AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD

Screaming and chaos was all Rainbow Dash heard as she flew through the streets of Cloudsdale. Below she saw the dead mixed among the living. She saw the rioters making things worse for others. Police and royal guards desperately tried to fight them off as they got others to the safe zone at the hoofball stadium near the outskirts of the city.

Hearing a growl, she looked to her right and saw a trotter flying towards her. Her body shivered as she panicked. The trotter showed its teeth as it slammed into her. Rainbow Dash hissed as she pushed the trotter off and swung her hind hoof around kicking its face.

Not seeing if the trotter would follow or not, she gave her wings a hard flap and flew faster to her destination. Her wings hurt; the throbbing was becoming unbearable from all the flying she have done from Ponyville. Non-stop, full tilt, adrenaline pumping, body shivering… She shook her head, she had to get there, she needed to.

Seeing her destination, Rainbow Dash looked down at the suburb and saw pegasi opting to stay, boarding up their homes with wood and or clouds. Then there was the dead, wandering confused or chasing others that were still trying to gather their things or fleeing. Landing at one of the houses, she saw that one of the windows was busted and the front door was wide open. Feeling sick she ran into the home.

“Mom!” Rainbow Dash called out. “Dad!” Seeing blood on the floor, slowly seeping through the cloud material that made up house’s construction, she swallowed her nerves and followed it into the kitchen. Seeing the trail of blood going around the center island, she walked around it until the trail ended at the corpse of her father lying in a pool of his own blood. His cold dead eyes glaring back at her, looking deep into her soul, squeezing it tight. Her blood ran cold as her eyes slowly drifted to a mare on top of him ripping into his belly, tearing his flesh from his bones with her teeth. “Mom?”

The mare stopped her feast and slowly turned around. Her milky white eyes stared longly at her daughter. “Mom?” Rainbow Dash’s mind was lost as she stared at her parents… or what was left of them. “What are you doing?” She pleaded. Her mother let out a growl as she stood on her hooves making her way up to her.

Rainbow Dash saw a bite mark on her mother’s right hind leg. “No…” Tears poured from her eyes. “Mom! Please!” She slowly backed away. “Don’t do this…” She bumped against the stove. “Don’t make me do this!” Her mother increased her speed and let out a hiss as she closed the distance.

Rainbow Dash let out a sob as her mother lunged at her. She held her back with her front hooves. She stared wide eyed as she watched her mother snap her teeth and snarl at her. “No… No… NO!” Rainbow Dash pushed her mother off of her.

The mare stumbled back and lunged once more. Rainbow Dash pushed her off again. “MOM!” She fought her emotions. “Stop!” Her mother never acknowledged her pleas, she only snapped and growled as she pushed against her daughter’s hold.

Rainbow Dash stared into her mother’s eyes. She saw no happiness, no hope, no love. Nothing… Anger washed over her as she pushed her off and onto the floor. With out thinking, she grabbed a rolling pin off the counter and held it in her hooves. She brought it down several times onto her mother’s skull. She let out blood curdling screams as she kept hitting her mother. After several good meaty thuds, she looked down at the horror she’d done and dropped her impromptu weapon.

Tears poured from her eyes as she stared at the lifeless corpse of her mother. Her body shivered uncontrollably as she backed up against the counter. Hearing a low moan, she turned around and saw her father moving about, struggling to stand. Her voice got stuck in her throat as she saw his milky white eyes glaring at her.

-Present Day-

Rainbow Dash sat on the porch. Her eyes stared numbly at Sunny as she sat beside a freshly dug grave, covered in flowers that came from the edge of the Everfree forest. Her kids clung onto her. Their eyes full of tears, their soft sobbing filling the air alongside their mother’s gut-wrenching cries. Summer Wind sat beside her sister, trying her best to comfort her.

“They were waiting for you in the forest?” Applejack’s voice cut through the thick fog lingering in Rainbow Dash’s mind. She turned around and looked at the ponies standing in the middle of the living room around the fireplace.

