Author's Note

I forgot to hit publish. I feel dumb.

Mortification

The moment they saw Rainbow start flying Nick, Coach, and Rochelle knew that Ellis had to be telling the truth. She landed and started fist pumping in the air, yelling and screaming about how she kicked the zombie's ass. As her screams echoed through park, infected began to pick up her voice with their sensitive ears. Screams of the infected began echo back, homing in on the source of the loud sound, and all the girls and the survivors heard the howl of the infected. Rainbows screaming halted abruptly, looking in all directions as the howling began getting closer, and the four survivors scrambled to get into cover.

"Ah man, it's about to get all Baghdad and shit!" Coach said hefting his chainsaw, shaking it a little. "Damn... almost out." The fence began shaking and fast approaching footsteps began getting closer. Ellis started looking around, looking for a way to get his friends out. He turned towards the coaster and nudged Coach, and the old football coach took the message. "Everyone, we gotta start the Screamin' Oak! It's the only way out of here!" The seven girls and four survivors went to the main console of the rollercoaster, the sounds of the infected coming even closer now; Sunset could swear she heard the screams of them tear through the sky.

Pinkie, having experience with all sorts of carnival gadgets, hit the big button that started the ride and shot the lever full throttle. What she didn't know though, is that hitting the lever full throttle made a warning alarm go off and now the infected doubled their efforts. "Uh oh, RUN!" She screamed as the first of the infected tore through the fencing. Needing no second opinion the whole group began to run up the track, chasing after the coaster car. Gunshots ran out through the marathon, shotgun bursts and auto-rifles lighting up darkened areas meant for suspense. Applejack, even though she had shot deer with rifles and shot birds with a shotgun was suddenly put off by the fast moving infected closing the gap. Rainbow had no such qualms, as she took aim and began shooting, and while some shots went wide, she hit her mark more than once. A few shots to the chest to slow it down and shot to the head to keep it down.

"C'mon AJ! No hesitation with zombies!" Rainbow said, motioning to Rarity where even she was taking them out, albeit with a complaint every so often. AJ nodded and steeled herself for the next few infected that came her way, watching them barrel over each other to get to her. Applejack aimed for center-mass and pulled the trigger, watching as both infect flew back dipped over the railings. She couldn't help it; she chuckled a little. Taking aim again she began blasting through infected, watching them fall.

"Just remember AJ, they aint people... they're dead." She said reminding herself of what she was shooting at. Meanwhile, Rarity was not having the best of days, and that was being generous to say the least. She had no problem shooting zombies, and whether she were to admit it or not, the games the Rainbow Dash had showed her helped quite a lot in the empathy factor. Shooting someone wasn't above her; she was an upcoming star after all, but with these infected zombies running after her, rather intent on ending her existence, she couldn't care less of what she was shooting, much less who they were.

"There!" Sunset pointed up towards the alarm console, "We can probably shut it off from up there!"

"Alright people, just a little more an-- Oh, shit! WATCH OUT!" Coach began to back up, prompting everyone else to look ahead, and they didn't like what they saw. It wore overalls that had a big, golden and blood stained 'WO' embroidered on the front, the rements of a t-shirt and one big massive arm. "CHARGER!" Someone yelled, the Charger looked at the group in malice and hate and it steamed towards them, knocking them down and crashing into the railing on the tracks.

"Help! It's got me!" A meek voice called out and everyone looked up to see Fluttershy held in its grasp. The Charger itself was not intending for this thing to be it's target, but it didn't complain. Not that it could anyways. It grabbed her tightly in it's giant meaty hand, bruising her sides as she flailed in pain. "It... It hurts..." she thought as it began to pick her up and then it slammed her back down with incredible force. All the wind was knocked out her in an instant, and she could barely move her arm to stop its assault. The Charger, not caring for the victim it had pinned, raised it's arm once more and slammed it back down. Fluttershy had been kicked by a horse before, but she'd probably prefer that over what was happening right now. The second slam had broke a rib, and she tried to stare into it's eyes... but as she locked gazes with it, it became more clearer that there was nothing human left. Beady orange eyes met the large cyan ones and the Charger froze, just for a second, but a second enough for Rainbow, AJ and Rarity to begin shooting the monstrous infected.

Fluttershy was suddenly released, but could hardly breath, and as gasped for air. The Charger, now adorned with many bullet holes, fell limply on its front heavy side, the orange glow now lost from its eyes. Fluttershy reached out to Pinkie who helped her onto her feet and hoisted her onto her back in a piggy back ride. She gave a small smile before falling limp and passing out, which made Pinkie and her friends go into a panic mode. Suddenly without warning the alarm stopped and they saw the survivors up by the console. "Come on!" Rochelle called out reaching for them over the fence. One by one, they each climbed the railings and they eventually came to the shelter of a safe house. Blocking to door with all kinds of crates, everyone rested easy.

Nick, Coach, Rochelle and Ellis were all gathered around in the corner as girls began to tend to their passed out friend.

"Look, we can't leave them." Ellis whispered, "If we leave them now, they'll never survive. They have two hurt already and one of them looks like she ain't even gonna wake up."

"Ellis," Coach sighed, "we can't take 'em. I told you, I want to to, but that helicopter ain't gonna have enough room for all of them. We talked about this."

"Listen, I know I agreed with Coach before, but Ellis is right." Rochelle said trying to be the voice of reason. "We can't just leave them here to die. They wont make it a few hours let alone a night. Come on, you agree don't you Nick? ...Nick?"

Nick didn't answer. He actually wasn't paying attention at all, he was calmly staring at the girls working on their passed out friend. It stirred up memories he hadn't thought of in a long, long time. He could almost hear-- "Nick!" Rochelle said shaking him out of his daydreams.

