Equestria of the Dead

It was hot, way too hot, to the point that Spike and the others couldn't really take it anymore. "Most places would build their malls in the middle of the city." said Thunderlane. "But, nooooo, we just had to place ours all they on the freaking outskirts!"

"It's not that much farther." Spike replied.

Suddenly, the group heard a sound. It was far off in the distance, but quickly picked as it got closer. "Sounds like a helicopter." said Twilight. Looking up, the entire group saw three large choppers flying overhead.

"Military choppers." said Rarity.

"Do they belong to Neighsay?" asked Sunset.

"I don't think so." she said. "Doesn't look like it, but to be safe, let's keep going." The group continued on their way, and good thing they did too, because the noise from the chopper alerted five zombies who were dormant behind a large truck.

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

One hour had passed before the group started to approach their destination. A nervous feeling started to wash over both Spike and Twilight as soon as they stepped onto the property; not knowing what to expect when they walk through those doors. There was something eerie about seeing an empty parking lot here. Usually around this time of day you'd be lucky if you could find a parking spot at the back end of the lot, let alone the front, but now, it's just empty; aside from a few cars here or there and the busses that's just up ahead. There appeared to be someone standing near them. A guard maybe? It wasn't until they'd gotten a bit closer that they were able to make out that it was a police officer; one that Twilight knew.

The officer noticed something out the corner of his eye, and drew his weapon. If it was a zombie, then he'll have to hurry and put it down before he reached the building. Once he turned to look, part of him was relieved that it wasn't undead creatures, but a group of survivors, while the other part was afraid of what he had to do next. "Alright, hold it right there!" he called while pointing his gun. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to find somewhere else!" He was shaking a bit; not wanting to actually use his gun on innocent civilians, but he had his orders to not let anyone else inside. "Turn around now!"

"Spear Head, wait!" Twilight yelled as she moved in front of the group. "It's me, Twilight!"

"Twi....light?" he said; lowering his weapon. He stared at them for a few more seconds before realizing it was actually her. An untold amount of emotions washed over him as he made his way to her. "Little Twi, oh, my God, it really IS you!" he said. The two of them embraced each other for what seemed like forever. Spear Head was just overjoyed to see that someone he saw as a little sister had somehow survived this "hell on earth", however, his demeanor changed once his eyes locked onto Spike. So many thoughts were running through his head at this point; one of them being the shit show that would take place if everyone inside say him. Even more shocking, standing next to him was Rarity, the daughter of one of the richest men in on the planet. Just what in the world is she doing here?

"We need to get everyone here to the airport right now." she said.

"Why?" he asked.

"My father has a plane ready to take everyone here somewhere safe." she explained. "We're here to get you all to the airport."

"Really? That's amazing." he said. "Ah, that's the best news I've heard all day. To tell the truth, I don't think we could've lasted here one more day."

"Why's that?" asked Sunset.

"Well....for starters, there's not much here in terms of food and water." he explained. "We've even sent out small groups to find whatever they could, and as you can guess, it wasn't much." As Spear Head started to lead everyone inside, his mind started thinking about everyone's reaction, especially Shining Armor's reaction, to Spike surviving. Due to what he's heard from some of them, Spike isn't very well liked amongst some of them, and he had no idea why. There were even times where he had to break up a few fights whenever the topic about him came up. Just what was it about him that caused everyone to basically go to war with one another?

Opening the door, the entire group entered the building where they saw a make-shift barricade made out of items from the furnisher department. Clearly, it was there just in case the undead horde managed to break in. Spear showed them an area where they could hop over easily, and Twilight was the first to do so. Once on the other side, she looked at the second level and saw two people talking; one of whom was her mother. Seeing that she was alive and well, tears started forming in her eyes as her emotions started to take over. "MOM!" she screamed. Up on the second level, Twilight's mother froze once she heard her daughters voice. Once she looked over and saw Twilight at the bottom, her heart nearly stopped. With tears now streaming down her face, she started to run towards the escalators. Twilight, wasting no time, did the same thing. The two of the ran, non-stop until the met in the middle of the escalators where they embraced each other. "My baby, my baby!" she cried. Mother and daughter's wails of happiness echoed throughout the area; alerting some the other neighborhood survivors. The first thing that crossed their minds was that someone must've died, but all thoughts changed once they saw Twilight and her mother embracing. Emotions could be felt from just about everyone in the area who watched the scene before them. Spike, though he was happy for Twilight, couldn't help but look around for his parents, but didn't see them. With no one looking, he walked off in search of them.

"How....how did you manage to survive?" Twilight's mother asked as she broke the hug. "The entire city is overrun with those creatures and......."