“No… Just shit luck…” Thunderlane spoke, holding a cool wet rag to his bruised eye. “He was going to play us. Allow his group to take the farm when our guards were down. But us knowing Sanctuary put a wrench in that plan.”

“He betrayed in own group for a bunch of thugs.” Willy Pete questioned.

“Not much of an upgrade.” Marely shook his head.

“Why was Sanctuary important?” Rarity asked. “He could’ve lied about that.”

“Would we have believed him?” Copper shook his head. “We jumped to conclusions and he played along. Just so happens that he was once apart of Sanctuary.” He rolled his eyes. “Just like Thunderlane said, shit luck.”

“Didn’t help that we tied him up.” Jiminy ran a hoof through his long mane. “He needed an out.”

“Sprinkle in some truths within the lies.” Lotus let out a heavy sigh.

Twilight stared into the bowl of oatmeal that said in her lap as she mulled over their words. “Who is this Ratchet?” She asked as she took a bit of her meal.

“Some ex-convict…” Thunderlane replied. “As well as his group. They escaped from Ponyville’s Correctional Facility during the madness. You know the one in the northern part of town on the main road heading towards Canterlot.”

“How come we haven’t run into this group before?” Jiminy wondered.

“They kept their distance.” Rainbow Dash replied from the front porch. “They were taking from the care packages we left out for Fluttershy.” She felt her chest get heavy. Her throat tightened from her emotions trying to escape.

“But why show themselves now, if they were taking from the supplies we left out?” Aloe wondered, but her eyes went wide. “Oh… We stopped doing that a few days now.”

Twilight thought long and hard about past events. Zecora was attacked by sanctuary a few days into the outbreak. Then Ratchet and his merry band of misfits were responsible for tearing it down after that. It had to be within the last two weeks or so. Her mind pulsed from a growing migraine. Were they already that low on supplies… Would they be as well? “They’re running low on supplies that fast?”

“What do you expect from a group of convicts?” Willy shook his head. Zipper gave the elder stallion a glare.

“We don’t have much either.” Rarty quipped.

“Well, they don’t think so.” Thunderlane spat. “They gave us an ultimatum. Leave or die.”

“Well then let’s leave.” Willy stated with a sigh.

“Finally, somepony who agrees!” Shining shook his head.

“We are not leaving!” Applejack huffed.

“You want to die?” Shining huffed as he looked at Twilight. “Twily pack your things, we’re going!”

Twilight stared into the maw of the fireplace, watching the flames lick the wood logs within. “No…” She looked over her shoulder. “It won’t matter if we leave or not.” She shivered at her own thought.

“How so?” He asked.

“Because they’re watching us.” Rainbow Dash cut off Twilight before she could give her answer. Rainbow Dash stared at the gate atop the hill. Seeing two stallions standing by the gate, the feathers on her wings fluffed up and her body shivered.

Applejack’s blood ran cold as she looked out the window at the figures. “Derpy, Aloe, Lotus, get the kids upstairs. Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane get Sunny and her kids and sister into the house!” She looked over the group of stallions. “Copper, Jiminy and Willy, guard the farmhouse. Marley, Zipper, I need you to take positions and cover us!”

Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane nodded as they left the house. “Got you missy!” Marley nodded as he left the farmhouse with his brother.

“Fucking shit!” Shining growled as he followed Applejack, Twilight, Soarin, Macintosh and Rarity.

Language!” Applejack sighed as she stared at the figures as they came into view. The stallion on the left was Blaze who stood beside a unicorn with cream colored fur and a silverish mane and tail. His bright green eyes stared at them in a monotone fashion. “What the heck do you want?” She growled as she closed the distance. Her fiery gaze fell on Blaze who looked away, his tail tucked in between his legs.

The stallion standing next to Blaze rolled his eyes. “Wanted to know if you came to a decision?”

Applejack and Twilight looked at each other. Had five hours passed already? Twilight looked up at the sun that was just starting to set behind the horizon. The dark of night rose behind the silhouette of Ponyville, bringing an eerie vibe to the tense situation. Looking over her shoulders, she saw the other’s conflicting emotions. To be honest with all the talking they’ve had done, none of them, settled on a definite answer to their situation.

