"Fuck fuck fuck fuck," those were the words running through a red unicorns head as he hid in the back room of his favorite comic shop.
The unicorn, Dice Roller or just dice was a gamer and nerd pony, 18 years of playing video games, reading comics and cosplaying as Captain Night Blaster did not prepare him for a real hell on Equestria, he began to munch on a bag of chips one of the previous employees left behind.
It has been a day since the fall as he decided to call it, the princess's disappeared, ponies began to rise in the street and attack everyone, people thought it was a virus, maybe it was, but what kind of virus or magic brings them back as a zombie.
Everyone thought Canterlot would be the safest place to take refuge days ago, it was a trap, his parents who were visiting called him from there, he heard them scream warning him to stay in Ponyville, Canterlot was full of zombies, the sound of his mother's dying words still echoed in his mind.
"Dice its clear."
Dice looked up and saw a blue Pegasus pony come into back room, while Dice Roller was a little chubby the other one was thin and fit, his cutie mark of a broadsword denoted his talent in swordplay, something he liked to show off in his cosplay.
"Blade sorry for panicking just-"
"I know Dice," Blade said his sword on his back, "But we can't stay here, now I know you wanted to go to the princess's Tree Palace but I could see a large hoard of those...zombies heading to it, I think its a death trap," he explained as Dice gulped.
"No idea where my other friends are but if I know them, they might be heading to Apple Acres, I remember them telling me that the apple family was always prepared for the end just in case, might be a good place to hole up, plenty of food on the farm at least."
"But won't others think the same thing?" Dice asked finishing his bag of chips.
"Best plan we got, the nearby stores are boarded up and too much noise and we will attract trouble, we should sneak out the back and hope we can avoid conflict," Blade said, "Don't worry I'm not going to let you die, I promise."
Blade gave Dice a smile, one he got back as Dice used his magic to adjust his glass's
"Alright grab your pack and move out, still got the dagger I gave you?" he asked
Dice turned to his saddle bag on the floor nearby and nodded his head, "Yes but...I never used it for real," he said nervously.
Blade nodded his head, "I know, and I know you don't want to hurt anyone, but these pony are long gone, if anything we'd be doing them a favor if we end them," he said allowing Dice to stand up and magically levitate his pack onto his back, the sheathed knife set to his side.
"Glad I learned those smithing skills, came in real handy for this," Blade said cracking his neck a bit.
"Yeah, wish I could just dice roll a 20 and just wish myself out of this," Dice said as they took the back door out of the room to the alley, it was clear for now...
However before they could leave the alley they could hear a light moaning and behind a nearby dumpster a grey pegasus pony began to crawl towards them, her wing was clearly broken, hanging on with barely any muscle fibers with its left eye seemed to hang out of its socket, looking in multiple directions except the one her still intact right eye faced.
"Knew here?" Dice asked nervously as Blade used his own wing to draw his blade and swung it down hard on the now rising zombie's head, the blade sliced through the skull and destroyed the brain, the undead pony was now at peace, he wiped the blood off using the ponies own coat, "Yeah, she was the mail pony, I think she had a daughter, hope she is alright,"Blade said sighing, "Come on before more show up."
With those words the two quietly as they could made their way through Ponyville, refusing to go out into the open if they could, lest the undead with wings that still worked still flew in the skies, in fact they did see one in the distance, it seemed to be flying towards the Tree Palace despite its left back leg missing.
"You were right, "Dice said quietly as they stood in an alley waiting for a small group of zombies to move on, they seemed to be going in the same direction as the undead flier
"Yeah, its like you said as well, pony going into large cities thinking the magics can protect them, only attracts more of them," Blade quietly replied as the group walked off, they were almost to the outskirts of the city, after that a run past the everfree forest and towards the farm...and hopefully safety.
"Alright a few more blocks and we are out of here," Blade said but he heard a loud roar and they turned around...they saw a large Pegasus with tiny wings glaring at them, his eyes completely red and his muscles stretching to the point where some of the skin had torn off, it roared at them and picked up a nearby dumpster and threw it at them like it was playing a game of catch, the duo barely had time to run out of the alley to avoid the damage, "Shit, its gonna attract more of them, "Blade said and he looked towards the way out of town, it was clear, "Dice move on ahead, I'll keep them distracted," he said his wings spreading out, they could hear loud thumping as the bulked up zombie was coming for them
"But?" Dice didn't know how to respond to this.
"Just stay safe, who knows, maybe I'll survive this maybe not, but I'd rather at least one of us make it out, "he said lifting out of his saddle bag a whistle that he put over his head, "NOW GO!" he cried out flying into the air and as loud as he could, whistling, the hulk zombie running out of the alley as Dice ran towards the exit, and thanks to the loud sound, it and the many zombies in the area began to go towards the sound, ignoring Dice.
All Dice could hear as he galloped was the sound of his heartbeat and the shrill cries of the whistle, however by the time he made it to the exiting gate he could a whistle suddenly stop and the sound of screaming, he turned his head and caught the view of Blade being pulled down by a flier digging its teeth into Blade's wings, landing right into the hoard, Dice had no choice but to run with tears down his face, his friend offered his own life to save his, and he didn't plan on dying like that.
10 minutes of running later he finally made it to the apple farm, he panted harshly as he struggled to catch his breath, fear for ones life was a hell of a adrenaline boost, however when he finally could breath normally he looked towards the farm, the farm was different then he remembered visiting years ago, the many apple trees were knocked to the ground, replaced with giant mushrooms, he had no idea what caused this but what concerned him was the apple family home was broken, a giant redwood sized mushroom growing out of it.
He didn't know what to do, he couldn't return to Ponyville, maybe they were safe...hell maybe survivors. He began to nervously trot towards the intact barn, peering into an open barn door, he could see a familiar orange pony with 3 apples for a cutie mark.
"Apple Jack...is that you?" he asked and Applejack turned and his eyes widened in horror, her left eye was gone, a mushroom stalk was sticking out like a slug's own eye stalk. He could see tiny mushrooms glowing in her mane, and then she spoke,
"we...are...mycus...do...not....be....afraid....you...will...be...with...us..."
The voice was completely unnatural and he turned to run, but was stopped seeing three more ponies, a large red pony, a yellow filly and an elderly green pony, the apple family like Applejack was infested with the same mushrooms, and they spoke the same words as before all in unison as if practiced many times with the past, "We...are...mycus....do...not...be...afraid...you...will...be...with...us...."
He stood no chance as he was lassoed by the fungi Apple Jack and dragged to the large mushroom, he could see tiny flakes snowing down from it, and that's when he realized...he would become one with them...
An hour later he "died" screaming as mushrooms burst from his body, his eyes completely gone, but he would have no need for sight for the mycus would see for him, and he would spread the mycus, more would become one with the mycus...
So ends the life of Dice Roller, but his story like many others would be forgotten among those lost within the Cataclysm...
Author's Note
Hope ya enjoyed this one shot, just something I'd thought I'd do off the cuff ya know ^_^