"I survived because of Spike, mom." she answered. Her mother's heart sank as her eye went wide with disbelief. Spike survived as well? Looking over her daughter's shoulder, she could see the group her daughter came here with, but Spike wasn't there. Twilight could feel her mother's hands tremble; as though she was scared of something. "Mom, what is it?" she asked.

"Honey, I have something to tell you......" she started.

"T-TWILY!" came a familiar voice.

Twilight's eyes widen and her body tensed up the second she heard that voice. It was him.....her brother. While part of her was glad to see he was alright, the other half instantly started to worry about Spike. After all, he was put through so much because of her brother, so who knows what would happen if they saw each other. She looked over at the others, and noticed that Spike was no where to be found, but before she could ask herself where he went, her brother was already making his way down the escalator to embrace her. On the floor, Rarity and the others witnessed what was going on with some of them having distrustful looks on their faces. "Is that her brother?" asked Flash.

"Yeah, that's Shining Armor." Rarity answered.

"He even looks like an asshole." Flash replied.

Shining Armor released Twilight from his embrace and looked over towards the group where gave them an appreciative smile, however, that smile quickly turned into shock once he noticed Rarity standing there. He remembered how her family stepped in and ruined all of his hard work to get a rapist off the streets. He also knew NOT to mess with them due to how powerful they were. Admittedly, he was terrified of them; Hondo especially. The look he gave him after the court found Spike innocent was something that always haunted him; as though at any moment his career as a cop would be over. Now that the world has gone shit, he really shouldn't have to worry about whatever it was they would do to him jobwise, but if there's one thing he shouldn't underestimate, it's how much power the rich actually has. "Is this everyone here?" Rarity asked as she started to approach the escalator.

"N-No, there are others." Shining answered; not wanting to make the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the country angry.

"Tell everyone to gather their belongings and meet here." he said. "My father has a plane ready to take everyone somewhere safe." There were murmurs among those who heard her before some one spoke up.

"Where does he plan on taking us?" one of them asked.

"To a place where the zombies haven't reached." she answered. "There's more than enough for everyone here to live off of, so gather as much as you can, and get ready to depart." After her announcement, Rarity then turned towards the others. "Button, you, Flash, and Thunderlane better go and find Spike before Shining finds out he's here." The three of them nodded and headed out. Shining Armor noticed this, but one look from Rarity caused him to remain where he was. The guys weren't the only ones who left the area as several of the other survivors headed out to find the others and deliver the good news. Within minutes, everyone came out of the woodwork; wondering if what they were told were true. Looking at them all, Twilight could tell that most of the people here weren't even from her neighborhood. Perhaps they showed up some time after her parents and the others did; just a large group of people finding somewhere to survive this hell on earth.

Among them was Twilight's father, who couldn't be more pleased to see that his daughter had managed to find them. Like his wife, he embraced Twilight, and refused to let her go until he realized she couldn't breathe. The family was finally reunited, and for a moment, Twilight felt that this nightmare was coming to an end. That is until, she started thinking about Spike and his parents.

Over with Rarity, she seemed pretty satisfied that they were able to make it here, but looking at the crowd of survivors, she came to realize that there were a lot more people than she thought there'd be. "I take it you've already noticed the problem?" said Spear Head as he approached her. "When Shining commandeered the two busses outside, there was barely enough room to fit everyone in his neighborhood in. The next day after we got here, we saw a group of people being attacked by those creatures. As you can see, we helped not only them, but several others as well."

"Now there's too many to fit in either bus." she stated. "Isn't there a there a transit station somewhere close by?"

"I believe so, but whether or not there's anything there, I couldn't tell you." Spear answered. "We haven't left this place since we got here, aside from the two times we set out to find more supplies, and on top of that, Shining and myself are the only ones with handguns here."

"Good thing, we're well equipped then." she smirked. "We'll form a small group to take a look." Spear looked at Rarity and noticed the assault rifle she was carrying, before looking at the other girls in her group. How could he have not noticed it before? It all makes since how they were able to make here on their own. "I say three or four people should be enough." she continued. "The rest can stay here and help get everyone ready, however....."

"However, what?" Spear asked.

"There's still the issue of getting to the airport." she said. "Driving through the city is way too dangerous. We've come across a few gangs while in there, and they've basically taken over."

"I figured as much." Spear sighed. "We haven't had much luck trying to get in contact with the station at all. Guess it's safe to assume that it's all but abandoned, and the others are either in hiding or worse. When it comes to making to the airport, we may have to use the scenic route."

"Going around the city, huh?" Rarity replied. "Okay, sounds like a plan. So long as there's daylight, we should be okay. Trust me, being out after dark is NOT a good idea."