Twilight understood her brother’s line of thinking. If he was waiting for a fool proof reason to abandon the orchard, this was the best thing he could’ve been hoping for. But would it be safe to leave? If what Soarin and Rainbow Dash said was true about Ratchet’s group then they would be watching the farm and then who knows if they would let them leave peacefully. They didn’t give Sanctuary that option.

Then there was giving up the orchard. She scolded herself. If she thought they wouldn’t let them leave, then why would they do so if they gave up the farm willingly. It was a naïve thought… Then there was the option of fighting back… Almost two months into a deadly pandemic and ponykind was already tearing itself apart?

She couldn’t believe such a thing. But what happed to Zecora and Fluttershy at the hoof of Sanctuary, the what happened to Sanctuary at the hoof Ratchet… Had harmony truly failed them… ‘Dear Celestia?’ She looked at the sun slowly setting behind the horizon. ‘Where are you?’

“Well?” The stallion huffed. Blaze kept quiet as he looked anywhere but at Twilight and her friends.

Twilights studied his mannerisms as saw regret seeping to the surface of those bright expressive eyes of his. She then looked at the stallion next to him and how cold and uncaring his eye were. But as she stared at him a thought formed in her mind. A plan… A crazy plan… “We’re not going to bend to the will of some thugs!” Twilight kept her gaze hollow as she glared into the stallion’s eyes.

“Twily?” Shining gave his sister a dumbfounded look. “What?”

Twilight looked back at her brother and her friends. She could see the fear in their eyes. It hurt a little that they wouldn’t trust her. ‘I have a plan… Let me enact it!’

“That’s funny.” The stallion laughed. “You should listen to mah brother, missy.” He let out a whistle. “Further away, ponies came out of some houses that lined the outskirts of Ponyville and out of a small grove of trees near the river. “He has only one rule.”

“What’s that?” Twilight scanned over the ponies and noticed the disheveled state they were in.

“Spoils go to the strongest herd.”

She could feel her friends’ discomfort, but Twilight kept her composure. “I thought convicts weren’t ones to follow rules?” She scanned the ponies of his group and saw that only four were carrying firearms.

“Well, we’re adapting to the ever-changing landscape.” The stallion sighed. “Have to when the dead roam the streets!” He laughed. “New world, new rules.”

“The old rules still apply!” Twilight frowned. “You murdered an innocent pony!”

The stallion laughed. “Really? Look around you! The world has gone to shit!”

“Still makes you savages!” Applejack finally spoke up.

“Let’s just get to it Strewn!” Blaze finally spoke up. “Before a herd of trotters shows up from all the noise we’re making!”

Strewn rolled his eyes. “Look just give us the farm, so we can avoid bloodshed.”

“Like Sanctuary?” Twilight glared at Blaze. Blaze looked away from the mare.

“So, you do know of it.” Strewn looked at Blaze. “So, your ‘friends’ weren’t lying.” He let out a laugh. “What a small world after all.” He gave Twilight a smile. “Like my brother said, the farm, or die.” He gave her a cocky smile. “What will it be?”

Applejack bit her cheek as she mulled over his words. She glanced at her bother and saw the conflicting emotions running through his mind. How could ponies resort to violence so quickly. Memories of the riots as the sickness spread flashed in her mind. The violence then, wasn’t going to be any different from the violence now… Or in the future… Her heart felt heavy at that thought.

“No!” Twilight stated with a huff.

“What?” Applejack and Strewn staid in unison.

“If your brother means what he says, he’ll have the guts to tell us face to face!” Twilight eyed Strewn up n’ down. “And not send a lapdog to do his bidding.” Twilight walked away from the stallion. Her group of friends looked at her, then Strewn, then her again before giving chase.

Strewn bit his tongue. “I not playing around!” Seeing that she wasn’t looking back he growled. “I swear to Celestia! We’ll kill you all, if you don’t give us an answer right this second!” Seeing them heading towards the farmhouse he let out a growl. “You bitch!”

