told her to. Ditzy and Whooves broke the hug. They looked into each others eyes before turning to Applejack and nodded.
Stellar Eclipse tried the food and it was delicious. He was still worried about the sudden alarm that now wasn't destroying his eardrums anymore but he was heavily distracted by the barbeque in front of him. Living in Equestria, you rarely get to eat any meat so he was utterly but happily surprised that Release had so much of it.
“So, lot of ponies comin' here?” Big Macintosh asked their tour guide. Except for him, everypony seemed to feel rather safe in the camp.
“Well, although we're advertising for our place a lot, actually no, not a lot of ponies are coming here. At least not anymore. Used to be a whole lot more,” she said.
“Really?” Stellar asked surprised while munching down a large piece of meat. He then, seeing Sweetie Drops’ glance which then also reminded him of her bite, swallowed before repeating his question.
“Yeah. I'm not sure why there are so little new ponies coming. Maybe some other community was jealous and spread a few lies.” The guide shrugged her shoulders. “But we can manage.”
“If you say so,” Big Mac mumbled more to himself than to the mare.
“You don't have to worry, okay?” the mare said. “Our leader, Lucky Charm herself, is making sure that there's enough food for everypony.”
“But where's the food comin’ from?” Big Mac asked the mare again. “It's so much.”
“I honestly don't know,” she said cheerily. “Lucky's taking care of it and doesn't want us to be concerned with that kind of thing.”
“And you're not even suspicious?” Sweetie asked shocked. “Are you serious?”
“Well, I have to admit that I was wondering before where it could come from,” she said. “I mean, I can understand your point. But I think it would be best to just stay out of it, okay?”
“Why that?” Sweetie asked firmly. “We're here for some help. And as I understand it, you're willing to help. But how can we trust you if you are keeping secrets from us?”
The mare looked around and stepped closer to them.
“Please, just stay out, please! It's also so much better for you all.”
“What is going on here?” Sweetie then raised her voice.
“No, no, please!” the mare pleaded. Another guard quickly approached them from behind.
“What is the problem?”
“Uh, it's nothing, really,” the mare nervously said. “Really.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
The guard eyed her suspiciously. “You didn't talk, did you?”
“No, I didn't,” the mare said, sounding more considerate now. “I didn't.”
“You know what? I don't believe you,” the guard said, coming even closer to the mare.
“Come on. You know me well enough to know that I wouldn't do that,” she responded.
The guard grabbed the knife from his waist and stabbed the mare in the chest.
“You betrayed your Luck,” he said before pulling the knife out and ramming it into her head and brain.
As soon as her corpse fell to the ground, the guard screamed, “Hostiles!” With that, he grabbed his pistol and aimed at Stellar's head. When a few other guards arrived, he advised them to bring them into the ‘back room'.
While Stellar and the others were dissipated, he could hear some guard telling the scared residents, “It's okay. We've got everything under control. Don't worry.”
As soon as they arrived at the room, the door opened and four ponies stumbled out. Everypony stood silently in place before the guards raised their guns and the grey pegasus mare threw her knife in the face of one of them.
The other guards started shooting immediately while the four ponies ran away and jumped behind one of the many desks standing in the hall and knocked it over to take cover.
Stellar caught a quick glimpse of the 'back room’. A large trough with a table in front of it. With a dead mare laying on top of it. Even from where he stood, he was able to see the dry blood at her throat.
He didn't really have time to think what this meant but, naïve as he was, quickly decided to help the strangers and rammed one guard with his head, knocking him down. His head now hurt as hell, but it was not until then that he realised that he wouldn't get up again.
Sweetie Drops didn't like what he had done but knew she had to help him. She, despite her being weakened by her bite, kicked another guard right in the crotch. Unfortunately, she didn't notice in time that this guard was a mare.
Fortunately though, Twilight was there and shot the guard in the head before it could shoot Sweetie.
The other two guards who were approaching Applejack and the others turned around before they were gripped in Twilight's magic and brutally thrown against the opposite wall. They slowly fell from the wall and stayed down.
The guard Stellar had bumped to the ground stood up again and blindly shot into Twilight's direction. She wasn't quick enough to notice the bullet before it went right through her left ear. She screamed in pain.
Lyra and Caramel who hadn't known what to do or say the whole time finally broke their trance and after Caramel also kicked the guard in the face, even if it wasn't as effective as Sweetie's one, Lyra tried to throw her away. But in all the panic and hectic of the situation, she couldn't manage to cast the spell. Twilight who was still writhing in pain casted the spell again and killed the last guard.
Applejack, Doctor Whooves, Rose and Ditzy then left the relatively high safety of the sturdy desk and looked at their saviours.
“Twilight!” Applejack was quick to exclaim and ran to her. “Oh gosh, they shot ya ear off!”
“Don't worry about me so much,” Twilight winced. “I'll be fine.”
Applejack of course didn't stop worrying and, while continuing to look iif some rest of the bullet was left in her ear, she asked, “How did you get out of there?”
“They took me right into the open and when one guard 'sneaked up’ on this crazy mare, she stopped her magic and I could get away.”
“The door!” Applejack then remembered and was about to burst to the door but Twilight stopped her.
“I sealed it with a spell. Lucky Charm doesn't seem to be able to teleport. We're safe for now.”
Applejack trusted her and didn't check the door.
Whooves took a deep breath to calm himself down and now more calmly walked alongside Ditzy and Rose to Caramel and Lyra.
They stood in awkward silence for a few seconds. Whooves coughed in his hoof and spoke up with the first thing that came to his mind, “Thank you.”
Caramel managed to gather his courage and said, “You should thank Bon Bon and Stellar here.” He noticed the mistake and corrected himself. “Sorry, Sweetie.”
Applejack hadn't even noticed Big Mac as she had run to Twilight. Neither had one of them recognised one another when Applejack's group has bursted through the door. But now, Big Mac had. He stood in shock, his lips trembling, tears making their way up to his eyes. He barely suppressed a sniffle when Applejack let go of Twilight and turned around, looking straight into his face.
Her lips trembled as well. Twilight's didn't but she couldn't help herself but smile brightly. Doctor Whooves realised that this was her lost brother and smiled along.
“AJ.”
“Big Mac.”
They fell into each others arms and sobbed.
When the whole group came together after Applejack and Big Mac had both calmed down, they quickly 'introduced’ themselves to each other. Stellar afterwards was the first to ask, “What the hay is happening here?”
“They're cannibals!” Applejack angrily said. “We didn't want to be surprised so we sneaked up on'em. Was the plan, at least.” She noticed Twilight's look and breathed slowly to calm down again. “And y'all?”
“You can't be serious,” Stellar asked shocked. He felt his heartbeat increasing in terror and shock. Then again, it made nothing but sense. Why the mare who showed them the area around Release didn't want them to 'worry’, why she was killed, why they had so much meat…
“Oh Celestia, the meat!”
He never experienced vomiting as bad before as he felt like all the meals he ever had came up inside of him from his stomach and made their way through his mouth. Caramel and Lyra felt similar but Lyra managed to suppress the rest of the meal from coming out. Big Macintosh and Sweetie didn't have to vomit but felt terrible for having eaten a pony.
“We gotta get out of here! This is sick!” Stellar almost shouted.
“Wait! Y'all gonna believe us jus’ like that?” Applejack was surprised. “Why that?”
“Well, you're the Element of Honesty, even nowadays,” Caramel said more to himself than to Applejack but she still heard it though.
“Maybe you're right.”
“We have to remember,” Twilight spoke up, “even in times like this, friendship is still magic. We still have to care about one another and help each other out. Even this time period will eventually end. Everyone until right here and now did, and so will this one. But to survive and see the end of it, we have to be there for one another.”
Nopony knew what to say after Twilight's emotional and actually motivational little speech. Applejack felt like she was the one to break the silence. “Wise words. Jus’ like Ah expected from you.”
“That's my job,” Twilight smiled at her.
Bang!
The bullet went right through Twilight's skull. Her lifeless body fell to the ground.
A wave of blood hit Applejack who could only stand in shock. She turned around and saw Lucky Charm standing in the door frame. She snorted angrily.
“Now I didn't want to do this but you really don't get it, do you?” She came closer to the rest of the group who were all in shock and most of them in fear.
“I can handle breaking my morale code for once for those wings but y'all are really wrecking my nerves. Did you really think I wouldn't come back here to look if everything's going alright?" She slowly approached them. “Y'all really have some fucking nerves!”
“T-twilight…”
“How did you get in here?” Stellar asked. Although not his usual behaviour, he could feel the fear in his voice.
“Magic? Teleportation?” she answered deadpanned. “Like I said, I really know my few spells and teleportation is one of them. I just usually never use it, simply to hide it.”
Applejack was speechless like basically everypony else. Nopony knew what to do now.
“Well, looks like the game's over,” she said and circled around Applejack. “Now finally give up. The door is still sealed. You won't get out.” She looked to Lyra. “And I know you don’t have the skills.”
She then went to the nearest wall and teleported Twilight's body to her. While holding her gun to the group, she began pulling the wings.
“More sturdy than I thought,” she murmured to herself.
Caramel began to hyperventilate. Soon enough, Lucky Charm was annoyed again and stood up to come closer to him.
“Shut up! Calm down and shut up!” she demanded, her revolver next to his face. She was careful to not let the others get too close.
Caramel stepped a bit closer. She positioned her gun between his eyes.
“Why?”
“What?” She tried to sound harsh but couldn't completely suppress some confusion.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because we need food,” she coldly responded.
“No,” Caramel said and asked again, “Why are you doing this?”
Lucky became even more confused and lowered her gun. “What the fuck do you want?”
Lyra proceeded to grab the revolver herself in Lucky's moment of inattentiveness and got it out of her grip. She pulled it to her and after a second handed it to Sweetie who then focused on aiming at Lucky's head.
She chuckled.
“Come on, y'all really think you can get out of here? Even if you have the guts to kill me, which you don't, the few dozen guards out there will get you. There's one exit for this place. No way you're getting outta here.” She grinned mischievously. “You're not gonna kill me.”
Before Sweetie could say anything, Lyra realised. She wasn't quick enough however as Lucky already took the revolver with her magic.
“Thank you.” She raised the gun to Sweetie.
She chuckled. “Look at y'all. A bunch of earth ponies, a crippled pegasus and an useless unicorn.”
Although she didn't say anything, Lyra obviously took offense by her comment. Lucky Charm noticed.
“I see. Getting offended by some comment from a stranger, is that it?” She slowly walked to Lyra.
“Yes, I'm not very good at those kind of spells but I can tell you that you'll no find nopony who's better at anthropology than me,” she stated with a firmness Stellar has never seen from her before. She really seemed to take pride in her anthropology studies.
“Oh, you mean things like the tales of humankind?” Lucky mocked her. “That's all just a pile of shit, you know that, right?”
Lyra was becoming angry. She started concentrating and built up her magic.
“Wanna impress me now or what?” Lucky raised her gun to her head. “Come on, show me what you got.”
Lyra began sweating but didn't stop her magic. She even began grunting a bit.
“Too much for you to handle? Too bad.”
Then, in a flash of light, Lyra released her magic and teleported some residents of Release inside the building. They looked around in panic.
When they realised that Lucky was holding her gun to Lyra's head, they were even more shocked.
“Lucky, what are you doing?” one of them asked in horror. “We don't do that here! I thought this whole place was civilised!”
“It is!” Lucky exclaimed after a short pause full of confusion and even a bit fear for some reason.
“You told us that we would only hold hostiles captive for a while, not kill them.”
“And especially not letting them walk around!” another pony said angrily.
“Don't forget to look in the room over there,” Applejack then said. She didn't like to send those ponies in since they've obviously never been outside longer than at most a few days but it would probably make them hate Lucky so she felt like she had to.
Lucky Charm was still too nervous. Stellar felt actually kind of bad for her. What she had done was wrong but she really cared about her ponies.
Before Lucky could react, a resident went in the room and came out a few seconds later gagging, trying to keep his last meal inside. The other residents quickly looked too and they reacted pretty much the same.
By now, Lucky actually seemed so hopeless that she threw her gun away which landed near Applejack. She didn't pick it up.
“That's not right!” the resident who calmed down first began. “That's not how we do things here!”
“I…” Lucky was speechless.
“Why did you lie to us?”
“Why did you do this?”
The question went on for about a minute before she finally erupted. “I had to keep y'all safe! I had to keep y'all fed! The world's gone to hell! You can't just go the local restaurant and eat! That's not how it works anymore! We had to do it so that you can survive!” She breathed heavily.
“What? Did we eat other ponies?” one resident concluded.
Only now Lucky realised that the residents didn't even think about cannibalism and that she just admitted everything.
Applejack saw her chance. She picked up the gun.
But she dropped it again.
Like Stellar, she saw that she cared for those ponies. She decided to try something else. For Twilight.
She lunged at Lucky and brought her down to the ground with a yelp. Applejack gathered all her strength and with one swift kick, she destroyed half of Lucky's horn. The pieces almost flew to the other side of the hall.
Lucky screamed in pain and fell unconscious.
Whooves stepped closer. Applejack didn't even see shock in his eyes anymore. He had gotten used to things like this.
“What should we do with her?”
Applejack returned her gaze to Lucky. “Ah'm gonna take her outside in the woods somewhere and put her there.”
“You do not want to kill her directly?” he asked. Now she could see surprise in his eyes.
She whispered, “For Twilight.”
Stellar and Sweetie together with Whooves went back to Canterlot. Applejack and the rest have stayed in Release for the moment. They didn't even know they were on their way back.
“Forget it, it's too late.”
“No, it's not!” Stellar didn't want to believe that this would be it for Sweetie. A while ago, after her insisting to help Applejack bringing the unconscious Lucky Charm into the woods, she had been the one to fall unconscious. Whooves had concluded that the bite has infected her whole body by now.
Stellar pleadingly looked to him for reassurance. He avoided his look. And Stellar felt terrible.
When the guards recognised the Doc and Sweetie, they let them through instantly, together with Stellar. The three of them made their way to the castle as fast as possible. Seeing Sweetie, even the castle guards let them through and one of them led them directly to the throne room. The guard swiftly entered the room and came out a few seconds later. All three of them could come inside.
