The Equestrian Apocalypse

— Candy —

The light from Trixie’s wind tunnel dimmed as its magic timer ran out. Candy looked over Spark’s shoulder ahead of them to find more members of the mob trotting toward them. She was not sure why Trixie set the tunnel up in this direction. Part of her believed she had aborted the plan of escaping to the forest and instead shot it toward Canterlot, as she was so adamant about visiting the city. She cursed the stubborn mare for putting them in this predicament, but she hoped Trixie could help fend off the remaining attackers at the tail end of the mob.

However, there was an explosion behind them. There was not enough time to look back, because the tunnel was dissipating now. As it did, they suddenly had more problems on their hooves than the few ponies ahead. On either side of them, small, broken up groups of the trailing end of the mob started lunging for them. Candy sidestepped before using her forelegs to jump up to a two-legged stand. As she did so, she yanked her battle axe from her back with her forelegs. Balancing on her hind legs was difficult, especially while hauling the heavy axe, but she managed to stay standing while she swung at the first attacker. The colorful axe connected with the mare’s white forehead, stopping her instantly.

Ahead of her, she saw Spark powerfully buck an attacker coming in from the other side, dropping them to the ground. She also heard a new jingling sound behind her. A second later, a flashing, bouncing ball the size of her hoof bounced over her downed attacker and bounced away to the forest beside them. The loud jingling resonated, especially every time the ball made contact with the ground. She was able to catch a glimpse of it distracting part of the mob, and turned back to see a smiling Vinyl.

Behind her, she saw a plume of smoke rising up from the train engine, with leaping flames engulfing it. The bright light illuminated the area around it, but she could not see Devan or Trixie anywhere. Despite the scattered zombie ponies between them and the train, she expected to at least catch sight of Devan's tall body. Were they still in the train car? Why was the train on fire? She noticed the illuminated zombie ponies near the engulfed engine focusing their attention on something beside it. While this concerned her, she had to refocus her attention back on their attackers.

One of them approached. She swung the battle axe at an awkward angle, knocking the pale gray mare to the ground with the flat end of it. Before she could swing again, somepony barreled into her, causing her to fall to the ground as well. She lost grip of her battle axe, which fell beside her. When she looked up, she saw the pony who knocked her over was also sprawled on the ground. The undead stallion clumsily picked himself off the ground, swinging his head around frantically. She noticed as his head swiveled that one of his eyes was closed, and the other was red with blood. The pony was effectively blind, so he vigorously flared his nostrils to smell for her.

Her axe had fallen in front of Split's hooves. As he started leaning down to pick it up, the undead stallion finally caught a whiff of her. She tried rolling to her stomach but realized he was too close. Instead, she rolled again to her back and forcefully kicked her hind legs up, bucking his biting jaw away. However, in her fight, she hadn't noticed the other downed mare crawling beside her. While she kicked the stallion back, she caught a glimpse of gray before the mare lunged, sinking her teeth into her belly. She screamed out, desperately trying to punch the mare off of her.

Finally, Split swung her battle axe, slicing through the blind stallion’s face. The stallion fell on top of her as he swung it again, connecting the sharp blade to the back of the gray mare’s head. Her teeth loosened. The mob continued to close in on them, so Candy quickly rolled over as Split pulled the stallion off of her. She stood up, exchanging a quick, fearful glance with him before returning their attention to the mob.

Ahead of her, Spark was setting up to buck the last zombie mare in their way. However, there was a zombie stallion trotting toward her front side. Spark didn’t notice him, as she was facing behind her to time the buck right. Instinctively, Candy powered her hind legs into overdrive and used her body to intercept the stallion before he could pounce on her. Despite her blow, the stallion merely staggered sideways, somehow keeping on his hooves. As she tried to back off to shove him again, he turned and lunged toward her.

She tried ducking underneath his open jaw, but it wasn’t enough. The stallion's teeth clenched on her ear as he passed, rotating her to face him. With one quick head jerk, he ripped half of her ear clean off. The pain from it seared through her as she backed off, watching the stallion spit it out and lunge for her again. As Candy darted to the side to avoid it, Spark came into view and used her as a distraction. Before the stallion could react, the country mare bolted her forelegs into the ground and whipped her back end around. After briefly tapping the dirt with her hind legs, she rose them up and shot them at the stallion, knocking him down with a powerful buck.

Their path along the tracks was clear of attackers now. The train fire rose high now, but there was still no sign of Devan and Trixie. She noticed what looked like flashes of blue lining up to the trees beside the track, but she was interrupted when more of the mob came trotting toward her. Candy exchanged a quick, nervous glance with Spark as she turned and started galloping alongside her. Behind them, Split and Vinyl started their gallop too.

Spark took the lead and started galloping down the side of the tracks. She and the others followed her in the darkness of dawn, speeding away from the sudden mob. She worried about whether or not Devan had made it out, but there were too many of the undead to stop and check for him. She hoped he made it out, as well as Trixie, as she reluctantly galloped with the others.