“Shut it, Strewn, she’s not listening.” Blaze sighed. “Let’s tell him their answer…” He turned around and headed towards Ponyville in a sulking manner as his mind drifted to the answer, he knew Ratchet would give. He closed his eyes as screams rang in his ears. ‘Why?’ A mare asked. He pulled out a cigarette and took several drags to rid himself of the nausea that plagued him.

“What the hell was that?” Shining finally spoke as they stepped into the farmhouse.

“What happened?” Rainbow Dash asked as she stepped up to them. “I heard him call you a bitch?”

“Twilight what did you do?” Applejack spat. “You want them to kill us?” Twilight stared at the fireplace watching the embers’ soft glow. “Twilight, answer me!”

“AJ calm yourself!” Twilight turned around and faced the mare. “I did the only thing we could’ve done!”

“What do you mean?” Applejack growled.

“We’re in a rock and a hard place!” Twilight sighed. “If we leave, they’ll kill us! If we don’t, they’ll kill us! But if we play to this stallion’s ego, he will come around and actually listen to what we have to say. Maybe make a deal that will work for all of us.”

“You think hurting his ego won’t back fire?” Shining rolled his eyes. “Very bold or brash of you to think this will go your way?” He stepped up to his sister.

Twilight looked at her friends. “You need to trust me… It has to work for all of our sakes.”

Most of the ponies looked down at the floor, mulling over her words. Mac closed his eyes. He gritted his teeth and let out a huff. “Damn it!” He walked toward the front door. “Soaring, Shining, Marley, Zipper. Help me get the farm ready for trouble!” The stallions followed him out of the house.

“I hope you know what you’re doing?” Sunny spoke as she held onto her children. Twilight stared at the mare and gave a small nod.

“Uncertainty is ahead. Will we be able to handle what comes?” Zecora said softly from the comfort of her blanket. “That I do not know.” The others looked at her, their bodies shivering as the reality of their situation fully sunk in.

Ratchet stared at the milky eyes of the mayor as she thrashed against her restraints. Her teeth snapping at him in a desperate attempt to sink them into her next meal. Ratchet’s mind drifted back to his time in the penitentiary, when the outbreak reached its apex.

He remembered seeing the chaos through the bars of his cell. Guards were overwhelmed by the madness of the sick and his fellow inmates taking advantage of the situation. The riots caused by the panic overtook the prison within the hours and in that time, his only mission was getting out alive with his brother. A task that was a lot harder than he initially thought. But he managed to get out unscathed and a complementary prize of fellow inmates willing to follow.

Looking out the window he stared at the farmhouse on the hill. He frowned at the odds that they had a friend that encountered Sanctuary before his group did. What kind of fucking luck was that? He hoped it wouldn’t hinder the outlook on what they would make of his offer, but still, it had a small chance.

Seeing smoke wafting out of the farmhouse’s chimney, he wondered if he they would leave peacefully. Sanctuary was a bloodshed. Blaze wasn’t kidding when he said they were fanatics. How Celestia let them thrive in the old world, he had no clue. “Keeping us poor ponies down, like always.” He growled, before tossing a spent cigarette at the zombified mayor.

“Boss! Your brother is back.” A stallion called from the door.

Ratchet nodded. Seeing his brother and Blaze stepping into the room. He frowned at his brother’s dull expression. “So, what’s the verdict.”

“They said no.” Strewn said bluntly.

Ratchet sighed as he looked out the window watching the farmhouse’s lights flicker on as the sun set behind the horizon. “Figured as much.” He looked at his brother. “What reason did they give?”

Strewn looked at Blaze before looking at his brother. “This one pony, a unicorn with lavender fur, I think her name is Twilight.” He looked at Blaze who nodded. “She said she would rather speak to you than some lapdog.” He shifted uncomfortably.

“Thinks you’re not taking things seriously.” Blaze spoke up for Strewn.

Ratchet raised his brow and looked at his brother.

“She just walked away as I was threatening her.” Strewn growled. “Stuck up bitch!” He looked at Blaze. “I’m starting to think this is not going to be as easy as you thought!” Blaze frowned at the stallion as he wiped the spit that landed on his face.