The throne room seemed like the only place in the world that hasn't lost its glory even in the apocalypse. Even though the windows didn't seem as bright as they used to, the rest of the room was as shiny as ever.
Princess Celestia stood in front of Twilight's window and hold two pieces of it in her magic aura. She fixed them but whenever she did, two more would fall out.
“What can I do for you?” she said with a voice as calm as always. She turned around and saw Sweetie collapsing on the floor.
“Oh my, Sweetie!” she suddenly said worriedly and trotted over to her. She quickly saw her bite.
“No, no,” she said in shock. “I shouldn't have sent you out there.” She hugged Sweetie.
“It's okay, it's okay,” she tried to reassure Celestia but she knew it wouldn't work. And it didn't.
“Losing two ponies at once,” Whooves murmured to himself.
“Who?” Celestia asked absentmindedly.
“Princess Twilight,” he said before he realised what impact it would cause. But it was too late.
The window fell apart completely.
Celestia looked up at him rapidly, then turned around to the broken window.
“I see… Twilight…” She was slightly stuttering. Other than Whooves had expected to see, Celestia didn't even try to hold back her tears and sobbing. “It's quite tragic, isn't it?”
Stellar could see that she obviously didn't know how to handle her emotions so he walked over to her and hugged her. He could feel his own eyes watering. He normally would never have dared hugging a princess, princess Celestia out of all of them, just like that. But he didn't care now. She sobbed in his shoulder.
“And Sweetie?” he asked carefully. He knew that she wasn't emotionally stable in the moment but he had to know.
“Too late,” she whispered. “We don't have any spells for bites.” She then stepped back to the window and picked up the pieces. “I don't even know if we will ever be able to do anything for bitten ponies.”
“Amputation,” Whooves quietly said. “If you are fast enough, the infection will be stopped in time.”
“But that ain't a possibility now, is it?” Sweetie said, chuckling for a second.
Stellar couldn't believe she was chuckling over her death sentence. But he knew better than to begin arguing.
“But do you think you can get Lyra? I want to say goodbye properly,” she then asked way more seriously.
“I'll get her. Just hang on,” Stellar said in a tone to show everypony that he wouldn't argue about it. He quickly went out of the room and hurried to get to the magical train again.
When he arrived, he didn't bother listening to Applejack and a pegasus stallion who were arguing about something. Instead, he directly approached Lyra who stood near them.
“Come with me, please,” he carefully said. “It's Sweetie.”
“Well, this didn't work out at all.”
Lyra looked at him shocked and with fear in her eyes, then simply followed him back to the train.
The two of them sat next to each other awkwardly, silent. Lyra knew what would happen and couldn't believe it.
Stellar could basically feel her tenseness himself. He tried to somehow lighten the mood a bit even though he was aware that it most likely wouldn't work anyway.
“I always wanted to fly. But I never really got the chance to learn how.”
“What?”
“My parents just thought it would be a waste of time for me to learn how to fly,” he continued.
“But flying is like the most normal thing for a pegasus to do,” she picked up the conversation.
“I know. That's also more or less how I tried to always convince them to let me visit a flying club for ponies with disabilities. Didn't work. My parents were both very stubborn.” He shortly smiled. “I wish I could spend some more time with them.”
“Did… they get them?” Lyra tried to ask carefully.
“No. My father was too… careless. I'm not sure how to describe that. He fell off the roof and broke all his legs. Lost too much blood and was too shocked,” Stellar remembered everything that had happened more calmly than he thought he could. “And my mother was ill.”
“You seem to have had a good relationship with your mother, didn't you?” she asked.
“Yeah, why?” he asked surprised.
“Just a feeling. You don't seem to want to talk about her.” She then gasped. “Oh my! Sorry! I'm so sorry! I was so insensitive!”
“Don't worry. I'm over it,” he assured her.
“Really? Just like that?”
“It's been several years, so, yeah,” Stellar said.
They fell silent again. He had hoped she would open up a bit again but she really didn't want to.
By the time they arrived back at the castle, in Celestia's throne room, Sweetie was already dead.
“No. No. No!” Lyra began screaming with increasing volume. Stellar stood next to her in sadness and didn't say anything. Doctor Whooves didn't know her but he still felt terrible for Stellar and Lyra and wished he could do something for them. But he could only think of one thing.
He grabbed his knife and walked towards Sweetie Drops’ body. “To prevent reanimation.”
“No! I'll do it,” Lyra quickly interrupted him. “I should do it. I have to.”
“Are you sure?” Stellar asked sadly. She didn't answer however and instead took the knife, a bit forcefully even, from Doctor Whooves. Slowly, she then, after taking a deep breath, shakingly stuck it into the side of Sweetie's skull.
Celestia still was crying and looked out the broken window.
She whispered, “Don’t let their deaths, their sacrifices be for nothing.”
When The Dead Start To Trot
Chapter 10: Friendships Break
“Ah’m so sorry, cousin,” Braeburn said sadly. “Ah'm sorry.”
Applejack together with the rest of her friends stood in front of Twilight's grave. The cheaply made cross was almost blown away by a wind breeze.
“Why? Why did that had to happen?” Pinkie stuttered out, uncontrollably crying. Her hair was completely flat and hanging down from her head. She turned to Applejack. “Why?”
“Ah don't know!” she quickly hissed before returning her gaze to the grave. “Ah didn't think she'd come to us to Release. Ah still don't know why.”
“She had heard rumours,” Rarity started to talk, “just before she went there. She wanted to make sure you're okay, darling.” She noticed it sounded accusing and wanted to take it back but decided she should just stay silent for the moment.
Rainbow Dash uncharacteristically stayed completely silent. She didn't cry but also couldn't get a single word out. She just wanted to fly to Cloudsdale and stay there until this was all over.
Fluttershy cried her eyes out. Her whole body was shaking significantly and her mane blocked most of her view.
Braeburn felt the need to do something about the situation but on the other hoof he knew that they needed their time to mourn.
Still, he silently asked, “What happened to Spike?”
“We don't know,” Fluttershy mumbled more to herself than to Braeburn, just loud enough for him to hear. “Twilight lost him when boarding the train in Ponyville. We haven't seen him since.”
Everypony fell silent again.
Applejack was the first to step away from the grave. She stayed silent while simply trotting away towards her home. The others looked at her leaving but didn't bother saying or doing anything.
Celestia could see her trotting away. She turned her head towards the grave in the backyard of the castle. Her room was dark. She has never felt as terrible as now before.
“Sis?” Luna entered the room. “Sis, please come out.”
Celestia continued looking out and sighed. “My window started breaking, my window in the throne room. I'm slightly beginning to lose my mind here.”
“Don't talk about this nonsense,” Luna tried to reassure her. “Why would you lose your mind? It means nothing good, I know that. But we don't know what it is.”
“Equestria counted on me,” she whispered as Luna stepped closer, “and I failed it. Canterlot is probably the only safe city left. We don't know what happened to the Crystal Empire. The only other city that has the potential to still be safe is Appleloosa because it's small enough to be protected by its citizens.” She turned her head to her sister. “About three quarters of all ponies are dead or undead. We keep losing ponies from day to day and have no idea how to keep everything under control. We don't even know how we can stop this mess!” She nearly collapsed. Luna tried to help her up.
“No, it's fine,” Celestia tried to calm her sister down. “It's fine. I will just lie down for a while.”
Luna left the room. Celestia let herself fall on the bed. She felt even more terrible now. “We won't make it,” she mumbled before starting to cry. “We won't make it.”
After about two months, everything has gone back to normal.
Canterlot was safer than ever since the outbreak and not a lot of undead ponies found their way to the city. Release had begun anew with a new leader who had thrown all of the pony meat out and traded food and other goods with Canterlot.
Applebloom had survived the amputation and Doctor Whooves was working on a prosthesis to replace her missing leg.
“Ya sure this will work?”
“No, I am not really, to be honest,” he admitted. “I certainly think it should but I never have done something like this before.” He put the last screw in. “Well, this should do.”
“Will it hurt?” Appblebloom asked, sounding a bit scared.
“Maybe a bit, but it should not actually.” Applejack gave him a somewhat angry stare. “What? I just cannot lie.”
It took Whooves a little while but in the end, the prosthesis was more or less bonded to Applebloom's leg. She tried to walk some steps with it. She was really careful and could only walk when concentrating really hard on it.
“Great, Appblebloom!” Applejack tried to reassure her. And it worked. Applebloom became a bit more confident in walking with the prosthesis and walked faster. Then, she fell.
“Ouch!”
“Careful,” Whooves said and helped her up. “It will take you a while before you can walk with this prosthesis without giving it too much thought. But you will get used to it, I promise.”
“But how long it'll take me? That's so annoying!” she asked.
“I do not know,” he admitted. “I have no experience with this kind of wound.”
“Ya'll have to be patient on that one,” Applejack told her little sister who then turned to her.
“Can I go now?” Applebloom asked. Applejack looked to Whooves.
“She can, carefully,” he added.
“Thanks, AJ!” She hugged her. Then, before going outside, she turned her head to the Doc. “Thanks, Doc!”
“No problem,” he smiled at her and began clearing up his room a bit. Applejack stayed with him.
“Ah wanted to talk to you about somethin’.”
“Sure, what is it?”
“About Rose,” Applejack began formulating her thoughts. “She began talkin’ about goin’ out there to look for her friends, Lily Valley and… Daisy.”
Doctor Whooves stopped in his tracks and fully faced Applejack. “And you do not want to let her outside because you know that they are dead?”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “Ah'd have to tell her that Ah knew the truth from the beginning. And Ah don't think Ah can.”
“Well, you certainly should not lie to her about this. But I appreciate you trying to protect her.” He stopped and thought for a moment. “I think every solution will be hard but confessing is probably the safest.”
“But she'll probably hate me,” Applejack added.
“It is possible, indeed, but as far as I know Rose, she will ultimately forgive you. And me. You are the Element of Honesty after all.”
“Ah'm not gonna name-drop you,” she said sternly. “It's not your fault Daisy died. Only hers and mine.”
“And I will not let you go through this alone. It could help if I defend you. Rose trusts us both, I can assure you that.”
Applejack smiled. “Thanks, Doc.” She as well went outside. He smiled and went back to his work.
“So, what now?” Charming Blade asked after their fifth game of Blackjack.
“I don't know,” Stellar answered and threw his cards on the table in frustration. “And why do you keep winning everything, Lyra?”
“Tactics,” she smiled. Caramel did too.
The four of them were sitting in a pub in Canterlot. Stellar personally wasn't really sure of the vibe there. He felt kind of lost but also cozy.
“I wish Big Mac would be here,” Caramel suddenly said sadly.
“What did you expect?” Charming asked rhetorically. “He found his sister. Of course he'd spend more time with her now.”
“Are you blaming him for that?” Lyra asked. “You'd do it too, wouldn't you?”
“Yeah, probably,” Charming admitted and took a big sip of his cider. He suddenly shivered. “Damnit! That tastes like somepony shitted in it!” Angrily, he took the cup and began shouting at the bartender.
“I still have a hard time around him. I just don't get used to him,” Stellar quietly admitted.
“I feel the same way myself,” Caramel whispered even more quiet.
Lyra stayed silent this time and looked at Stellar's cards laying openly on the table.
Stellar sighed again and clenched his eyes. “Where did you learn all this?”
“Bon Bon.” They all suddenly became silent. Stellar had to think back to first meeting her and the others, how she got bitten and how he wasn't even there when she died. He shaked off the thoughts.
“It's a shame she had to leave but we'll continue for her,” he gathered his thoughts and hold a little speech.
“And what should we continue?” Charming Blade returned with a new cup in his hoof. “We’ve been stuck here for the last two months with nothing to do. I've drunk so much of this cider that I can taste a dust corn if it's in it.” He sat down again.
Nopony knew how to answer that. Stellar wanted to hold another little speech again but decided against it. He felt embarrassed enough that Charming had heard his first one.
“What are you proposing then?” Lyra asked rhetorically, snarling even to which Charming couldn't answer.
“She's become so aggressive since Sweetie's death…”
“Calm down, Lyra,” Stellar said slowly. It didn't work.
“Me? I should calm down? Why you never tell him that?” she responded aggressively and pointed at Charming. “He's constantly pissed and annoyed! But you're telling me to calm down?” She stood up and left, leaving Stellar no chance to answer.
“Lyra, wait!” Caramel then raised his voice and instantly became silent as he saw all the other ponies in the pub staring at them. He quickly followed her.
Charming Blade coughed and then asked Stellar, who was feeling extremely uncomfortable being alone with him, “So, you ever heard of Warranty?”
Outside, Caramel joined Lyra who was sitting on a nearby bench. Lyra didn't bother to tell him to go away. They sat there for a few minutes and didn't say anything.
“I think you should go visit a therapist. There must be one here somewhere,” Caramel then proposed. Lyra became angry again.
“I don't need a bucking therapist!” she yelled at him. He jumped up in shock and surprise and hid behind the bench. Seeing him so scared, she started crying.
“I loved her. I had loved her for such a long time and I never told her. I never had the courage to. Everyday, I woke up thinking, 'I can do it, I can do it, I'll do it today,’ but I never did. And now, she's dead. And I'll never get the chance to tell her anything.” Lyra started crying out Sweetie's name. Caramel sat back down on the bench and hugged her lightly. He could feel his own eyes beginning to water.
Caramel really wanted to calm her, to reassure her that everything was going to be fine but he knew it probably wasn't going to happen.
“Ah'm surprised to see ya like this, Rarity,” Applejack tried to think of what to say to her.
“I know, darling, but does it seem like it would change anything?” Rarity answered with a question and pointed at her mane. “Styling them would be nice, surely. But I don't feel the need anymore.”
Applejack thought shortly before responding, “Ya didn't lose your fanciness completely. But why out of all things styling your hair?”
Rarity looked at the ground. “I dont know, darling, I don't know. I just don't feel like it anymore. I can't explain why.”
