The Equestrian Apocalypse

— Trixie —

The rooms of the hospital remained dark with just the emergency lights in the hallway illuminating their path. Trixie followed Vinyl’s bright white body closely as they made their way down the set of stairs. These stairs were located on the opposite side of the hospital from where the pegasus had fallen victim to the growing mob outside. Once they got to the bottom, Vinyl slowly pushed the fire exit door open.

Outside it was a narrow alley, and to their immediate left was one of Manehatten's streets. They watched for a moment as a unicorn and pegasus mare galloped by. Trixie and Vinyl debated following them, but they decided to stick to their original plan of getting to the Manehatten train station. They cautiously made their way into the alley and stepped forward to look down the street. Surprisingly, it was emptier than they had imagined. The two mares were galloping toward a few scattered ponies throughout the streets. The other way was less clear, and they could see a few zombie ponies trotting their way.

Trixie pushed Vinyl back, and the two slid against the cold wall of the alley. They watched them pass and waited a moment before checking to see if it was clear. Down the street, there were more ponies who weren't following the mares. For a moment, Trixie thought they might be alive, but their awkward movement suggested otherwise. Along the street, there were carriages flipped over, and some crashed into the sides of the buildings, and various papers and other litter were scattered near the sidewalks. The city was quickly becoming a mess. But they were clear now, so the two took one last peek before crossing.

Immediately after crossing the street, they entered another alleyway. The darkness offered by the shady alley was ironically relieving at a time like this. This lasted briefly until they reached the next street. Both of them checked the corners, witnessing more zombie stragglers wandering down either side of them. They saw a living stallion far down the street gallop across it to the door of a business. A few seconds later, two zombie stallions came from where he did and chased him to the front door. They were stopped by the pony slamming it on them, and Trixie watched as the two beat on it to get in.

“Fuck,” Vinyl whispered, “These things are fucking scary.”

“Definitely,” Trixie replied.

“Hey!” a stallion's voice called behind them. Startled, Trixie immediately readied a quick-charge light spell and turned to the noise. Not far down the alley, a dark blue pegasus was quickly jogging toward them. Trixie released the spell, narrowly missing one of his eyes but making contact with the other. The spell was a sort of micro-flashbang, that could very briefly throw off a pony's ability to see.

“Ow …” the stallion said, rubbing the eye that was hit. “I’m not one of them!”

“Don’t sneak up on ponies like that!” Vinyl half-shouted, “And keep it down!”

The stallion continued walking toward them and crouched by their side. “Some shit, huh?”

Trixie kept her eyes locked on the pegasus, lighting up her horn again. He noticed this and scooted away from her, getting closer to Vinyl. Vinyl looked back at her, shielding the pegasus with her foreleg. “Trix, relax … he’s good.”

“How do you know?”

“Whoa,” the pegasus replied, raising his hooves in surrender, “Hey, I didn't mean to scare you guys. I’m sorry. It’s just nice to see other … normal … ponies.”

“We aren’t normal,” Trixie stated, “we’re sick with it.”

"Uh ... what?"

"We have the illness ..."

“Ah shit.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have come up to us!”

“Hey!” Vinyl interjected, “we don't know if you are sick or not, Trix.”

Trixie knew she was. Ever since they got ready to leave the hospital room, she started feeling those numbing waves Vinyl had described. She was also feeling feverish, which wasn’t listed as one of the illness’s symptoms. Whatever the case may be, she knew through the numbing sensations alone that she had it. She explained this to them briefly.

“Crap,” Vinyl replied.

“Well,” the pegasus spoke, “if you’ve been feeling it for this long, maybe you’ll be alright.”

"I doubt it."

The pegasus looked between both of them curiously. "What are your names?"

Before Trixie could reject his question, Vinyl spoke up.

"I'm Vinyl, this is my friend Trixie. What about you?"

“Split Stream.”

Vinyl looked down at Split’s cutie mark. It showed two swoops of transparent streaks and a tree blowing to the side. One streak went up and behind the tree, while the other curved down and in front of it. It looked as if they were two streams of wind dancing around the tree. “Interesting name,” she said, “and nice cutie mark.” Split smiled in reply. “Thanks, but that’s not all.”

They both watched as Split raised half of his left wing. When he turned his side to them, they could see his wing had somehow been split in half. The cut spanned the entire wing, stemming from where the wing met his back. The half closer to the sky raised as a normal pegasus wing would, but the other half barely moved off his side.

“Oh wow!” Vinyl said, “how’d you get that?”

“It was cut in-“ he started.

Trixie loudly cleared her throat. “Can you two flirt later?" she asked, "We’ve got bigger fish to fry here …”

“I was just asking him about his wing!” Vinyl protested, averting her eyes in embarrassment.

Trixie observed his strange-looking wing, trying to make sense of it. “Well, can you fly?” she asked him.

“QuIt FlIrTiNg WiTh HiM,” Vinyl mocked, bobbing her head around like a bobblehead. Trixie ignored her and waited for him to respond.

“I could before …” he replied.

“Before what?”

“You guys haven’t heard?”

“Heard WHAT?” Trixie replied, growing frustrated.

“Some of us have been losing our ability to fly,” he answered, “I tried to fly earlier this morning, but ended up walking to the hospital because my wings got really heavy. They are a bit numb too. Not sure if that’s related to the illness or not …”

Trixie exchanged a shaky glance with Vinyl. Now, what happened with the other pegasi they had seen made sense. She rubbed her face with her hoof in frustration. She wished she had known this information sooner.