Ratchet stared out the window. Looking at the lights in the distance, he bit his inner cheek. “Well, if she thinks I’m not serious, then I’ll have to show her.” He laughed. “I guess killing one of her group members wasn’t enough for her.”

“What do you want us to do?” Blaze’s ears fell back as he watched the stallion stand up for his seat and walk up to them.

“Get some of my stallions to get us a bargaining chip.” Ratchet smiled.

Applebloom sat on the porch of her treehouse. She looked up at the stars that blanketed the night sky. A humid breeze washed over her sending a shiver down her back making her feel calm. A stark contrast to what the day had been. “Bloom, what are you doing out here?”

Finally, the weight of the day escaped her and she let out a heavy sigh. “Nothing Spike.”

Spike sat down beside her, leaning back with his arms as support. “Had to leave the house?”

Applebloom sighed as she laid on her back. “Yeah…” She shivered. “The tension is thick!”

Spike laid down as well. “Yeah, I know.” He looked at a passing cloud lit by the dim half-moon. “Are you worried?”

Applebloom frowned as her young mind mulled over his question. “Yeah… Aren’t you?”

Spike looked at her. “Yeah, but I’m sure Twilight and Applejack can figure it out.”

Applebloom sighed. “I hope so.” She scooted closer to him. “I just get this feeling, like no matter what we do, bad things are going to happen.”

“You really think that?” Spike raised his brow.

Applebloom frowned as she pressed her head against his. “We’re still waiting for the government to save us, aren’t we?”

Spike only nodded. “Yeah…” Hearing one of the steps squeak they looked back and saw three stallions and a mare staring down at them. A cold sweat washed over them as they stared into their eyes.

“Aw, young love.” One of the stallions laughed. “Keep quite or we’ll kill you!”

Twilight rested on her bed. A book floated a few inched from her snout. Her hopes in distracting herself from the current events of the day and the situation she gotten themselves in, failed. The words on the pages became a blur. Her eyes felt swollen as she tried to focus on them. With a grown she closed the book and rubbed her eyes.

“You alright?”

Twilight jerk in her bed and shot up. Seeing Rainbow Dash standing under the doorframe, she stood up and got off her bed. “No…” She looked down at the floorboards and studied the intricate patterns wood grain made. “I think I made a terrible mistake.”

“Like you said, were in a rock and a hard place.” Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “To be honest, I’m hoping for a fight.” Her wings fluffed up. “We need to fight for what’s ours!”

“Being like them is not going to let us have the moral high ground.”

“Twilight, there are bad ponies out there that will take our stuff!” Rainbow Dash sighed. “I know hurting others is bad, but I know it and you know it, we’re going to have to do things that we’re not comfortable with.”

Twilight nodded. “I know and that’s what scares me…” She looked at the book on the bed. “I don’t want it to change who I am.”

“Well, that’s what makes us special.” Rainbow Dash smiled. “It won’t…”

“Girls!” Applejack came running up to Twilight’s room. “Have you seen Applebloom?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, have you asked her friends?”

“Yes, she was supposed to be with them in their room, Scootaloo said she left, then Spike followed after her.”

Twilight shivered. “Spike too? Does she know why?”

“She needed to clear her head!” Applejack growled out her frustrations. “That little missy is stubborn as me and it bugs the hell out of me!” Her eyes went wide. “The clubhouse!”

“Oh, crap!” Rainbow Dash huffed as she ran down the hall, followed by Twilight and Applejack. Exiting out of the farmhouse, they began making their way toward the clubhouse near the barn when a flash of light caught their attention. Looking towards the source of the light, their blood ran cold as they saw two stallions standing by the gate.

“Fuckers!” Rainbow Dash and her friends ascended the hill to the gate.

Getting to the gate, the stallions’ appearances came into view. They didn’t recognize the new stallion but the other they knew. Strewn stood calmly as he held a lantern with his magic. “What the hell do you want!” Applejack growled.

“My brother wanted me to tell you, the conditions of our deal have changed.”