Her mane was in an even darker purple tone now, hanging down her face. You could recognise the old style but it hasn't been taken care of in several weeks.
Applejack wondered and then asked, “Ya think we'll find Sweetie Belle and Scotaloo?” She knew it was a hard and not really understanding question but she felt the need to ask.
“I don't know anymore, AJ. I just don't know.” Rarity sat down sadly. “Since arriving here, I haven't seen her. I have no idea where she suddenly went or why, and I don't know where she could be. We searched the area multiple times already and found nothing. I feel like she's dead. Or worse.”
“Hey, don't give up,” Applejack calmly told her and sat down next to her. “She can still be out there.” She hugged her and Rarity hugged back.
“Of course she can. But it's very unlikely.”
Applejack didn't answer that. She knew it was very unlikely that Sweetie Belle was still alive. A foal, outside, all alone… The chances weren't very high. But she wanted to calm her friend down.
They stayed this way for a few minutes with neither one of them saying another word. Rarity then pulled away.
“Look darling, I appreciate you trying to make me feel better but you don't have to. It will not really help me much. No offense,” she quietly said and stood up, walking away. Applejack looked sadly at her going.
Rainbow Dash walked over to the bench and sat down where Rarity did before and started to talk. “I feel sorry for her. She lost her little sister. And she will probably never see her again. At least not alive. You know that, AJ, don't you?”
“Yeah, Ah do,” Applejack sighed.
“Twilight was always eager to go out and investigate the surroundings, sometimes even some cities,” Rainbow continued.
“And what happened to'em?”
“Manehatten and Fillydelphia are abandoned. Ponyville's overrun, as you know and probably even most other cities. As far as we know, Appleloosa and Canterlot are the only safe places for now,” Rainbow said, staring at the ground.
“And Release,” Applejack added.
“Yeah, and Release,” Rainbow repeated. “How's it going there anyway?”
“Since they put Luna in charge, it's goin’ rather swell for'em. She's doin’ a good job there.” She sighed again. “Ah sometimes wake up screamin’ during the middle of the night. Ah just see Lucky Charm shooting Twilight, over and over again. It ain't stoppin’. The nightmare repeats itself every time. Ah haven't had a good night's sleep in about a month.” She almost started crying at these thoughts.
Rainbow got closer to Applejack. “It's okay, AJ, it's okay. You're gonna be fine.”
“Ah won't. Ah can't. Ah can't be the same again. It's never gonna be the same again.” She started to cry. Rainbow didn't know how to handle the sight of a crying Applejack in front of her.
She calmed down after a minute and stood up.
“Enough crying. Let's check what the others are doing.”
“So, what happens now?” Ditzy asked confused.
“We have to wait now,” Doctor Whooves told here, “until you feel your body heat going up. That will feel a bit uncomfortable at first but it will help you later to handle these emotions you have because of Lucky Charm.” He shook his head. “Making somepony kill others to eat the corpses. Why did this have to happen?” He then put some test tubes back to where they belonged after cleaning them. “How do you feel now, by the way?”
“I'm not sure. I'm happy that I'm here but I still feel terrible from time to time. It were so many ponies…” she answered quietly.
“Hey, it is fine. It is fine.” He hugged her. “You did not have a choice. You are safe here.”
“I know. I know…”
Ditzy did not return the hug but Whooves didn't care. He was sure he understood although he knew he couldn't fully.
“I am sorry it took me so long to make this potion. It was way more difficult to retrieve enough juniper berries than I thought.”
Ditzy stayed silent and finally hugged him back. Rose came in.
“Well, if that ain't two lovebirds,” she grinned. Whooves and Ditzy turned to her, both blushing.
“Hello, Rose,” he said neutrally as fixed his tie.
“Hi!” Ditzy couldn't hide her blush but didn't bother to hide her emotions. She just smiled at Rose.
“Okay,” she began, “I don't want to bother you two but I gotta ask you. Maybe you heard this from Applejack already but I want to go out to look for my friends.” She stopped for a second and thought. “I know this question is really straight forward but I didn't plan to go right now. Tomorrow, I think. It took a while to get all the supplies nessecary but I got them now. I thought you would come with me…” She became quieter at the end.
Whooves thought about if for a few seconds before responding, “I think you should talk with Applejack first. There is something she has to cope with yet.”
Rose looked confused. “And what?”
“She will tell you, I know that. I feel a bit guilty but that is something she has to do. The past is the past. She needs to learn that.”
“Okay then, I guess. I'll talk to her when I've got time. I still have to prepare some things,” Rose said still confused and walked out.
“Guilty? For what?” Ditzy now asked him confused as well. “What happened?”
Doctor Whooves chuckled. “‘'Happen’, 'happened’ and 'will happen’. I seem to hear that a lot recently.” He faced her. “Her friends are dead. One of them already died when the apocalypse started, probably.”
“And you have to do something with the other pony's death?” Ditzy interrupted, a bit of fear for the upcoming answer in her voice.
“Yes, unfortunately. I was with her in Ponyville when Applejack arrived. She just went crazy, I suppose, after hearing that her one friend was dead.” He took a deep breath and looked Ditzy in the eyes. “On the train, she attacked me, threatened to push me off. Applejack was there and saved me. She feels like she is responsible for it and I fear that it dangers her mental health.”
Ditzy looked to the ground. “But did she die from falling down?”
He coughed and took another breath. “No, she rolled on the rails in a really unfortunate way. With her head…” He didn't need to finish his sentence as Ditzy began gagging before calming down again.
“How is Applejack supposed to tell her something like this?” she asked him, still under shock. He hugged her again.
“I do not know. But I guarantee you, it will turn out fine. I promise,” he whispered.
“You don't need to promise me anything. You can't. You can't know what will happen,” she said. Shortly after, the two of them snickered.
“'Happen’,” Whooves said. “What happens now?”
“Hopefully something hopeful. It could all be better here,” Ditzy said.
“But we certainly live good here considering the circumstances. It could be so much worse,” Whooves responded.
“True,” she admitted. “I wouldn't mind if it became better here though.”
“And what exactly?” the Doc countered.
“Well…” She thought for a while. “I dunno. Everything, basically.”
The two of them laughed shortly and then left the Doc's improvised laboratory.
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy knocked at Applejack's house. Doctor Whooves opened them the door.
“Oh, hello! Pinkamena Diane Pie and Fluttershy, right? Come in!” he said before the two ponies could say anything.
“You still keep forgetting our names?” Pinkie asked annoyed.
“I just want to assure that I remember them correctly. Besides, we do not get a chance to meet that often,” the Doc defended himself. “But I am right to assume that you did not come for me, am I not?” He smirked.
“Uh, sorry, sir,” Fluttershy whispered barely loud enough for him to hear.
“That is fine. After all, we do not have any business to attend to,” he calmed her down. “Applejack is upstairs in the bedroom.” He trotted in another room and left Pinkie and Fluttershy.
Upstairs, Applejack was helping Applebloom walk. She fell and Applejack helped her up again. Big Macintosh was in a corner of the room and tried to repair a closet door.
“It's so annoying!” Applebloom exclaimed annoyed. “But I have to, don't I?” She looked at her older sister.
Applejack simply nodded. “Ya want to walk by yourself again, right?”
“Of course! I'm not a baby anymore!” she then said determined and tried again. Pinkie entered the room.
“Hiya there, Pinkie!” she said and walked over to her.
“Hi, AJ,” she answered emotionless in return. “Can we talk?”
“Sure,” Applejack answered and closed the door behind them once they were outside the room.
“Don’t care to style your hair anymore either?” she asked her rhetorically and smiled. “Like Rarity.”
“AJ, please,” Pinkie just said. “Please just stop.”
“Okay, okay. Now, what is it?” Applejack smiled and asked. She then noticed Fluttershy standing at the wall.
“Hi, Flutters!”
“Hi, AJ,” she quietly answered.
“Can we please talk now?” Pinkie asked annoyed again.
“Sure, sorry,” Applejack said.
“It's quite late to ask this but I feel like I have to,” she began and took a short pause. “Is it your your fault that Twilight's dead?”
Applejack blinked a few times and looked at Pinkie confused. “'Scuse me?”
“I don't exactly know what happened, but I know that she went after you and then died. So, is it your fault?” Pinkie asked again in a neutral tone.
“No, of course not! Ya seriously think that?” Applejack responded angrily. “Ya think Ah'd let her die and keep quiet about it?” She then remembered Daisy and how she was thinking about telling Rose. In this moment, she realised that she needed to do just that. She didn't know how, but she knew she had to do it as soon as she could.
“I didn't say you left her to die,” Pinkie defended herself. “I just don't feel good about it. About you. I'm sorry.” She turned around and left.
Applejack stared after her in surprise and confusion. She looked to Fluttershy. “She hates me now, doesn't she?”
“No! No, of course not!” Fluttershy immediately squeaked. “But you're not on good terms with her for the moment.” She looked to the ground. “She never got over Twilight's death.”
“Ah guess Ah can understand. Ah don't think it's entirely justified but Ah can understand.” She paused. “That wasn't all she wanted to talk about, was it?”
“No, it wasn't. She just couldn't bring it up. She wanted to learn what exactly happened and… Nevermind.” She stepped back further.
“Come on, Flutters, ya know ya can tell me,” Applejack stepped closer to her, making Fluttershy step back away again.
“It's just… she's losing it, I think. She can't handle everything, I think. She wanted to ask you about… leaving Canterlot… for a while.” She became quieter the more she spoke.
Applejack didn't know how to respond. She looked away from her friend and thought about how to end this awkward and uncomfortable conversation.
“Just tell her that Ah ain't leavin’ anytime soon,” she then said and went back to Applebloom and Big Mac, closing the door behind her and leaving Fluttershy behind.
“What's the matter?” Big Mac asked. “Ya look pissed.”
“Mac, please,” Applejack said sternly. “Your little sister is here.”
Applebloom didn't listen to them however, as she was determinately trying to walk and she got a bit better each time. Applejack felt proud. Seeing her sister not giving up and continuing to try, refusing to give up, gave her hope.
“No offense, but for me, it seems like your friendships are fallin’ apart,” he tried to calmly tell her. She said down on the bed and tried to keep back the tears that started to form in her eyes. Her brother quickly got up and sat down next to her. Even Applebloom stopped in her tracks and looked to her siblings.
“Hey, hey! Didn't mean it like that!” he quickly tried to apologise but Applejack interrupted.
“Ya don't have to apologize. Ya are right. Absolutely right. Friendships break. My friendships break.” She started to sob. “Twilight's dead. Ah feel completely uncomfortable talking to Fluttershy and Rarity. Even with Rainbow, everything feels weird. And Pinkie wants me gone.”
“Pinkie wants you gone? Applebloom repeated in disbelief. “Really? She said that?”
“Not directly. Flutters told me Pinkie wanted to basically say that.” Applejack calmed down slightly. “Ah've been friends with them for such a long time. And this world just broke it. Twilight's death broke it. Our friendship wasn't as strong as we thought.”
“Come on, AJ, 'course it's hard these days. Y'all get this sorted out,” Big Mac tried to reassure her. Applejack only shook her head.
“The Element of Magic has fallen apart and so do the others, slowly. They're not broken but it's only a matter of time.”
Big Mac stayed silent this time. Applebloom also didn't know how to lighten the mood. Applejack then saw them depressed as they were and felt sorry.
“But you're probably right. Ah'm sure we'll figure it out eventually.”
Big Mac hugged her. Applejack chuckled. “Ah feel like there's a lot of huggin’ today.”
“Let it be. Not 'nuff affection these days anyway,” Big Mac said and smiled.
“Probably,” she shortly answered. Applebloom joined them.
“We'll handle this,” she said with hope in her voice. “We'll survive.”
“What are you talking about?” Stellar asked Charming Blade. “Warranty? What does that mean now?”
“A city, made inside the ruins of Manehatten,” he clarified. “Okay, maybe more of a village. Bit still, there are quite a few ponies there. And your safety is guaranteed.”
“Seriously? Another populated city? How does nopony here know about this?” Stellar asked shocked. He wasn't sure if Charming was actually serious or just trying to take him as a fool.
“I'm serious, believe me,” he reassured Stellar as if he just read his thoughts. “But the reason why nopony knows about it is really simple, honestly.”
“Well, what is is then?” Stellar became slightly impatient.
“I can't tell you. Only members, inhabitants are allowed to know. At least for now,” Charming said, smiling and leaning back in his chair.
“How do you know of it anyway? And why are you telling me about it?” Stellar asked, still unsure about what he was told.
“I'm just saying. Thought you'd want to know,” he said and continued to smile. He then waved a waiter over and ordered another beer. “Honestly, it's fascinating how society can't put itself back together but jobs continue to work, even if your money mostly ain't worth shit anymore.”
“Just tell me already!” Stellar almost shouted at him. He hated it when ponies were like that, keeping secrets from him when it's unnecessary. At least he felt that way that time once again.
“Damn, Stell, calm down.”
“No, Stellar!” he responded annoyed.
“Fine, fine! Geez, Stellar,” Charming said and stopped grinning. He sat down in his seat properly. “I'm just feeling like you could fit in there. You're a fine one. Maybe too fine, but that's okay. Maybe a bit too gullible...”
“I get it, I get it,” Stellar interrupted him again. He was actually surprised himself that he managed to speak up for himself against him.
Charming Blade became annoyed too slowly. “Yeah, that's the reason. Because I trust you enough, I guess.”
“Thanks?...” Stellar still was unsure and he knew he wouldn't get over it. “And what am I supposed to do with this information?”
Charming slowly stood up and went to leave. “Guess you'll have to decide for yourself.”
“How? This doesn't make sense?” Charming didn't answer. Stellar looked after him confused. He could understand why he would have been annoyed but not as angry as he has been.
With that, he decided to leave as well after he was sure Charming was actually gone and went over to Applejack. Before he arrived there, he was being approached by a pegasus mare.
“Hey there!” she shouted to get his attention. As Stellar saw that she was targeting him, he stopped.
“Hello,” he said neutrally. “Do I know you?”
“No. At least not yet,” she said and stopped in front of him.
