The Manehattan Project

Manehattan Stadium, Day Zero, 11:45am.

Rainbow Dash flew through the series of rings set up around the field of Manehattan Stadium, attempting to break her previous record for speed. She moved swiftly and smoothly through each hoop, which felt very satisfying to her. Eventually she passed through the final hoop with a small sonic boom and landed on the ground by the rest of the team.

"Nice job crash, you beat your record by 3 seconds." Fleetfoot said, looking down at the stopwatch.

"Woo Hoo, go Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy said from the sidelines in a semi-quiet tone. Rainbow scoffed.

"Yeah, I beat the record, but I bet I could beat it by 10 seconds if I try again." Rainbow said cockily.

"Well you'll have to wait your turn." Spitfire said, "You're up Clipper!" she said, turning to Soarin who immediately took off and started flying through the rings.

Rainbow stretched and walked over to Fluttershy and sat down next to her.

"Thanks for coming to practice with me Fluttershy, I hope you're okay just sitting back and watching us until the show." Rainbow said.

"Oh it's fine, you know I'm a better cheerer than a participant." Fluttershy said.

The two looked back at the field and saw Soarin complete the course with a bit of a stumbled landing.

"You good Clipper?" Spitfire asked.

"Yep, just clipped my wing, again." Soarin said with a groan as he walked over to the sideline.

The rest of the Wonderbolts eventually got to go through the course. After Soarin, Misty Fly went, then Fleetfoot, then Spitfire, and finally Thunderlane took off into the course.

He started off fine enough as he moved skillfully through the hoops. Then, a strange red mist passed through the stadium as he was in the middle of the course. When the mist hit Thunderlane, his wings locked up and he crashed into the AstroTurf of the stadium.

The rest of the Wonderbolts as well as Fluttershy immediately rushed to his aid.

"What happened Thunder?" Spitfire asked as he helped Thunderlane back to his hooves.

"I don't know, my wings just stopped when that weird mist hit me." Thunderlane said, wincing as he stood up.

The others then attempted to get off the ground, but none of them could use their wings.

"What's happening?" Misty Fly asked, frustrated that she couldn't fly.

"To be blunt, I've got no fucking clue." Spitfire said, making Fluttershy gasp slightly at the profanity.

The group finally decided to move Thunderlane over to the sidelines so he can sit down. While trying to wrap their heads around this bizarre turn of events, they heard screams from the interior of the Stadium. They all ran towards the screams.

They ran through the concession area and approached the entrance, where several stadium staff members were gathered around. When they got close enough they could see what the screaming was about.

At the front entrance to the stadium, was several glass doors, and on the other side of the doors, was a large group of ponies, pressed up against the glass, trying to get in, thankfully, the doors were locked.

All of the ponies against the doors looked horrible, they all had dead, sunken in eyes, darkened coats, and blood coming from their mouths. Fluttershy hid behind Rainbow Dash when she saw them.

"What's wrong with them?" Fluttershy asked.

Nopony answered her, they were all still trying to comprehend the horrifying sight before them. Spitfire took a step forward, and one of the ponies growled and began to beat against the glass. Spitfire jumped back in fright.

"Are they under some sort of spell?" Fleetfoot speculated.

"I've never seen a spell like that." Rainbow Dash said, trying to think back to any spell that Twilight used that looked like this.

Before anyone else could say anything, some of the glass began to crack as the ponies continued to pound against the glass.

"Lower the gate!" one of the staff ponies shouted to another. The pony attempted to go to lower the gate, but before he could, the glass shattered and several of the ponies crawled through the doors and started to move towards the staff.

"I think we should run." Soarin said. The Wonderbolts, as well as the staff then began to run away from the entrance as more of the dead-eyed ponies began to crawl in. The staff member finally hit the button to lower the gate, and it shut, crushing one of the dead-eyed ponies trying to get in.

There was still quite a few of the crazy ponies that had got in and were still pursuing the staff and the Wonderbolts. One of the security officers opened up the door to a stairwell and called the Wonderbolts over.

"Head up to the commentator office and barricade the door, we'll handle the situation from here." The security officer said. Spifire nodded and led the rest up the stairwell and into the office. Thunderlane, who was the last one up, shut the door behind him while Soarin and Fleetfoot pushed a table in front of the door.

"So, what now?" Misty Fly asked.

"Now, we wait up here until the situation down there is taken care of." Spitfire said.

"Great, we're flightless, everypony's a zombie, and were trapped up her. I'm getting reminded of that rainbow mouthed zombie prank Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash said as she sat down next to the timid pegasus to try to comfort her.

"Yeah, but, I have a feeling this isn't a prank." Fluttershy said quietly.

Suddenly, the ground was shook and an explosion could be heard in the distance.

"Something tells me, this isn't going to be handled easily." Fleetfoot said.