Without really thinking he pushed back, almost knocking Rochelle on her ass as he took the scene in. "Sorry, I was kinda out of it, ears are still ringing. So what were we talking about, the girls? I think we should help them, yeah." He said hastefully, restocking his ammo and walked to the door to take pot shots at the zombies outside. The odd behavior of the normally snide con-man was throwing the other 3 off, something about it didn't rightly stick well.

"You okay?" Ellis said, still holding on to Rochelle. She didn't say anything but watched as Nick shot through the door hitting any infected that were in the way. She noticed how he was postured; stiff stance, incredibly focused... something was on his mind, something big.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She assured, standing back up. "Alright Coach, that's 3 on one. Majority wins, we stay and help them." She said turning to the loosely called 'leader' of the group. Coach was still looking at Nick, but he nodded his head in response.

"Yeah, I guess we do, huh? Sorry, I was being selfish, ever since we came across..." he trailed off, remembering the bridge back in at the port town. Rochelle, knowing what he was mentioning came up and gave him a little side hug.
*

"Hey, you ain't gonna be like that. You're a tough old bull." She reaffirmed. Coach chuckled and gave her a full blown hug.

"You really know what to say, little sister." He said laughing lightly.

"Hey! You're old enough to be my dad." She laughed back, and soon they began to laugh outright, catching the attention of Ellis and Nick, and all the other girls, including the now awake Fluttershy. As the laughter died down, Pinkie suddenly appeared in between Coach and Rochelle, arm on each shoulder.

"Heeeeya! Name's Pinkie Pie!" she zipped around them and popped up by her friends. "Since I heard the laughing, I figured we need to get a party going on! But I left my supplies-- GAAAASP OUR STUFF!" Suddenly, every one of the girls became aware that they left their bags back on the other side of the coaster.

Rarity began whining. "Oh no! All my make up! It's gonna get ruined by... ruffians."

"Rare's, all due respect but I don't think make up and hygiene aren't exactly the highest thing in a zombie apocalypse." Rainbow Dash said, giggling a little.

Nick and Rarity both turned to her, "Yes it is!" they both yelled, then looked at each other in shock before the whole room devolved into laughter.

"So, since you girls are gonna be staying with us, we're gonna need your names. We already know Pinkie Pie was it? How about the rest of y'all?"

"Name's Applejack, toughest farm gal in the town. Apples are in the name, in the blood, and in the sweat of every Sweet Apple Acers farmer!"

"I'm Rainbow Dash! Fastest track and field runner in the state! I'm the head of every sports team, and everyone listens to me!" She got skeptical glares from her friends and the four survivors. "...Okay, maybe not all the time, but I'm good at strategies." She walked over to Fluttershy, "This here is Fluttershy, she's an animal care taker and sometimes a medical assistant at the games. She's patched me up more times I can count!" Fluttershy weakly waved from her spot and tried to sit up, only for a searing pain her side to flare up again.

"My name's Twilight Sparkle. I do things from science, biology, and other laboratory related works. Oh, I'm also possessed by a demon who wants to rip the universe asunder to understand magic." She explained without really thinking, and this caused the survivors some discomfort, none more than Ellis who saw first hand the brutality her supposed 'other half' displayed back in the Tunnel of Love. "Here, don't move Fluttershy, this is gonna hurt... probably a lot." Twilight said as she slowly traced her hand on the meek girls side and used her magic to carefully move the broken bone back in place.

"Wait a second back up," Nick said putting his hands up, walking to the girls "Magic? As in, hocus pocus, presto magic?"

"Well... Maybe not to that extend," Sunset said walking up to him, "but something similar. My names Sunset Shimmer, and... I used to be a raging bitch back in high school, I was a manipulative, arrogant person who thought of nothing but myself. Like Twilight, I was also a raging she-demon back then too... both metaphorically and literally." She said holding out her hand for shake, then quickly pulled it away. "I'm also an empath, a very powerful one, I still don't know how to completely stop myself from-- ahem seeing into people's heads..." This gave the four survivors pause. She could read minds? They all made a mental note to keep her arms length.

"I, am Rarity, caretaker of the Carousal Boutique and head of-- HURK!" Rarity's introduction was cut short as a Smoker tongue shot through the gaps in the door wrapped tightly around her neck and began pulling her to the still locked door. Nick started pulling her away from the door while Ellis took a knife from his pocket and cut the tongue. "cough, cough, cough! That... was most... cough, cough ...unpleasant." She said rubbing her neck and finding a line of greenish saliva coating her hands. She visibly gagged and her face turned green and ran into the farthest corner to vomit. "Very unpleasant..." she muttered walking back to the group.

After the rather surprising experience, Coach had everyone gather around the 7 girls. "Alright people, we need start moving. I know it's a little early, but here's the thing: with this recent attack on our fair lady here," Rarity smiled to herself at that, "the Specials are getting more bold now all of the sudden. We've never been attacked INSIDE the saferoom. We need to get to that helicopter as fast as possible, or else we're all gonna go 6 feet under, you guys feel me?" Everyone nodded, even the meek Fluttershy. Coach looked at Fluttershy with concern. "You gonna be okay Flutter-butter?" He said putting a hand her shoulder. She could feel the warmth of the kindly old man and she nodded.

"I'm ready... actually I want to try something." She had everyone clear out from around her and she slowly but agonizingly stood up. She grasped her geode and soon pony ears and wings of her own, much larger than Rainbows, appeared from her back. She gave an experimental flap before taking flight for a small period before falling back down and holding her side. "Sorry, I thought I could fly so no one would have to worry about me." She lamented and stood back up holding onto Rainbow.

"Hey don't worry about Flutters, you tried that's what matters. Now, everyone load up and get ready... we got zombie ass to kick." Coach said cocking his weapon.