“What do you mean with that?” Stellar asked before realising that this question wasn't really useful and instead asked, “What do you want?”
“Calm down there, buddy,” she said and continued before he said anything else. “First of all, I wanted to ask you if you can fly.”
Stellar was puzzled. “Why would you want to know that?”
“No, then,” she concluded and didn't answer his question again. “Almost thought so. But would you like to learn it? Learn how to fly?”
He took a step back. “Why would you offer that? To me, a complete stranger?”
She sighed and took a step forward. “You know, there still is good in the world. There are some ponies who just want to help other ponies out. I know, nowadays, trusting is a very hard, a very difficult thing to do. Friendship has gone busted. For the most part, at least. But not completely.”
She sighed again. “I'm Cloud Chaser. Nice to finally meet you!” She eagerly took his hoof and shook it without leaving Stellar any chance to.
“‘'Finally’? Were you following me or something?”
“I wouldn't call it that, exactly,” she admitted quietly. “It's just that I haven't really noticed you until a few days ago. And I didn't really had the courage to go straight up to you and tell you.”
“But you have now?” he asked again. He felt really uncomfortable. Cloud did too.
“Yeah, and I'm feeling really embarrassed right now but I finally wanted to do it. And at least I did.” She seemed somewhat satisfied with herself.
“Why would you want to teach me how to fly? I don't get it,” Stellar asked again. “There must be some other thing than just wanting to help other ponies out.”
“Not really, no,” Cloud answered but he interrupted her.
“'Not really’? So that means there actually is something else, isn't it?” he confronted her.
She thought for a few seconds, then answered. “I was a wonderbolt before all of this. At least, was going to be. I was just accepted the day everything started. I was halfway through my first training unit when Captain Spitfire called all of us. But when we were there, the things bursted through and we had to flee.” She paused. Stellar regretted having sounded so rude. “I think they got Soarin, maybe Fleetfoot, but I'm not sure. Haven't seen any of them after that. I think they could be still up there, trying to clean Cloudsdale. Or they're dead.”
“I, uh, I'm so sorry to hear that,” he said and thought about what else he could say. “And sorry for my, uh, behaviour there. I'm not like this usually, but I lost a friend two months ago and I think I'm still not over it.”
“Same goes for me,” she told him, “but I try not to think about it too much. I trust them, even if I haven't known them for long.”
“So, your offer's still standing?” he asked.
“Damn, you're naïve, aren't you?” she then suddenly said and grinned at him. “I mean, I love that I can train with you now but I wouldn't have accepted that offer.”
Stellar now looked confused again. He just said, “I can at least kind of feel if somepony's meaning harm.” It was a lie, for the most part.
“If you say so,” she said and walked off, smiling.
“Wait! And where do we meet?” he shouted after her but she either didn't hear or ignored him. He watched her walk away, going into another street and out of his view.
When arriving at Applejack's home, he was surprised to see Lyra there too. She was talking to Doctor Whooves about dealing with emotions.
“Like I said, I am not a pony you should come speak to about situations like these. I am not such a doctor,” he told her.
“I know, but do you really have no advice for me at all?” Lyra asked him hopelessly.
“Nothing special,” he responded. “Except the classical 'Do not give up’, I do not really know how to help you with your situation. Sorry. Maybe it would be better if you would talk with your friends about it. They know you better than I do.”
Lyra didn't seem happy with his response but nodded her head. Slowly, she got up from the chair she was sitting on. “Thanks, Doc.”
“Sorry for not being able to really help you,” Whooves said again and watched her leaving the house, not caring for Stellar who was standing in the door frame.
Stellar stepped in confused. “The door was already open for whatever reason,” he quickly defended himself as the Doc noticed him.
“No problem. Stellar Eclipse, right? Come in,” he invited him inside “You probably want to talk with Applejack? She is not here at the moment unfortunately.”
“Not specifically with her,” Stellar said. Whooves turned around. “I basically wanted to talk with your group.”
“With our group? What is it then?” Whooves asked in surprise.
“It's just,” Stellar began, “I thought after all this time, maybe we should, like, combine our two groups. Big Mac and Applejack have been spending a lot of time together. And Lyra came to you for advice without asking any of us.”
“Well, it makes sense to me, but where is this coming from all of the sudden?” the Doc wanted to know. He liked the idea though.
“I don't know, really. I just think it'd be better if we would be together in a big group than two small ones. Teamwork's important as you know,” he explained and hoped that Whooves would agree.
“Sure, it is, more than ever nowadays,” he confirmed. “I like it. Should I get Rose?”
Stellar thought shortly who Rose was but remembered and nodded. “Yes, that'd be better probably.”
“What about your friends?” Whooves asked him while almost being on his way. “Did you already talk to them?”
“Actually, no, I haven't. But I think they'd agree,” Stellar quickly answered. He didn't really believe what he said though. Lyra would probably actually agree now. Caramel would maybe, but it would take some good arguments to convince him eventually. Big Mac would definitely agree because of his sisters but he probably wouldn't spend any time with the Doc or Rose. And Charming Blade? Stellar wasn't sure about him. Originally, Stellar would never have thought he'd agree, under any condition, but now, that he told him about Warranty...
“Maybe it's more likely to happen than I thought.”
“Okay then,” Whooves said suspiciously and turned around to leave the house.
When ahe arrived Rose's home, he knocked gently. When nopony opened, he knocked again, a bit firmer.
“Roseluck? Are you home?” he carefully called for her.
He then heard somepony approaching from the inside. But when the door was opened, somepony else stood there.
“Hiya,” Applejack greeted him.
“Applejack? What are you doing here?” He then remembered something. “Is it Daisy?”
“Yeah, it is,” she confirmed and sighed. “Ah had just mustered my courage when ya came knockin’.”
“I am sorry,” he apologised. “I did not expect you to have already gathered up the courage necessary for doing so. But I think it is no surprise,” he smiled warmly. She smiled back.
“Well, what did ya want here?” she returned the question.
“Stellar came to me and proposed to unite our two groups. I wanted Rose to participate in that discussion.”
Applejack chuckled. “Why ya always talkin’ so fancy?”
“Why are you always talking this informal?”
They both chuckled.
“Guess we both grew up like that, huh?” Applejack rhetorically asked. Whooves just nodded. When they went silent, Applejack became nervous again.
“Bucking hell! Now Ah gotta prepare myself again,” she suddenly exclaimed somewhat loudly.
“For what?” Rose asked her when she arrived behind her. She had heard the Doc talking and had wanted to greet him. Applejack jumped slightly in surprise and started sweating. There wasn't really a way out now.
Whooves noticed and he saw Rose's worried look and decided to make the first move himself. “It is because of Daisy,” he said calmly and put a leg around Applejack to calm her down. It worked for the most part.
“Yeah,” Applejack just repeated, “because of Daisy.” Rose's ears perked up.
“What? Did you hear anything from her?” she asked happily, thinking that she was here. “Where is she?”
Whooves tapped on Applejack's shoulder and nodded. Applejack nodded back and took a step forward.
“No, she ain't. And she ain't gonna be.”
“What?” Rose asked confused at first, slowly trying to register what she meant. “Are you saying that she's dead?” Rose asked that last question in an almost joking manner but when she got no response and Applejack began looking to the ground, she gulped and started to cry.
“No, that can't be. That can't be. You can't know that!”
Applejack gulped as well. “Ah can.”
“We can,” Whooves interrupted. “I was there too. She saved me.”
“From who?” Rose asked broken, ready to just let herself fall to the ground.
“From Daisy,” Applejack answered and awaited Rose's answer. “She went crazy, tried to kill me, tried to kill him. Ah had no choice anymore.” She stumbled over her words. “She attacked him, so Ah pulled her off and then she attacked me, and then she fell off and under the train.” Applejack shivered slightly after having spat out the last part so quickly. Rose did too. Shakingly, she tried to formulate a sentence without succeeding.
“She did not have any other choice left, trust me,” Whooves broke the silence. “She did not want to.”
Rose stood in place shakingly. Slowly, she regained her consciousness and spoke up. “You two knew what happened to her all this time and never told me? So Lily's dead as well?” She became angry. Turning to Applejack, she shouted, “And you acted like nothing's happened?! Like you never killed one of my dearest friends?! I've got nothing left! Nothing!” With that, she ran off.
Applejack and Whooves watched her run away, neither of them attempting to follow her. They stood in silence and without a word, they decided to wait at her home for her to return. They went into her little backyard and sat down on the grass.
After about an hour without anything happening, Applejack became worried. “Shouldn't Rose be back? Ah don't like that she's been gone for that long now.”
“Leave her alone for now. She will regain her senses,” he dismissed her idea. “She technically lost her best two friends right now. She has kept hope for so long without any evidence that they are alive. And that hope was just destroyed.”
“Do ya think it was her only will to live?” Applejack suddenly said and rushed to look for her but was stopped by the Doc before she could leave.
“I first met her about six years ago. And although an apocalypse is something different, I had the possibility to get to know her better than most other ponies, except for Daisy and Lily of course. She is relatively stubborn but also mentally strong. She will not commit suicide because of this, I can assure you that.”
“Ya sure? She seemed really broken,” she asked him, unsure.
“What would you expect yourself to react if I told you I would have killed your friends, even if it was self-defense?” he answered back. Applejack understood and sat down next to him. They again stayed silent for about half an hour.
“Ya know,” she then said calmly, “ya helped me a lot. Like, a lot. Ah wouldn't be here if it wasn't for ya, Doc. And Ah don't even know how to thank ya for everythin’.”
“Do not mention it,” he replied and shrugged his shoulders. “I do not plan on sounding heroic but this is just my kind of thing. I like to help.”
“Ah kinda figured that out by now,” she answered, smiling. “It's not that hard to see.”
“Well, I have to thank you as well. You can be quite, well, I will call it stubborn,” he smiled, “but you certainly showed me to have the will to continue on with our lives. And even though at first, you were becoming aggressive rather quick, you changed. You can keep your emotions under control now. For the most part, at least,” he then complimented her.
Applejack thought about if for a second, then leaned in and kissed him on the lips. Whooves almost fell on his back from the surprise but was able to quickly return the embrace as they hugged each other. He let himself slowly be dominated by Applejack and let himself fall on his back and on the grass.
When The Dead Start To Trot
Chapter 11: We All End Up The Same
“I propose we head back for today. It is almost sunset, there is no point in staying out any longer,” Doctor Whooves almost whispered and patted Applejack on the shoulder. “We would have found her by now if she was here. We should go.” He took a step back and turned around.
“Ah don't think Ah can,” she said and stopped him in his tracks. “It's been a day and Rose's still gone. Ah can't stop thinkin' about what happened or where she could have went.” She sighed. “Ah can only think of Ponyville.”
Whooves turned back to her. “I still am not convinced she did, but it would be the most apparent location. But I suppose you will not be at peace as long as you do not go there yourself. We can go there tomorrow.”
“Ya don't have to, Ah can take care of myself,” Applejack put him off. He chuckled shortly. “Come on now, what ya're laughin' at?”
“Do you seriously think that I am unaware of this? I have known you for long enough now to know what you are capable of. If you insist on going alone, I will not stop you, even if I am not happy about your decision.”
Applejack didn't respond and the two of them walked back into the safety of Canterlots walls in silence. She couldn't get Rose out of her head. She felt guilty for having revealed the fate of her friends to her in anger, in such a way that it can only be taken badly.
Applejack didn't think Rose was actually dead, she was strong enough. But she had experienced herself what anger can do to a pony. That Rose ran off in anger nowhere to be found didn't help much. She wanted to find her.
"You know," Whooves began to talk, "ever since the apocalypse started, I expected the world to completely fall apart. Everything ever achieved by ponykind, everything that has developed, gone. But even when so much is on the line, even though so much is lost already, friendship and its importance still exist, more than ever before. And it is fascinating to me." He looked to the sky. "But wonderful nonetheless."
"'Wonderful'?" Applejack asked baffled.
"I am not calling the apocalypse wonderful, would you mind," he quickly said. "I am just saying that it is wonderful how friendship still exists. I would not have expected this result, to be honest."
"But why? 'Course ponies would try to survive together. It's easier."
"I do not know. I just thought everything would… well, go to hell," he answered.
"Didn't that just happen?" she asked rhetorically. They looked at each other and laughed shortly.
"Wow, we're laughin' at livin' in an apocalypse," Applejack grinned.
"No point in denying the facts. Even if everything is so much more difficult, to put it mildly, we can only do so much about it. I will continue to try finding a cure but even if that will work, which is highly unlikely, afterwards it still would not be the same again."
"... Yeah, that's true," she agreed. "Really sad to think about it. But all these ponies who died… How is recoverin' from that even possible?"
"With much time passing by," the Doc responded. "Time heals wounds. But the scar is a constant reminder."
"Ya're gettin' really philosophical there, mister," Applejack smiled. "Where's that comin' from?"
"I do not know. I am surprised myself, I have to admit. But it feels right." He smiled. "Let us just leave it at that."
Canterlot had brought a feeling to Applejack which felt like a sense of peace even though it lost some of its previous beauty. It developed to a new home and a new chance of living for not only her but almost all other residents. When shined upon by the sun during sunset, you could almost forget about the zombies and deaths. Some ponies could. Applejack like many others could not. Nonetheless, she enjoyed this feeling.
"Oh, I forgot," Whooves suddenly said. "I wanted to meet with somepony. Sorry to cut it short, but I really have to go."
"Oh, okay then," she answered. "Guess that's just how it is. See you tomorrow."
Whooves waved and quickly ran off. He didn't like to leave her behind without explaining himself but he hated being late.
When he arrived, another stallion, an unicorn with a brown mane similar to his own and light blue fur, waited for him in front of a small hut. He seemed impatient.
"Almost late. Yet right up on time," he said and entered the building, not waiting a second for Whooves to greet him. He just entered too.
“Yeah, you're getting there. Keep going!” Cloud Chaser encouraged Stellar Eclipse and applauded while he was flapping his wings in the air. Unsure if he was able to keep himself up, he continued.
“Did it take you so long too? Or is it just me?” he asked her and chuckled shortly. “My wings hurt already.”