Vinyl lit her horn dimly. “Same thing is happening with unicorns …”

“I …” Split started, “I know … my friend …”

He dropped his head, trying to shake off some unspoken memory. They could tell that this was not a story he wanted to share. Vinyl set her hoof on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok. I’m okay. Let’s just-“ He looked up at the mares. “Where are you guys headed?”

Vinyl briefly described their idea of heading to the train station, detailing the route they would take as the stallion grew more interested.

“That sounds like a good idea," he replied, "Getting out of this city is preferable. I can help you guys.”

Vinyl eyed Trixie as she stared suspiciously at the pegasus. She eyed her back, holding the same expression.

“Holy trust issues, Trix. Come on. We need all the help we can get.”

She looked back at Split briefly before stepping up to him. She lit her horn and pushed it close to his face. “If you try anything on either of us, I will destroy you. The laws of magic do not apply now.”

“Trix!” Vinyl called, stepping between them. “Come on, Trix. Don't be like this ... we can handle him.”

“Fine.”

The three ponies continued across the street when it was safe to do so and entered yet another alleyway. “This is the last alley,” Vinyl mentioned, “Should be on the left up here.” They trotted up to the end of the alley and checked their corners. On the right side of the street, there were only two zombie ponies wandering around in the distance. On the left side, however, the street was full of them. From sidewalk to sidewalk, a wall of bodies was huddled up together, shifting from side to side. One of the ponies near the outside of the group turned and started walking down the street toward them, so they stuck their heads back in the alley and shimmied against the wall.

“Fuck,” Split cursed.

“Would you shut the fuck up?” Trixie hissed, looking back down the alley past him. It was empty, besides some trash bins, litter, and a dumpster. Split moved his head from the wall and blocked her vision.

“What is your problem with me? We can’t keep going on like this.”

Trixie leaned her head more to look past him. “I don’t trust you. Now isn't the time for that. No hard feelings.”

Split sighed quietly, leaning his head back against the wall. “What do I need to gain it?”

“Just follow our lead and don’t do anything stupid. Then hopefully I can start to.”

“Alright … sheesh.”

Trixie turned to Vinyl, who was closest to the corner out of the three of them. “Is she still coming?” she asked. Vinyl very slowly eased her head around the corner. As Trixie waited for a response, the sound of glass shattering blared behind them. She turned back to see a recently formed debris field of glass and looked up to see a grey mare with a black mane hanging out of a window a few stories above them. “I'm sorry!” the mare yelled down, sticking her head back inside.

“Motherfucker!” Vinyl yelled.

“Come on!” Trixie exclaimed, passing the others and galloping back in the direction they had come from. They followed her down the alley until two zombie ponies made their appearance at the other end. She stopped to warm up a double stun spell. Two seconds later, in the middle of the spell being ready to go, she was pushed forward and lost her hoofing, causing her to tumble to the ground below. She quickly got up and started charging it as Split's voice yelled out an apology behind her.

This fucking idiot is going to get us killed!

In the drawn-out four seconds it took to recharge the spell, another two ponies entered the alley behind the attackers. Trixie hit the first two ponies and started warming up another one, struggling to calculate the time she had left. She was only a second in when she was interrupted again, this time by Vinyl.

“Trix, Trix!” Vinyl pulled at her, “Come on!”

Trixie was forced out of her concentration by Vinyl, turning back to see what she was talking about. The other side of the alley was being invaded by a large swath of zombie ponies as well. Trixie followed Vinyl toward them, watching as Split pushed the nearby dumpster below a metal awning hanging above a boarded-up door. Attached to the building beside them, it looked wide enough to fit two ponies and spanned roughly three pony lengths before ending. However, there was a gap between it and the top of the dumpster.

Split turned when the dumpster was in place and used his forelegs to help them climb on top of it. In turn, they both helped him up as the zombie ponies closed in. Once up, Trixie stood on her hind legs to reach the awning. She pulled herself up as the others pushed on her back hooves to help. The metal duct proved sturdy enough to support her, so she reached her hoof down and helped Vinyl up. Unfortunately, Vinyl slipped and fell on the awning beside her, banging her head and knocking her purple-tinted glasses off. The spectacles bounced between Trixie's legs before tumbling off the side of the awning and smacking on the ground. She then heard the metal beneath her groan slightly when Vinyl stood back up beside her.

For a second, she gazed back at the zombie ponies rushing down the alley behind Split. Time seemed to slow as she watched the closest one. The mare was pale blue with the typical glazed-over eyes they all seemed to have. She noticed one of the mare’s eyes was also blood-stained, filling the white around her iris a bright red color. Her mouth was open during her trot, showing bright white teeth that failed to hold back a few drops of drool. The mare’s body was splattered in blood, and one of her forelegs had a large slice of skin dangling from where it used to be attached. She looked at Split below her, shaken by the sight of the ponies gaining on him. There was a strange, unfamiliar voice that spoke inside her head.

Leave him.

What?

LEAVE him.

She tried to shake the voice, but it continued.

The awning will fall. You have to sacrifice him. Use your magic.

No …

One … simple … shove spell

No … no … no … no no no no no nonononono

She shook her head. In the side of her vision, she saw Vinyl’s white hoof reach down for the stallion. The zombie mare she had seen was closing in now, only a few pony-lengths away from getting ahold of his hind legs. Time still felt slowed as the voices echoed in her head.

Sacrifice.

NO!

SACRIFICE.

Trixie lit up her horn, warming up a shove spell. Split eyed her as he quickly grabbed hold of Vinyl’s hoof, offered no time to linger as the zombie mare closed in on his hind leg. He reached up his other hoof on the awning as Vinyl began to pull him up.

Trixie released the spell.