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

Button had just exited one of the department stores and made his way to the middle of the area before looking up at the second floor where Flash and Thunderlane were. "Any luck?!" he called.

"No! Not here either!" Flash stated.

"Geez, where the hell is he?" Button asked as he looked around. "It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Guess I didn't realize how massive this place is now that there's no one in it."

"So what now?!" Thunderlane called.

"Let's split up!" Button answered. "I'll check the food court, Flash you head over to the south wing, and Thunderlane, you take the east." The trio all nodded before heading off to their respected destinations.

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

Twilight and her mother found themselves sitting on a bench on the second level. As much as her father wanted to remain by her side, he and Shining were called over to discuss Rarity's plan; leaving the two alone. Both mother and daughter talked about everything they've been through since this whole mess started. Twilight told her everything, from how they escaped the school, to meeting Rarity's parents, saving Flash and his crew, to finally making it here to save everyone. "Oh, honey, I can't believe you went through all that."

"I never would've made as far as I did if Spike hadn't pulled my into that janitor's closet." Twilight admitted. "If it weren't for him, I most likely would've died out there."

"Spike." Twilight's mother whispered his name before a look of regret formed on her face. Despite the fact that she knew Spike from an early age, and was basically like a second mother to him, she was convinced that the accusations levied against him were true. So much so that she couldn't bring herself to even look at him. The regret on her face showed that at some point she realized that she was wrong in believing such things, or maybe, something else.

"Mom? What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, honey, you see.....Spike......" she started.

"Twilight, Velvet, there you are." came the voice of Twilight's father.

"Dad, what's up?" Twilight asked.

"Well, since there's way too many of us here to fit in the busses, they're forming a small group to head out to the transit station nearby to see if there's another bus we could use." he explained.

"Is there even one there?" Velvet asked.

"We can only hope." he answered. "If not, then I don't see any other way we can all leave here."

"Maybe there IS another way." Twilight suggested as she stood up. "I'll have to talk to Rarity about it."

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

Button looked up and down the entire food court area and still found no signs of Spike anywhere. He sat down at one of the tables; thinking about where else he hasn't looked yet, when suddenly he heard someone calling out to him. "Honey Button, there your are!" Button, in typical fashion upon looking in her direction, had his eyes glued her her massive chest slightly bouncing as she made her way over. He knew he should be focused on finding Spike, but with Cream here, there was only one thing on his mind right now.

As she approached him, Button grabbed her arm and pulled her in to sit on his lap. "Everything alright?" he asked as he ran his hand up and down her leg.

"Rarity told me you went looking for Spike." she answered. "I was wondering if you found him yet."

"Not yet." Button answered. "We've looked just about everywhere and STILL haven't found him."

"Maybe he reunited with his parents and they're just catching up." she said; suppressing a moan as she felt Button's hand start to grope her breast. A smirk formed on his face before he moved his hand to start unbuttoning her shirt. It was when the first button became undone that Cream raised her head and noticed someone standing at the doorway a few feet away from them. The person was standing outside looking at something, frozen like a statue. Cream placed a hand over her son's just as he undid the second button. "Look over there." she said. Button, feeling annoyed that she stopped him, looked over at the person standing outside. "It's Spike." he said. The two of them stood up and started to head over to him. Walking outside, they called out to him, but he did respond. Spike had a blank look on his face as he simply stood there staring off into space.

"Spike?" Button called before waving a hand in his face. "Hello, Spike, you there?!" Button then placed his hand on Spike's shoulders and started shaking him while calling his name, but Spike didn't respond to him. Cream was staring to get worried. As a nurse, she's seen something like this once before.

"Something must've happened for Spike to be like this." she said.

"Like what?" Button asked. The two of them turned their heads to see what Spike was looking at. In front of them were the dead bodies of a man and a woman; both with multiple bullet holes in their heads, and were strapped to a pole as if they were put there for display. "Who are....are rather....who were they?" Button asked.

Cream walked over to them to get a better look, before turning her attention to Spike. She then looked back at the corpses, then back at Spike before looking at them once again. It was then her heart sank and she placed both hands over her mouth while shaking her head. "Mom?" Button called before moving over to her side. "Mom what is it?" Button saw tears streaming down his mother's face

"Oh, Honey Button, it's them." she said. "I believe these are Spike's parents." Button's Heart skipped a beat upon hearing that, but before he could react, both he and Cream heard what sounded like a thud. Looking back, they saw Spike on the ground. Running to his side, Cream could see that his entire body just simply stopped functioning and he was like a lifeless puppet now.