“That's completely normal, both of it,” she answered and smiled. “I think it took me even longer to get myself up in the air.”
“That's because you were a foal back then,” he told her. “You can't compare this with my situation.” He panted slightly and tried to take a deep breath but had to cough. But he stayed determined.
After a while of staying in the air on the spot while panting and having hurt wings, he decided that he was ready for the next step. “So, what now?”
“Already? Geez, okay,” Cloud said, both sceptically and impressed. “If you say so.” She stepped closer. “The next step would be to move around obviously. Try moving over there slightly,” she advised him and pointed forwards.
He took another deep breath, this time without needing to cough. Slowly, he tried tilting his wings and move forward. And slowly, he got into motion. A few centimetres at first, then he became a bit faster and made his way forwards.
“Don't go too quickly!” she shouted as she saw him drifting up speed. “Your wings are not used to-”
Stellar went to fast and his wings gave in. He fell to the ground and landed on his stomach.
“Damnit!”
“You okay?” she asked and trotted to him. “I told you not to go too fast. What did you expect?” She grabbed his hooves and helped him up in his wheelchair kart. “Why are are you not trying it without it? That thing just slows you down.”
“No, either flying with it or not at all,” Stellar strictly said. “I couldn't run if I had to flee. Just imagine some freak trying to decapitate me and I can't fly because I panic or some other reason.”
“Fine, fine. Are you always this thick-skulled? Or is this more of a temporary thing?” Cloud asked and grinned. “I like your naiveness more than your edgy side.”
“If you say so,” he answered but couldn't hide his smile.
Two mares then approached the two of them. Cloud waved at them and Stellar stepped back carefully. “You know these two?” he asked.
“My sisters,” she answered happily. “Dream Dancer and Shining Wings.”
“Sis!” Dream Dancer, a foal of three years, shouted and ran towards Cloud, throwing her hooves around her. Shining Wings, Cloud's and Dream's older sister, followed her.
“Dream, I told you to keep quiet. We're outside,” she hissed angrily. “You know what's out here.”
“Relax, Wings,” Cloud put her off. “Do you see any walkers around here?” Sarcastically, she looked around. “Didn't think so.”
“That's why I'm glad that Dream sticks with me. I sometimes wish I'd have your optimism, sometimes I'm glad I have not. You don't take things as serious as they are,” Wings said harshly. She then shifted her eyes to Stellar who was just standing and listening to their conversation. “And who's this?”
“Stellar Eclipse. I'm teaching him how to fly,” Cloud responded, cutting Stellar short.
“You know, I could have said that myself,” he mumbled but Cloud didn't hear.
“What is it with you? So you just decided to teach a stranger how to fly because you can? Is it that?” Wings asked, sounding angrier by the second.
“I asked and he accepted. What's wrong with that? What are you two doing out here anyway?” Now, Cloud sounded pissed off too.
“We wanted to take a walk. And during that, I wanted to check if the wall is safe and unharmed. Come on now, Dream.” She lightly pulled Dream away from Cloud. Before they left, she looked to her sister and said, "I hope you know what you're doing, even if I highly doubt it." Before disappearing out of sight, Dream waved again.
A moment of silence followed suit. Stellar wasn't sure if he or Cloud felt more uncomfortable.
“I don't mean to be rude but did anything happen recently? Maybe I could help you with that as a sort of payback?” he asked. She closed her eyes and shook her head.
“Don't you worry about that. Let's just continue with the training,” she denied. “Okay then, remember to-”
“Come on, if it is a really, really personal issue, I won't bother you with it anymore but if it isn't, just let me try to help. I tend to be the peacemaker in a group. I didn't choose but it just happens every time. Please,” Stellar interrupted her. “We are friends, right?”
She sighed and looked at him with a serious expression. “We met for the first time just two days ago. Why would you consider me a friend already?”
“Well, I don't think I don't have any reason not to,” he answered. “If your intention would have been to slit my throat open, you'd have done it already. You had enough chances too. Plus you actually care about me learning to fly.”
Cloud thought for a few seconds before saying, “I'll still call you naïve.”
“If you want to,” he said sarcastically and began to fly again. “So, where were we again?”
"Seems alright to me," the guard said and looked up from the letter. The other guard looked it over and slapped him in the back of his head.
"Idiot! Of course it is! Don't you recognise princess Celestia's writing?" she angrily shouted, then calmed down in a matter of seconds and handed the letter back to Applejack. "Here you go. But be careful."
"'Course," she nodded and boarded the train. She filled the train with coal and started. Fortunately, she remembered how it worked.
Over night, one of the two trains Canterlot had left was stolen with enough coal for a trip to Appleloosa and back, twice. The city had a large supply on coal, so that really wasn't the biggest problem, but only having one train made a lot of ponies nervous, in case there ever was an emergency and they had to flee. For Applejack, this was more than likely Roses work.
But first, she had to make sure she had the permission to use the train. At home, she had planned her little speech over and over again, expecting the worst. And she still wasn't sure if maybe the worst did happen, just differently. Celestia had given her permission immediately. She didn't seem to be in this world with her thoughts and according to Luna, this has been going on for a good while now. Applejack was worried about her. She apparently still wasn't able to overcome Twilight's death, even after two months. And if she didn't manage after two months, in a world like this, when would she?
The trip took longer than she remembered. However, the circumstances were quite different this time, with no ponys head having been crushed by the train wheels.
Applejack remembered. There was a third train. Daisy, the Doc and she used it to escape from Ponyville but they ran out of coal. They however found another train, boarded by Twilight and Filthy Rich. If Rose has been here, the train should be gone.
After a while, she saw Filthy Rich, still in the same spot as the day he died. His body had begun to rot, naturally, with a crow ripping out some old flesh and flying away with it. Applejack gagged and looked away as she passed his body, trying hard to keep what little remains of food yet inside her actually inside.
Shortly after, she looked closely to spot Daisy's body. She saw some dry blood and flesh a little later but no body. But she knew that this was where Daisy had died. Her body has been taken away and this was enough evidence for Applejack to know that Rose was in Ponyville, even the first train went missing.
When she arrived, she noticed two trains in the train station. Apparently, Rose had found a way to link up the two trains. On one train, she saw Daisys body. She quickly turned away.
Now, she only had to find Rose.
That proved to be harder than expected. Even though Ponyville wasn't that big, Rose still was looking for one specific pony - or what was left of it - in a village. Applejack decided to look if Lily Valley was still where she had been when she left the hospital.
Ponyville didn't change the last months. The streets and buildings were empty, everything looked like it belonged to an abandoned village which was the case, when Applejack thought about it. She still couldn't believe that this happened to her hometown.
On her way to the hospital, she saw Sweet Apple Acres. She stopped and looked to the ground, then quickly trotted to her old farm. She felt the need to at least say goodbye, properly this time.
It looked completely untouched, just like the rest of Ponyville. Most of the trees were dead, some hung on for dear life. Many rotten apples laid on the ground. But between all those dead ones, she found one who somehow survived. She wasn't sure why but didn't care enough to think about it. She took it with her and silently went to the cellar, the last place she had been to before she fell in a coma to wake up in an apocalypse.
There wasn't much to see but she still saw some dry blood from her fall. Otherwise, the cellar had developed a rather distinctive smell.
The farm house looked the same as it ever did. When inside, Applejack felt at peace for a moment before snapping back into reality. She turned to leave, but then decided to check up in Appleblooms room. She found her cape, which she had used plenty of times when being with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. She took it as well and left. She didn't want to look into her own room.
She went down the small path from the farm back to Ponyville. Before leaving completely, she looked back. "Goodbye, home," she whispered to herself and walked to the hospital.
On the way, she saw Fluttershys home and Twilight's castle in the distance. She knew it wasn't exactly the right time for it, but still, she walked to the castle.
Just like Canterlot, the castle lost a lot of its former beauty. It seemed cold and threatening yet somehow beautiful. On the balcony, Applejack saw Twilights telescope angled towards the sky. All the windows were closed and nothing was to be heard or seen inside. When she tried to enter, the door was locked, leaving her no way to enter. She wondered where Twilight could have placed the key. Maybe she had some stuff that could be useful for Doctor Whooves. With that in mind, she walked back and paid a visit to Fluttershys home.
Entering her little house wasn't hard. After all, there is no lock on the door. She immediately saw the chaos and blood inside, some if it was still fresh. A lot of dead animals laid around the entrance and living room, decorating it in a macabre way.
Applejack gagged when caught off-guard. She swallowed hard and looked around, careful to not step on a corpse. She however couldn't help but notice how many squirrels and bunnies died in this room. The kitchen was surprisingly clean. Looking through it, Applejack found two cans of beans left in a cabinet. She wasn't sure how to take everything with her and unfortunately, she didn't take her saddlebags with her, so she started looking if Fluttershy had some bags at home.
Upstairs, again, there was some blood but drier and older. Apparently, nopony has gone up here for quite some time. In her bedroom, she found a small bag.
"Better than nothin'," she thought, put all her items in it and strapped it over her back. With Appleblooms cape, there was almost no room left. She'd have to force the two cans in.
Once leaving, she noticed another bunny corpse which seemed familiar. Upon closer inspection, it became pretty clear that this were the remains of Angel Bunny. It appears that he didn't get to flee before some walker got to him.
"Why didn't he turn?"
She then saw a stab wound in his neck. Somepony has indeed been here but she didn't know when. Applejack had hopes though that this was Rose, although she wasn't sure why she would go to Fluttershys home. She took Angels body, quickly picked up the two cans and then buried him next to the cottage. Even though she's never really known him, she still felt sad, especially for Fluttershy who probably didn't know of his death.
Applejack finally was on her way to Lily - or at least where she remembered her - but then thought of Sugarcube Corner, the second last place of one of her friends in Ponyville she didn't check yet. Rainbows home was unreachable.
The bakery looked relatively untouched and on the counter, quite a lot of sweets were still present. Their smell however quickly convinced Applejack to just let them rot more than they already did.
Behind the counter, she saw the corpses of Mrs and Mr Cake. Like Pinkie said, they didn't make it. She promised them in silence to bury them afterwards too, even when she wasn't sure how to look at them, as seeing that Mr Cake had lost his left eye and half his nose as well as the countless bite marks and ripped flesh of both of them would made that task a lot more complicated, tedious and nerve wrecking than it already is.
All the other rooms were safe. The last one she had to check was the room for the foals. Slowly opening the door, holding her pistol tight, she sneaked inside to find the room empty. Nopony and no walkers either. When she saw the bloody baby crib though, she shook her head and immediately went to leave and buried Mr and Mrs Cake.
"Damn, that beer's actually becoming something you can drink without getting poisoned," Charming Blade told Lyra, Caramel and Stellar. "Not quite like beer, but it's a start."
"What kind of expectations do you have?" Stellar asked annoyed. He wasn't sure why exactly he was even here. Possibly just because of Lyra and Caramel, to not let them stay with Charming and him alone. Since he had told him about Warranty, he was really unsure of his intentions.
"Come on, now," Charming said in a sarcastically sad voice. "At least let me have some good beer."
"You know," Lyra said quietly, "what do we even do now? I mean, it's safe here and I appreciate that, but what is there to do expect trying to lose some time?"
Nopony answered.
Silently, Lyra stood up and left, Caramel went right after her. Stellar wanted too, but Charming interrupted him. Loudly, he put his beer down on the table.
"Wait, buddy. I'm gonna go back to Warranty soon. You coming with me now?"
"Didn't I tell you already?" Stellar asked dumbfounded.
"Yeah, but I forgot," he chuckled.
"Fine, I'm going with you. Now if you'll excuse me," Stellar tried to escape but was interrupted again.
"The thing is, the way Canterlot is now, the way everything's handled here is a catastrophe. You're gonna need a real leader here."
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, now," Charming said, "you know what I mean, don't you? Celestia's not herself anymore and I doubt she will be ever again. If you're not able to handle the death of a loved one after two months, you're fucked. She's not in a position to continue leading this place."
"Canterlot's doing fine. I don't get it," Stellar said annoyed, unsure of what he should say.
"Are you one of these ponies blended by the past? Just because Celestia has been the leader of the pre-apocalypse, she's got to be the perfect leader for the post-apocalypse too or what? Damnit, Stellar, last night I got into yet another bar fight. It ended when everyone was down. No guards, no security, nopony stepped in or did anything to stop us. Two of them had guns and one died. If this continues, it's gonna become a normal thing around here, with everyone constantly armed and ready to fight. And when this happens, it's gonna be the end of your little game of society. You can continue playing society if you want, but I'd prefer a real one. And a real one needs rules, strict ones, and a leader, not necessarily one though, a group of leaders does too, even if not as efficient."
"What do you want to do here? Why did you come here?" Stellar asked seriously, beginning to question Charming Blade even more. He shifted back in his chair.
"Originally, I wanted to come here to trade, possibly reach an agreement to help each other out if needed. But the time I spent here was more than enough to show that this only works with proper leadership. Luna's Releases boss now, she's got rules that are being protected and the ponies there are having the time of their life. Fights and other crimes are immediately punished. I admire her. She's a great leader. What I'm saying is," he shifted closer to Stellar, "I want to replace Celestia with somepony else. I don't know which pony'd be appropriate but somepony else which is more like Luna."
Stellar felt conflicted. He understood his point. But the ponies loved and wanted Celestia as their leader, as their princess. But Release really seemed to have become a safer place since Luna put up rules.
"I see you're seeing my point," Charming grinned. "I'll give you time to think about it. Tomorrow morning at the front gates, okay? Then you're gonna see what Warranty has to offer." With that, he and shortly after him Stellar, deep in thought, left the bar, walking past Caramel and Lyra who were sitting on a bench talking to each other. Stellar didn't quite catch what they were talking about, but it seemed to be an important topic.
He decided to just go home and take a nap. He felt really hopeless all of the sudden. Meanwhile, the discussion between Caramel and Lyra continued.
"I just don't see a point anymore," Lyra told Caramel. "Just all of the sudden. As unbelievable as it sounds. When I started wondering what to actually do now, I couldn't find an answer, any answer. I just don't know."
