Pastel Meltdown

It had to be ponies, huh?

"Okay so we just saw a bunch of colorful miniature horses." Louis started "And none of us have a problem as long as we don't have to fight the undead?" Everyone just nodded in response.

Francis shrugged. "Well, can't be worse than zombies; I hate zombies more than horses."

Bill just patted Francis on the back before he motioned the group to sit in a semi circle around him.

"So, what should we do now?" Louis asked as he frowned.

"How about we make a good impression on the locals and try not to get ourselves killed?" Bill suggested as he sat on a tree stump.

More silence fell over the group of survivors as they looked uneasy, nervously looking at random things, avoiding eye contact with one another.

*****************

Down at the bog, Twilight and her friends had froze when they saw the hydra. It laid motionless on the ground, blood spewing from many lacerations and strange wound in its left eye. Fluttershy had promptly pulled herself into a tiny ball and shook with convulsions.

While Fluttershy did this, everyone else puked at the sight, much less the smell.

"Wh-who c-c-c-could have done s-such a thing?" Fluttershy managed to squeak out.

Everyone else was just silent, they didn't have an answer for it and they were scared of the thought of learning it.

"....I think we need to head back to town. Whatever caused this is long gone." Twilight said in a near whisper as she fought back tears.

*****************

"So, I say we head in the direction those six horses came from." Bill started, "We may be able to find a town, and if we do, we can at least find out what's sentient. I'm going to be ahead of the rest of you so we don't accidentally shoot one of them. Got it?"

Everyone silently nodded, putting their guns' safety on.

Trekking along the road, they started to see a town in the distance. Upon getting closer, Bill noted that they were like houses from a different time in the world's history: Thatched roofed wooden buildings. "Pray they have working bathrooms everyone, looks a little under industrialized."

The group walked along, moving from hiding spot to hiding spot. They finally got close enough to the town to realize that there was no one outside. A tumbleweed blew across the road as it was drearily silent.

"Where is everybody?" Louis asked.

"Probably inside their homes, I doubt a hydra being so close to town would be incentive to stay outside for long." Francis said as he pulled out a soda from his jacket pocket.

"Hey! Where'd you get a can of cola?"

"While we were fighting through hordes of zombies I found a working soda machine, and I had a dollar I never emptied out of my pocket. I love cola." Francis said as he popped the top off the can and greedily gulped the drink down.

"So, are we gonna stay sitting here in the bushes 'til we know at least what the locals look like?" Zoey whispered over to Bill.

"That's all I've got for now." Bill responded in the same manner.

*****************

The girls made it back to Ponyville, this time at a much slower pace. They all were silent with their own thoughts on what could have caused the hydra's death. When they entered the town, the townsfolk started to leave their houses and circled the six of them, asking if it was safe.

After assurances that the hydra was not a threat anymore and whatever killed it was gone, the townsfolk started going back to their daily schedules.

The girls all went their separate ways and continued what they were doing. Twilight decided to go back to the library to let Spike know she was okay, then continue her reading.

It was late in the day, the sunset glowing vibrantly as Twilight entered the library. Spike came rushing into the room when he heard the door. He started bombarding her with one question after the other. He spoke so fast it would put Pinkie's rants to shame.

"Whoa, calm down Spike. I'm fine."

"Heh heh... I knew you'd be fine, I mean, it's you, Twilight, but I still can't help worrying." He said nervously.

"Come on, let's just have dinner and we can re-shelve the library." she said with a reassuring smile.

“Okay..” He responded, obviously disappointed.

**********

Bill stood just behind a nearby tree, out of sight of the townspeople. Zoey and Louis were prone on the ground behind the bushes with little visual at what the townsfolk were. Francis, though, had a good view of what the townsfolk were like and was currently in shock at what he saw.

"My god, Colorful miniature horses... Every one of em'.." Bill started, "now I've seen weird shit in my day, but this shit takes the cake."

Francis came out of his shock and landed on his ass, "I really hate today, anyone else? No? Damn."

"So what now? We know what the locals look like, but we still don't know if they're friendly or not. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like being executed by something that came out of a little girls fantasy." Louis said, still trying to get a good look at the natives.

"Well we don't have many choices." Bill started, "seems like our only choice is for one of us to go in and meet them while the rest hide back ready to help get him or her out of a situation if things go south."

"But who'll go? We can't send Francis because he might shoot one of them." Zoey started.

Everyone silently turned to Francis as he cleaned his shotgun's barrel. He looked up at the others.
"What? Not like they wouldn't have it coming." He shrugged and went back to cleaning his shotgun.

"I'll go." Bill said, putting his gun down in front of him and standing up.

"Bill, you can't be serious. What if they try to kill you?" Louis piped in.

The old man decided to give Louis the 'are you fucking serious?!' face before speaking up. "I'll be fine. I'll send a signal if i'm in trouble."

Zoey started "But-" but was interrupted by Bill.

"Like I said: I'll be fine, i have a road flare with me and if i need help, I'll set it off and you can storm in and help."

"Okay." the three survivors said in unison.

Bill started to make his way into town, he decided it best if he went into one of the less crowded districts. He knew he had a better survival chance if he went to a less populated section first. After he made it into the section of town, the townsfolk started noticing him.

Bill quickly stopped in his tracks and suddenly all eyes were on him. He carefully stared left and right and not one single pony dared move an inch.

An apple decided to be the catalyst for what was about to happen. As it collided with the ground, a yellow pony with an orange mane decided to scream: "It's a monster! Run for your lives!" As if on cue, everyone went galloping into random directions, trying desperately to get away from the strange bipedal creature before them.

"Well that could've gone better." Bill muttered moodily.