Caramel didn't exactly know what to say about it. After all, Lyra just confessed to him that she's been having suicidal thoughts recently. He needed to be careful.
"What I think is just that I end up the same anyway. We all end up the same. Why should I put myself through this when I can spare myself?"
Caramel decided to be as directly as possible with her. "Because you'd end up hurting a lot of ponies. Myself included, of course. And Bon Bon didn't die for this."
Lyra quickly looked up at him. At first, he thought he'd done it right. But as he saw how rapidly her eyes filled with anger and hate, he knew he messed up big time.
"She didn't die for anypony! She died because she was bitten! Because she wandered off alone in a house she didn't know! Because she didn't pay attention! That's not my fault! That's not my…" She slowly broke off and started crying. Caramel comforted her, feeling guilty for having brought up this topic and hoping that he didn't aggravate her mental state.
When he retrieved, Lyra shortly looked him the eyes, her anger completely replaced by sadness, stood up and left. Caramel felt a jamais-vu. The almost exactly same thing happened before and it ended almost the same way.
"And we don't have any psychologist here," he thought sadly and made his way to his home.
Lily Valley was still where Applejack had first and last seen here and had barely moved. With only an upper body, it wasn't that unexpected.
Applejack noticed how much more quiet and passive "it" was and it surprised her. She mentally took a note so that she later could tell the Doc about it. Maybe even the undead did die after a while with nothing to eat. If that was the case…
But she didn't bother thinking about this now. She now just wanted to find Rose and bring her back home, so she sat down, a few feet away from Lily and waited for a while. But even after half an hour, Rose didn't show up.
She didn't like being out in the open for too long, uncovered, so she decided to hold out in Carousel Boutique which is near the remains of Lily. From there, she would observe her surroundings and see if she could spot Rose. But first, she had to secure the boutique.
Seeing Raritys old home made her feel extremely uncomfortable, more than her other friends homes for some reason she couldn't explain. She just hoped she wouldn't find anypony there.
Everything seemed secure. When in Raritys room which had been her working room as well, she saw a dress on a mannequin, only done to about their percent. Applejack noticed Raritys desk on which was her sketch for the dress. It was supposed to be winter dress, light blue with a plushy white seam. The sketch obviously hasn't been completely finished. There wasn't even a name for the dress yet. It seemed to be a simpler dress compared to other ones she has made, but reading the notes on the paper made it obvious that Rarity has taken great pride in how simple yet comfortable the dress was going to be. Applejack took the sketch. She wouldn't be able to carry the dress too. Perhaps Canterlot had something for Rarity to sew.
As she stepped outside, she thought she heard something upstairs in the attic. As it was the only room she hasn't checked yet, she went up the stairs, holding her pistol carefully and opened the lock with the key that fortunately was still inside the door lock. She pulled open the door and went inside.
The attic smelled really foully and decayed. Boxes and more boxes, some of them opened, some of them closed for what seemed like a decade, filled most of the surprisingly large room. Every box had something written on it. "Seam", "Silk", "Cotton". As Applejack went further inside, she saw some old mannequins, really old ones she still remembered from the time Rarity had started taking her hobby more serious. She was surprised to see that she kept them all this time.
Behind her, the cotton box fell to the ground. She immediately turned around and held up her weapon. Slowly, she walked over to the box, careful not to lose sight of her surroundings.
Then, behind a few other boxes, she saw a walker, a pretty small one as she immediately noticed, which had heard her and knocked down the box. When it turned to her, it was really slow and quiet, just like Lily Valley. But just like Lily Valley, she also knew this walker. It slowly walked over to Applejack, tripped over a box but stood up and continued.
Applejack stood in shock while looking at the undead Sweetie Belle and continued going backwards. But she knew she had to do it. After all, it was Sweetie Belle. And considering how her ribs were clearly visible through her body, she apparently starved up here with no way out.
Applejack wasn't careful enough and forgot about the exit. The door was still open and when she was about to shoot, she tripped over the doorstep and hit her head on the floor quite badly. Meanwhile, the undead Sweetie Belle made her way over to her. Dizzily, Applejack aimed again and shot. The walker fell to the ground and Applejack fell unconscious.
"See you later," Sweetie Belle shouted over her shoulder to her older sister and was on her way to leave.
"Wait! Wait," Rarity quickly interrupted her sister. "Don't forget to be here by six, okay?"
"What? At six already? Why?" Sweetie complained and tried setting up a puppy face.
"Don't you try that again. And yes, by six. You know I have an important meeting tonight and I want to make sure you're here," Rarity explained while looking away from her sister to avoid her puppy stare.
"Ugh, okay. I will be here," Sweetie said disappointed.
"And now go have fun," Rarity told her and went back to her room. Sweetie was about leave again when she remembered that she wanted to show Applebloom and Scootaloo something from the attic. Her sister however didn't like her possibly looking into her stuff so she usually wasn't allowed to enter alone. She sneaked past Raritys room without being detected, unlocked the door - fortunately, the key was in the lock - and closes the door when she was inside.
"Now, where is it?" she said to herself as she began searching.
About a minute later, Rarity heard screams outside, loud and frightening ones at that. She looked out the window and saw what would later be called a herd marching through Ponyville, some of them basically devouring other ponies. In panic, more than ever before, she locked all the rooms - and with it the attic - and left in a hurry, hoping that Sweetie was somewhere in the huge crowd of ponies fleeing to the train station to evacuate.
The attic had no windows and the walls were pretty solid so that Sweetie didn't hear anything of what was happening outside. She just hurriedly searched for the first dress Rarity had ever made. Today on the CMCs plan was to learn sewing. And Sweetie knew that her sister had kept that dress ever since hidden.
When she found it, she sneaked back to the exit and tried opening the door and was puzzled when it didn't open.
"Hm?"
She pulled some more, stronger, but it didn't help. She was beginning to become somewhat panicked. Banging at the door, having thrown the dress to the side, she first shouted, later screamed for help. To no avail, of course.
And after about a week of being stuck in the attic, wondering why nopony was looking for her, why everything was constantly silent, why Rarity hated her so much, she starved. Three hours, twenty-eight minutes and forty-two seconds later, she turned into a walker.
Whooves followed the light blue stallion to a dark room. He abruptly turned on the light, blinding the Doc for a few seconds.
"Please, inform me next time, okay?" he asked politely. "My eyes hurt."
"Time is money, got no time to waste," he said quickly and tramped to a large desk. "Time to learn, come on."
Whooves followed and stood next to him, observing him mixing multiple potions.
"Talking about crazy scientist…"
"Being able to manifest spells into liquids is quite the charm, you know," he blabbered.
"It is," Whooves admitted. "I wish I was able to do that. I have been doing my work with my hooves and mouth to the best of my ability, but using magic must be so much more efficient."
"Not my fault unicorns are superior," he said and reached over the table for a microscope, almost knocking down multiple test tubes.
"Here, look at this." He put a dissection on the microscope. Whooves looked through the scope and saw a piece of what he believed was skin.
"Say, Tuxedo, how did you find out about this?" he asked and looked up to find him at the other part of the room. Tuxedo searched through a big arsenal of medical instruments but returned with nothing.
"I feel like I'm forgetting something," he said and shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, here." He let a few drops of his mixed potion drip onto the skin.
Whooves looked through the scope again and saw the skin turning a neon green before going back to normal, looking cleaner than before.
"That looks quite interesting, but what exactly did it do?" he asked Tuxedo.
"It cleans the skin and restores it to a natural, healthy state. Or at least it's supposed to. Something is missing and I can't figure out what." He fixed the tuxedo he wore. "Maybe you'll find out."
Whooves shook his head. "I doubt that. I am not familiar with this sort of science."
"'Not familiar with this, not with that'," Tuxedo mocked him. "Whatever somepony asks about your job, you always are like, 'That's not my subject, I'm not familiar with it.' For Celestia's sake, what on Equestria are you doing?"
"Like I said many, many times before, it is a touchy topic for me. I do not like telling anypony about it. It is a... underappreciated field of expertise, I would say," he said. "What about your potion now? You think it could help healing bite wounds?"
"Definitely," Tuxedo suddenly excitingly agreed. "It is just missing one ingredient and I cannot figure out what."
"But why did you want me to take a look?"
"Well, I suppose I hoped you could figure the problem out. Apparently not," he said and pushed Whooves lightly towards the exit. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"
Shortly after, Whooves was outside again, the door slamming shut behind him. He sighed and tried to calm himself down.
"He's weird, ain't he?" Cloud Chaser asked him. He looked up and saw Cloud together with Stellar standing in front of him.
"Hm? Oh, yes, he is. I am not sure why he acts the way he does. It seems unnatural. Or at the very least not healthy," he agreed. "But I believe we have not met yet. You seem to be an acquaintance of Stellar Eclipse. Pleasure to meet you." He hold out his hoof. Cloud shook it a bit to eagerly.
"Pleasure's mine," she smiled. "We were just passing by though, his training for today's finished."
"Training?"
"Flying practice," Stellar said. "She asked and I took the chance. Feels nice feeling like an actual pegasus."
"Okay. I trust your sense in judgement." He turned to Cloud. "No offense."
"It's fine," she assured him. "I know how it works nowadays."
A bit of awkward silence followed since neither of them knew what to add to the conversation nor how to close it. Stellar wishes he would get along better with the Doc.
"Anyway, like she said, training's finished, so we'll be on our way," Stellar tried ending the discussion.
"Sure, of course. We will see each other, then," Whooves said and waved them a shirt goodbye before walking in the opposite direction. Cloud looked at him walking away.
"He seems a bit, like, dozen off, don't you think?"
"Everypony's got bad days," Stellar said. "And he just visited Tuxedo. It's no surprise you come out confused afterwards."
"Yeah, that's true," she agreed and they started walking. After a while, she asked, "Why's he called 'Tuxedo' anyway?"
"I think that's just his nickname that he wants to be called by. I don't know anypony that actually knows his real name."
Cloud chuckled. “Weird guy. But interesting.”
Applejack woke up and found herself in a black void with no sounds, ponies, whatsoever. Absolutely nothing.
“Hello? Anypony?” she shouted into the void.
Silence.
“Ah could need some help here. Please!”
Silence.
Then, slowly, a dark figure appeared in front of her. Applejack became frightened but felt no need to flee. Continuously, the figure became clearer and sharper. She immediately knew who that pony was.
“Well, how's it going, dumbass?” Daisy asked rudely. “How miserable is it going? Didn't expect you to still be alive.”
Applejack stood there in silence.
“What? Don't remember me?” she asked and waved in front of her face. “Anypony there? You're not that old yet, are you?”
“What- why are ya here?” Applejack asked her confused.
“It's a fucking dream, damnit. Use your brain.” She tapped her hoof against her head.
“Ah didn't remember you bein' this rude, though,” Applejack mentioned and stepped back. “What do ya want?”
“Actually, only one thing. I wanted to ask you something.” Daisy cleared her throat once. “How many ponies did you kill until now?”
“What?”
“Before you killed me, I told you that you'd be killing a lot of the ponies around you. Now, how many ponies are already dead because of you?”
Applejack stayed silent. She didn't know herself.
“Well, I know anyway,” Daisy said and counted. “Me, one stallion at the Canterlot bar, technically Filthy Rich as he died sooner and more painful because of your interference, three Release residents who died during your burglary, two Release guards and of course Twilight. That sums up to a total of nine ponies. Wow, way less than I anticipated.” She grinned. “The thing is, you're not done yet. I know that. A lot more ponies will die at your hooves. There's no way around it. Unless you end yourself, of course. You know, you'd do quite a few ponies who want to live a favor.”
“No,” Applejack insisted and became louder as she continued, more compassionate. “No, Ah'm gonna live. Exposin' Lucky Charms intentions and actions will save many other innocent ponies lives. Ah'm constantly feelin' terrible because of Twilight's death but there is nothin' Ah can do about it anymore except continue livin' and tryin' to help the world become a better place!”
“So, that's what you wanna do? Well, I guess you should start, then,” Daisy stated cheekily. “There ain't too much you've done so far. Better start working your ass off.”
She started vanishing. “But one last piece of my mind,” she said, smiling mischievously, “watch your back. Who knows how even your closest friends are actually like?”
With that, she completely vanished and left Applejack alone.
"By Celestia, you're finally awake. I was worried."
Applejack woke up, this time properly, in a little, dark room. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but when they did, she saw Rose next to her.
"Rose," she whispered. She tried to get up, but instantly felt a headache approaching.
"Relax, okay?" Rose calmed her down. "We have time." She sighed. "I can't say that I'm happy with your decision, coming here for me apparently, though I am flattered that you're worried about me. But believe me, I am capable of managing being by myself."
"Ah don't doubt that," Applejack defended herself, "but Ah didn't like how emotionally unstable ya were when ya left. Ah had to make sure ya're okay."
"It's okay, I guess," she answered. "I can't say I forgive you for the thing with Daisy, even if it was accidental. I'll get over it eventually, I'll forgive you eventually. We're still friends but I'll need some distance first."
"Ah understand," Applejack said. "Ah'd feel the same."
"Better now?" Rose asked. "I'd like to quickly get back to Canterlot if possible. Quickly bury Lily and Daisy and then immediately leave. Oh, and Sweetie Belle too."
"Yeah, Sweetie," Applejack repeated sadly.
"I think you shouldn't tell Rarity, AJ."
"Ah'm not gonna. That'd mess her up."
Two hours later, they had buried Sweetie Belle next to Carousel Boutique, the now finally properly dead Lily and Daisy have been buried on the marketplace where their old flower shop had been. They stood in front of their graves.
"When you told me that my friends were dead, I couldn't believe it," Rose whispered. "And naturally, I'm sad. But I'm also glad to know what happened to them and where they are and that they don't need to live through this crisis."
"Ya sure ya didn't want them in Canterlot?" Applejack asked her as they started walking towards the train station.
"No, I'd feel down constantly, having to see them every day. I'd rather say goodbye once and then concentrate on overcoming my grieve," Rose responded. "I once had an uncle in Manehattan who died. He was buried in the local cemetery, down the street. Whenever I had to go to the city, I had to walk past it and each and every single time, I had think about him. It was miserable."
"Really? Ah'm the opposite. Ah definitely want them near me to not forget about them, to feel like they're somewhat watchin' over me. Couldn't stand thinkin' about them being buried on the outer half of Equestria. Ah need to make sure their graves are all clean and well. Otherwise, Ah don't see the reason why we'd have them."
"If arguing over where to bury ponies was our worst problem, we'd live a rather great life." They shortly chuckled.
After that, they arrived at the station. They each boarded a train and began their trip home. Applejack was in deep thought so that it seemed to take less time back.
After arriving in Canterlot, they put back the train into the garage and went inside. It was sunset and the moon was about to be blooming. One last ray of sunshine shined down on a bush near the the Canterlot walls.
Carefully, Lucky Charm looked up from behind it and saw the two ponies entering. She thought for a second, then sheathed her gun and hid behind the bush again.
She whispered, "Not this time, sadly. But the time will come."
When The Dead Start To Trot
"Ah'm tellin' ya, Big Mac: That's gonna be a good sale," Applejack told her older brother while filling up baskets with their apples. It was summer and with that the time of the year where they had to work the most. Their cider was always their most bought product during this time.
"Eeyup," he quoted his famous line. They already got a lot done in that short amount of time where they were working. "Lookin' good," he simply said. "Gonna be sellin' a lot next days."
"About time." In the last time, it actually wasn't going that well for their farm. "Less and less ponies came to purchase anything since that weird illness."
Nobody knew what this illness was or where it came from. It didn't seem to harm anybody so that they didn't worry about it too much. All effects seen this far was fever, although it was strangely strong. They didn't manage to actually cure it though because normal medicine just wouldn't work. Celestia herself didn't quite know what to do.
The tree was bucked once again. More apples fell down. She moved on to the next one. She bucked it like all the other trees before. Applejack didn't feel quite well about this whole fever thing. She couldn't explain herself where its roots were from.
"Ya know," she said, bucking a tree. "Don't ya find this... ya know, worrying?" Apples fell into the baskets. "Where should it be from? Don't deny it'd not be botherin' ya," she anticipated her brother before he could deny it. She knew he'd do it to not stress her out as he probably thought.
"..." Big Mac stayed silent. "You ain't gettin' 'way like that!" Applejack almost shouted for seemingly no reason at all. Maybe just because she made herself worry once again. Since Granny Smith also got sick and pretty strong fever with it, she neither knew how to react nor how to feel. Applebloom didn't even know what exactly was going on anyway but what bothered Applejack was that she didn't know either.
She hated leaving her little sister uninformed and puzzled like that but there was nothing she could do about it. She simply hoped for the best that Granny would soon feel better. She's been sick for about a week and her state hasn't changed at all. She mostly lied in bed with her high fever.
Not that she wanted to of course. But whenever she tried doing something, she'd feel like all her bones would immediately break. She was always thirsty. She just felt like a rotten apple, as she told Applejack. They both had to smile at that terrible joke. But something about these smiles seemed off, Applejack thought. They were forced and awkward, not the slightest bit honest.
More apples fell down. "'Course it does," Big Mac only answered. He looked around a bit, obviously distracting and avoiding her gaze. "Should be enough for now." He took his baskets and trotted away. Applejack wanted to stop him but decided against it. It wouldn't help going through this whole thing for like the sixth time. She just couldn't get any piece of rest, it wouldn't change if she forced him to such a to nothing leading conversation.
"Still wanna some?" Applebloom innocently asked her brother. "Nope," he replied distracted, just annoyed that Applejack just went on his nerves again. He hated seeing her worry so much but what should he do? She didn't help making him and herself as well worry, absolutely not. He was sure that Applebloom already began to be affected by this.
He stood up, brought his now empty plate to the rest of the lazily standing stack of plates and went upstairs to Granny without saying anything else. It wouldn't be that special if the whole atmosphere wouldn't have been so depressed.
"Did Ah say anything wrong?" Applebloom asked, looking sad.
"No, no, ya surely didn't," Applejack quickly answered back, not wanting to ruin her little sister's day as well as her mood. "He just... needs a bit of privacy, ya understand?"
Applebloom looked at her puzzled. She didn't understand. Applejack didn't even understand herself right now. She didn't make sense to herself. She wondered how she could help Big Mac.
"Ah'm gonna bring these last baskets down in the basement." A good excuse to get herself a little time for herself and to help her family simultaneously. No, she didn't help her family at all with this right now. She knew that. Applejack just needed more time to sort her feelings.
Applebloom didn't answer. She stared at the table in front of her. Big Mac had upset her, although he didn’t mean to. Applejack didn’t want to intensify that feeling.
“Ah´ll be right back,” she said, took the basket and went to their basement.
It usually wouldn’t be a problem of course but since she wasn’t clear-minded, she was more or less walking into darkness without even noticing where the steps were.
She wasn’t quite attentive. She lost her balance. She fell down the stairs, the basket after her. Apples fell down. As she laid on the ground, she didn’t say anything. Her vision slowly faded. She still could hear somebody yell something above, probably Applebloom. She could feel blood running down her hurting flanks and she knew that she probably looked terrible right now. She didn’t want Applebloom to ever see her like this but it's not like she could do anything about that now.
“Is she gonna be alright?”Peep,… peep,……… Peep,………
It was pretty dark when Applejack woke up. The first thing she did was looking around the room she was in. She had no idea where she was at first but then realized that it was just the nearby hospital in Ponyville. “Big Mac?... Applebloom?... Granny?...” she whispered, not being able to raise her voice just yet. There were a few machines standing around her she couldn´t quite make out what they were there for or what they´d do.
“Anypony?”
Nothing. She couldn't hear anything. Even the machines she was cabled to seemed to be turned off. “Or they´re just extremely quiet,” Applejack thought.
She tried to stand up but it hurt pretty bad. Still, she managed to get up but almost immediately collapsed on the ground, the machines joining in. The cables were ripped off her body as well. With the help of one of the fallen over machines, she got up and managed to walk.
As she reached the front door, she wouldn't get it to open. “What the hay? What´s blockin´ it?” She pushed more forcefully against the door. It slid a bit open but still by far not enough. Now she basically threw herself against the door. It hurt but at least the door was now open. “A bed in front of the door? Who did this? Why would anypony block the door?”
The hallways light was flickering. Papers, even beds and more stuff were spread throughout the entire floor. “What happened here?” Applejack couldn’t believe her eyes at the sight of this chaos. “And nopony around.” Then, as soon as she found the exit to the outside, she saw something traumatizing.
Dead ponies everywhere, at least 200 of them. Most of them were covered up although you still could see dried blood around them. But there were still some ponies laying around uncovered. “W-w-what?... W-who...?” Those bodies were completely rotted and it looked like somepony took bites out of them.
Applejack suppressed the urge to vomit. “W-what could have… d-done t-this…?” she stammered out. She hurried up to leave that place and to find somepony that could help her.
Outside everything looked as terrible as it did inside of the hospital. No, even worse. Everywhere was garbage and other stuff. But there was still nopony around.
“I must find somepony… I must find somepony…,” Applejack murmured. She walked around in the now empty Ponyville.
“ANYPONY!!” she yelled out. “CAN ANYPONY HELP ME?!”
Silence. No answer.
But suddenly, she heard somepony… or something. It didn't sound like a pony...
“H-hello?” she quietly asked. She then saw the figure that was making that weird moaning and rasping sound. It was Lily Valley! But she seemed a bit… weird.
When Applejack got closer, she saw that she wasn’t normal anymore. Her body was completely rotten like the corpses in front of the hospital. But it was a bit different here. Her entire lower body was missing, her guts hanging out. Even her right eye missed. Blood was everywhere around her mouth as if she just… bit somepony... and ripped flesh out with that...
Applejack vomited. She just couldn't hold it back anymore. She stared at her unbelievingly at first, then started backing up slowly. After a while, she began to run. She didn't know where to run, she just wanted to get away from her, from all of this.
In the end, she stopped in front of the school building. She tried opening the door with all her might. “C’mon! C’MON!” But it was locked. With that, she slipped down the door and started to cry.
“Why is this happenin’?” she sobbed.
She didn't notice that the door was opening behind her.
Then, a sudden bump. Applejack went down on the ground. Somepony had knocked her down. Before she lost her consciousness, she could make out somepony mumble something.
“Let’s just get rid of her!”
...
When The Dead Start To Trot
Chapter 5: We Will Never Be Safe
“There it is!” Doctor Whooves yelled happily, pointing a hoof to the shape of Canterlot on the side of the mountain.
“Finally!” Filthy Rich exclaimed, not knowing what would soon happen to him. Neither Applejack, Twilight or the Doc told him that you'll eventually die if you're bitten.
He still laid on the bench of their waggon, obviously now pretty uncomfortable since he couldn't even really move anymore without being hurt. They had helped him getting in the front waggon and then left the others behind to be faster and use less coal.
“Hold on,” Twilight tried to comfort him, still not really knowing how to interact with him now that she knew he would probably die soon.
“How long?” Applejack asked, cutting it short.
“I guess about half an hour,” the Doc responded.
“Still so long?” Filthy Rich whined. “It's starting to somehow burn.”
Applejack began to be quite nervous about him. She never really had such a good relationship with Filthy Rich but she of course still didn't want him to end like this.
“Just relax,” the Doc responded, surprising Applejack he heard Filthy from this distance. Filthy didn't even speak loud.
“That's easy to say,” he answered back, holding himself in place to not fall off the bench. “You don't get hurt by doing nothing.”
“Don't stress yourself out,” Twilight suggested him. “That's not helping you in any way.”
“Burnin’? A few minutes ago, ya told us everything's fine,” Applejack asked curiously and also worriedly.
“At that time, it was. It just feels like the fever's coming up to my head and getting stronger with it.”
That sounded actually rather interesting to Applejack.
“So the fever's going up to the brain,” she concluded, already planning on telling the Doc and of course also Twilight when she got the chance. She felt like this information would be useful.
Applejack wanted to stop this awkward situation they were in or she felt like that at least and quickly changed the topic.
“What we're gonna do when we're in Canterlot anyways?” she asked, not meaning especially one of them to answer.
“There's only one thing to do: find a place to be safe,” Twilight answered. She could tell Applejack just wanted to change the topic and surely knew what they would do as soon as they're in Canterlot. She quickly nodded nodded her head in Twilight's direction. Twilight didn't feel too well while talking about that topic either.
“But what would we do if there is none?” the Doc asked, not even remotely close from his usual behaviour. He was usually quite the optimist.
“Why wouldn't it be, Doc?” Applejack asked back, writing a mental note to herself to ask him later why he asked that more or less pessimistic question.
“We should just reach Canterlot,” Twilight said, “ then we'll see what happens. It's not like we have another choice.”
Silence.
Without saying another word, Applejack left the room and went to the Doc. She felt a bit sorry about leaving her friend like that but there wasn't anything to say now.
“Hey, AJ,” Doctor Whooves greeted her, surprising her he knew her nickname.
“Ya know my nickname from Twilight, right?”
“Yes,” he admitted. “It is okay if I call you like that from time to time, isn't it?” he wanted to make sure.
“Why shouldn't it be? Ah mean, we're friends,” Applejack said, smiling a bit, knowing it wasn't the best time for that but except of Filthy Rich, it all went pretty good at the moment.
“Thanks,” the Doc said, keeping his eyes on the tracks. “It really means a lot to me, you know.”
“Even worse,” Twilight told Applejack about Filthy Rich's fever and burning feeling.
“Seems like it's almost time,” Applejack quietly said in a serious tone. “Look, if we're gonna have to kill him, Ah-”
“Don't talk like that!” Twilight interrupted, not wanting to hear something like this. “I can't handle this yet.”
“But it's like it is,” Applejack explained to her. “We gotta call it like it is.”
Applejack didn't know herself how she could get used to this world that quickly. Maybe she was just a survivor…
“Is something going to happen to me?”
Twilight and Applejack turned around slowly, both trying to delay the conversation with Filthy Rich who must have just woken up from his sleep. Unfortunately, he had heard their conversation a bit.
Applejack didn't want to tell him. He would surely freak out if he knew he would die soon and she couldn't blame him of course. She rather wanted to stab him in the brain while he was asleep - he wouldn't notice and would die without any pain - or when he was already dead if her preferred method wouldn't be possible.
“Why should it?” Applejack asked back, trying really hard to sound innocent.
“I saw you two whispering a few times already,” he said, feeling like they tried to fool him. “You even sometimes looked to me; I did notice.”
“It's nothing, really,” Twilight tried to lighten the mood but without success.
“Come on, be honest with me,” Filthy Rich didn't give up. “Just tell me alrea-”
“The train then suddenly came to an abruptly stop. Filthy Rich was pushed back against the wall, Twilight and Applejack harshly fell to the ground.
“Doc, what the hay’s going on there?” Applejack yelled.
No response.
Instead, the Doc came to the three of them.
“A herd of walkers,” he coldly said.
Applejack felt like the Doc would say that they were doomed or something.
“But not that many. We can do this,” he quickly added after seeing Applejack's worried face.
“Can't ya just drive through’em?” she asked, thinking she knew what he wanted them to do.
“No. The train could take damage. Maybe not that much, but we can't take that risk. We are only about ten minutes away from Canterlot. What if there are more walkers than right now?” he tried to explain, not getting Applejack to fully understand him though.
“Then we'd have to kill’em all and things wouldn't change at all,” she countered.
“If it is an emergency, we will take the risk and drive through them, if they are too many. But we can manage them right now. Let's save this one chance of rushing through with the train for later,” the Doc as well countered after a few seconds of thinking.
Applejack had to admit that he was right.
“Yeah, Ah guess ya’re right.” She glimpsed at Filthy Rich. “What about him?”
“I can come with you,” he quickly said in a serious tone. “I mean, it still hurts but that won't stop me. Really, I want to-”
“Ya ain't comin’ with us!” Applejack interrupted, appreciating his offer but knowing he wouldn't last long. She didn't blame though, again.
“Come on! I'm just laying here being completely useless. Let me help you!” he said then in an even more serious tone.
“He means business,” Applejack thought, knowing he would eventually sneak out and fight along them even if he's meant to stay in the waggon.
“Besides, we can use one fighter more.”
“They're already near us!” Twilight shouted, looking outside the window.
She was right. Now, Applejack could even hear them approaching.
“Let's go then,” the Doc said and went out the waggon, holding his ice pickle tight. Applejack and Twilight then followed with the spear and the pistol. They had already learned that walkers are attracted by noise which the Doc found out a while ago in Ponyville but they didn't have any other weapon besides the one they gave to Filthy Rich, a simple but sharp knife which Twilight had brought with her as well.
“He got any experience?” Applejack quietly asked Twilight.
“A bit, yes. He killed a few of them before and knows how to do it.”
“No time to waste,” the Doc more or less shouted for whatever reason and ran towards the first walkers. Applejack, Twilight and eventually Filthy Rich followed.
Filthy Rich's fever of course didn't become any better and the pain coming with it made it no easier for him to catch up with them but he didn't give up. He wanted to help and proof himself as an useful part of the crew.
They quickly put down the first walkers but there came more and more. By the time Filthy Rich arrived, the other three already killed about a dozen of the walkers.
It went pretty good at first until the Doc’s weapon was stuck inside a walker’s head with more running over its dead body, catching the Doc weaponless.
“Help!” he yelled, trotting backwards, quickly tripping and falling on his back, the walkers still approaching.
Applejack wanted to get to him but then, a few walkers cut off her path, not allowing her to get through.
Twilight was busy as well since there were five walkers trying to bite her at once.
Filthy Rich saw his chance to proof himself - and to save one of his companions of course - and went to the Doc as fast as he could.
As he arrived, the Doc tried to push a walker off of him. He had to be careful of not getting his head impaled by the horn of the once unicorn mare.
Filthy Rich rammed the knife inside the walkers head just before it could bite the Doc.
He quickly got up and just nodded to him, letting him know he was thankful. He then got his weapon back and went back to fighting off the walkers.
Applejack was busy but she still saw how Filthy Rich saved the Doc's life. She wanted to make sure to thank him later somehow.
After a while without further problems, they put down all the walkers.
“Ah'm sweatin’ like Ah haven't in months,” Applejack thought to herself, sweeping some sweat pearls off before they could get in her eyes.
“It was close for me this time,” Doctor Whooves said, taking deep breaths and turning to Filthy Rich. “You saved my life. I do not know how thank you but-”
“We're companions, right?” he interrupted the Doc, slowly going back to the waggon. “Let's go, shall we?”
Twilight, Applejack and the Doc followed him back to the waggon door. Filthy Rich tried to open the door.
“It's stuck!” he gritted his teeth, harshly pulling the door.
“It's just old,” Twilight told him and wanted to use her magic.
“No! I got this,” he suddenly said, causing Twilight to startle a bit and stop her magic.
He pulled and pulled more, grunting slightly. Eventually, the door let itself be opened, although pretty harshly, knocking Filthy Rich to the ground.
Applejack had to chuckle a bit at that. She knew it was kind of rude but it simply looked funny.
“Everything’s fine? Ya didn't-”
“No! Get back!” Filthy Rich yelled in fear. Twilight, Applejack and the Doc didn't realize at first what he meant but then, Applejack understood and ran to him but was attacked by a walker who also came from around the train. She quickly put him down.
Filthy still wrestled with the other walker that just attacked him. Due to the attack, he had dropped his knife and now had to use his own hoofs to get it off.
It wasn't much time but while Applejack had to kill the walker trying to bite her in order to not get bitten, Filthy Rich slowly lost the fight. His infection made him weaken every second and he wasn't strong enough anymore. Being hit with the waggon door wasn't much better. Twilight and Doctor Whooves came too late as well.
The walker got his arms out of the way and took a bite out of his throat.
Applejack could only see what the walker did, finishing it as soon as he ended his meal.
Filthy Rich laid on the ground with widened eyes, unable to say anything. Applejack and the others could see the throbbing flesh of his throat, blood spilling out completely visible for them to see.
Filthy Rich gagged, having got some of his blood in his mouth somehow.
Applejack stood there in disbelief. She could feel her last meal coming up. She couldn't hold it back.
Doctor Whooves could feel it too but he managed to hold it back.
Twilight could feel tears coming to her eyes. She felt like she was responsible for that since she could have simply opened the door.
Filthy Rich could slowly see his life fading away. The infection together with his new throat wound was too much to take.
Doctor Whooves looked at Applejack, pointing a hoof at himself. Applejack shook her head. The Doc still wanted to do it himself but Applejack slightly pushed him back, showing her seriousness.
Twilight was in no condition to do it. She looked with widened eyes and a traumatised look at Filthy Rich, her whole body shaking the whole time.
Applejack took the knife Filthy Rich had dropped earlier. She once again had no clue why it didn't traumatise her as much as Twilight; why she could just do it.
The last thing Filthy Rich saw was Applejack bending over him, holding a knife.
Then, he was no more.
“Stop it!” Applejack yelled at Twilight who was sitting in a corner of the waggon.
“I could just have closed the door and he wouldn't have got bitten,” she mumbled to herself once again. “He wouldn't have got bitten.”
“He was already bitten,” the Doc said once again as well.
“For Celestia’s sake, how long ya plan to keep goin’ on like this?” Applejack asked annoyed. “You've been actin' like this since it happened!”
During this time, Applejack and Doctor Whooves had tried to bury Filthy Rich but they had no shovels which made it almost impossible to make a grave for him. They had not given up that easy but it didn't work out. They also looked if there could be anything useful around in the area since they didn't have any food but they found nothing.
Applejack finally lost her patience. She went to Twilight and slapped her hoof across her face, making her stop repeating her sentences over and over again.
“He was already bitten! He'd have died soon anyway!” Applejack shouted at her, hoping she'd finally understand it wasn't her fault nor would he have survived.
The Doc didn't say anything. Instead, he simply trotted towards the front part to get the train moving again.
Until Applejack and Twilight could hear and feel the train moving, it was completely silent. After a few more minutes, Twilight broke the silence.
“You're right, Applejack.”
Applejack who had turned her back to Twilight and had been looking outside the window then turned back around.
“You would never lie. Besides, I couldn't have known there was a walker coming.”
“Exactly!” Applejack approved, happy her friend finally calmed down and realized it wasn't her who killed Filthy Rich.
“Let's get goin’ then,” Applejack told her her and helped her up. Together they went to Doctor Whooves.
“And? How’s it goin’?” Applejack asked him, seeing they weren't that far away from Canterlot anymore.
“Under these circumstances, relatively good, I guess,” he truthfully said. “ Of course I can't forget Filthy Rich's death but look there!” He then pointed towards Canterlot that was closer than Applejack would have thought.
“We'll be there in like two minutes,” he said, now obviously more happy. “Safety is near!”
“About time,” Applejack shortly answered. “We've been out for long enough.”
“Canterlot won't fall,” Twilight added, sounding surprisingly self-conscious. “Celestia will keep everypony there safe.”
“I think so too, but even Celestia has her limits,” the Doc carefully told her, naturally knowing Twilight's trust and her loyalty to her.
Seeing Twilight's glare, he quickly added, “She will just need some help is what I mean.”
Applejack could see her friend's look, just wanting to hold him a presentation about how powerful Celestia really can be and is so that she decided to stop it before it could start.
“We just shouldn't be too safe either. Anything could happen at anytime,” she explained, luckily stopping her from picking on him for at least the rest of the train drive.
“When we were in the school, we thought we were safe as well but then, the walkers just took it,” the Doc explained further. “We can't forget that we will never be safe… We will never be safe…”
“Ah know how much ya trust Celestia but he's right, ya know? She's not almighty,” Applejack just wanted her to understand.
“Yes, yes, geez!” she shut the two of them up. “I get it!”
After some time of once again awkward silence, they reached Canterlot.
Even before the train stopped, it was completely clear the city was still inhabited which wasn't a huge surprise itself but it was now way more guarded than it has ever been before which isn't a surprise as well though.
As soon as the three of them got outside the train and stood in front of the gate leading in the city, they were treated with at least six guards approaching them and holding their guns, pistols and even a machine gun in their faces which actually scared Applejack a bit.
She was totally surprised at them doing this with Twilight. She could understand them and why they would do this to two strangers but to a princess, to princess Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship, known all over Equestria?
“I am princess Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight shouted at them angrily.
“We already had a unicorn mare here who said she'd be a princess by cutting off some pegasus’ wings and taping them on her body!” one of the guards, a large stallion with an extremely deep voice and green fur, told them. “We ain't letting you in like that! The city's full enough as it is!”
Applejack couldn't believe him somepony would have cut off somepony’s wings and taped them up. This story seemed way too off for her.
On the other hoof, she would never have thought Daisy would actually try to kill Doctor Whooves, too. She's been simply insane.
“We're gonna get in!” Applejack growled at the same stallion annoyed and angry. She didn't have the nerves for something like that right now.
“Y’all won't!” he then growled back.
Some guard in the back pulled out a walkie-talkie and began speaking with someone. Applejack who was still arguing with the guard and was tried to be stopped by Doctor Whooves did notice but heard nothing about what this guard was talking about.
After two more minutes of arguing, Applejack was just about to tear the guard to shreds before the guard with the walkie-talkie came towards them and somehow managed to stop his workmate and Applejack.
She turned to Applejack and her two friends.
“You can go in.”
She didn't say anything else except those four words. Applejack would have been really happy to seemingly get some piece but she didn't calm down from her arguing yet.
“Why now and not sooner?” the Doc asked, immediately realizing that it sounded way more provocative than honestly surprised and wanted to apologize.
“Just get in before they change their mind!” the female guard snapped back.
“Who's 'they’?” Applejack asked, slightly turning to the guard while already walking to the gate leading into the city. Twilight and Doctor Whooves followed her.
The guard didn't answer and only looked back with a hateful glare.
Inside the city, it looked nothing as fancy as usual. It was dirty and mixed up everywhere and a lot of ponies laid somewhere on this very same ground, some of them looking traumatised, some looking sad and others didn't seem to show any kind of emotion, still differently to Maud Pie though.
At least Applejack thought like that.
Most of the buildings were busted and completely locked, making it pretty much impossible to get into them again with no special equipment or tools.
Even the castle of princess Celestia and her sister Luna seemed to have darkened. It didn't shimmer as beautiful as usual when you would take a walk or go shopping in Canterlot, enjoying the sun and the beautiful view of the castle.
Now, it seemed like it was abandoned for at least a few months and nopony took care of it and just left it to rot.
“That's the so called 'safety’?” Applejack asked kind of ironically. She knew it was once again not real fitting but she didn't care.
“Applejack!” Twilight snapped back.
Applejack didn't respond. She looked around more and saw that like 95 percent of these ponies couldn't defend themselves in their momentarily condition.
“It's so weird being in a city with that many ponies around,” the Doc mumbled to Applejack and Twilight. “I am so used to be with just one or two ponies at once.”
“Ya 'got used to us' in that little time?” Applejack asked back, surprised about his statement.
“I guess,” he shortly answered. She didn't quite believe him.
“Can we first go to Celestia and then search the others?” Twilight broke their 'discussion'.
“Relax, Twilight,” Applejack told her friend more calmly. “Can't be hard to find the ruler of whole Equestria.”
“She's busy right now, believe me,” Twilight countered seriously, “especially in a time like that.”
Applejack suddenly felt the need to ask her a question she had had on her mind for a whole while already but never found the time to ask it.
“Where've ya been before we found ya at the train?”
Twilight didn't respond.
“Twilight?!”
Still no response from her friend. She didn't even turn to Applejack. She just looked forward towards the castle.
After giving up her hope of receiving an answer to her question, Applejack returned her gaze back forward. Doctor Whooves simply looked forward as well. She didn't like the mood this place was giving the three of them.
They walked without saying or even hearing anything for a while before eventually reaching the castle. It looked even worse seeing it from near. Like the train station, the castle was now way more guarded than ever.
Applejack expected having to argue with the guards again but they had luck. Princess Celestia herself already stood in front of her guards waiting for the three survivors.
As they came near, Celestia left the protection of her guards and approached them.
“Twilight! I am so happy to see you're alright! I thought something has happened to you, with you being gone for so long,” she said relieved in her usual calm voice.
That helped Applejack answering her question at least a bit. She seemed to have helped Celestia and Luna holding everything up in the city.
“Don’t worry about me,” Twilight told her mentor. “I can keep myself alive.”
Celestia smiled at her and then turned around to Applejack and Doctor Whooves. She didn't even seem surprised that Applejack was here although she laid in a coma for a few months while the apocalypse started. She was at least sure Celestia would have heard about her incident from Twilight.
“Welcome, you two,” she officially greeted the two of them. “Welcome to safety.”
“Anypony?”
No answer. He couldn't hear anything except his own heavy breathing and slight panting.
He could manage to get down the stairs of the now fourth house he had gone into to search for sompony.
He didn't have any problems surviving for the whole time since he once had found a little farm house far away from most walkers in which was a pretty huge amount of food. He could live there without real problems except a few problems within the house itself while looking around the area to search somepony to not only get some help from but also to spend his time with.
He also now needed to plunder houses since his supplies were slowly running out.
He had found nopony upstairs except a trapped walker in the bathroom he had quickly killed. That he found out it's necessary to stab them in the head to destroy or at least damage the brain had been completely random. One walker had got him from behind and he had stabbed it there where his knife got first which has been the head.
“Somepony!” Stellar Eclipse yelled again, standing on the terrace and looking on the dirty, empty street he had found nearby his new farm house home.
Silence. Like every time he did that.
“Hey!” somepony suddenly yelled back. Stellar Eclipse was shocked at seemingly actually finding somepony.
“Help!” the same voice yelled again.
He went down the few steps of the terrace.
“I'm coming!” Stellar Eclipse yelled at that somepony he had just heard and tried getting there as fast as he could.