After a few minutes, they were far down the track from the distant orange glow of the inferno. There were only a hoofful of stragglers following them, as the train fire and odd bouncy ball distraction lured most of them away.

There was still no sign of Devan or Trixie.

Spark slowed, looking over her shoulder at her. Even in the darkness, she could tell Spark noticed part of her pink ear was missing. The mare slowed to trot beside her to get a closer look. Candy was not willing to address this issue yet, but she understood the severity and what it meant. As they ran, a tear fell from her eye as she realized she was effectively ‘dead’. The pain flowing from her belly and ear scared her, and she could already feel her body slowly warming up to fight it. She was worried, because she had already seen a case of somepony getting bitten back in Canterlot. The mare she was with at the time fell ill as she was now, and in just half an hour, she had turned.

“Candy …” Spark called, her eyes growing wide with shock.

“Just … just keep going,” Candy replied, fighting oncoming tears as she continued her gallop.

The mare listened, keeping quiet for another few minutes as they galloped alongside the track. On the way, they used the bridge they had first set up the cart on to cross the river. They had not made it all that far from Canterlot Mountain before Trixie's train smashed into them. What they hadn't mentioned to Devan was that their damaged cart had caused Spark a lot of issues after he fell asleep. They even sat still for an hour when the engine puckered out, but Spark's handiness proved good enough to fix it. She just wished the train engine had been the same.

The mob was far enough away now, so the group agreed to head into the forest beside them. After another few minutes of galloping through the woods, they made it to a wide open clearing between the forests. They continued through it, eventually coming to a stop to catch their breath. Light from Celestia’s sun was slowly illuminating the field of grass as dawn was breaking. However, a new blanket of grey clouds had formed overhead. The overcast made its presence known as raindrops started falling on their sweaty bodies.

“Did any of you see Trixie?” Vinyl asked.

“No … no …” Spark replied timidly.

“Fucking damn it,” Split cursed.

“Hey!” Vinyl yelled, “They may have run the other way! We didn’t see them go down. We can’t know for sure.”

"I did see flashing blue lights," Candy mentioned, "They were leading away toward the forest, where she was SUPPOSED to take us."

"I know ..." Vinyl said, "Look, something else may have happened. I know she's stubborn as fuck, but she wouldn't do that to us. Those blue flashing lights must have been her magic, so they both could have made it out. We can only hope ..."

There was a moment of silence as both she and Split observed her stomach and ear dripping blood on the ground.

“I’m … I’m sorry,” Split apologized, “I tried to get them in time … I truly did.”

“I ... I know, just shut up ...” Candy responded. She sat down, struggling to catch her quick breaths. She looked over at Spark, who was also staring at her stomach. When she checked it out herself, she realized the severity of it. The mare’s bite had sunk deep into her coat of fur, and red blood oozed from the teeth marks. She sighed, closing her eyes. Tears then escaped them. She felt a hoof on her shoulder and heard Spark step up to her.

“It’s okay, Candy. It'll be okay.”

She opened her teary eyes. “What do you mean? It’s ... over …”

“We …” Spark started. She looked away and sniffed to avoid any tears from coming out. “We don’t know that. We can take you somewhere and tie you up. If- If we do that, then once we find the cure … we ... she ... can bring you back later."

“But Trixie …”

“We don’t know that she’s dead!! Okay? We don’t even know if she’s the only pony with magic. Let’s just hope she made it out. We'll search for her, but we need to get ya somewhere safe first.”

“Where?”

“I ... I don't know ...”

They looked around at the large field they were in. The nearest trees were quite a ways away now.

"Shit," Split said, "We should have stopped at the edge of the forest. We could have tied her up to one of the trees."

"She was just bitten!" Spark exclaimed, "We have some time."

"Spark," Candy sighed, "We don't. I saw a mare turn within half an hour. If I'm the same as her ... we've only got minutes."

Spark's eyes widened with fear.

"Well, come on then! Let's go!!" she exclaimed, tugging at Candy to follow. The others, now partially rested, followed her lead as she took them to the distant forest ahead of them. The Canterlot Mountain rose tall behind it, its tops partially covered by stray clouds.

They were not far from the forest when her body could not handle it anymore. The group had noticed her slowing and made efforts to keep her going, brushing their bodies alongside her as they trotted. But Candy could not go any farther. She slowed to a walk before collapsing on the ground. It was sprinkling now, and raindrops patted her body. The others debated carrying her on their backs, but the dripping bite on her belly worried them. They were not sure whether or not this could get them sick, so Candy insisted against it.

“No, Candy. Please get up!” Spark cried, trying to lift her up with her forelegs. With Split and Vinyl’s help, they managed to stand her up, just for her to collapse again. Her energy was depleted. Heat spread through her body, and the others could feel it as well. Spark eagerly glanced around for anything that could help them, but the grassy plain they were in and offered nothing despite one large tree.

“You-” Candy said, “You have to leave me.”

Spark stomped the ground next to her. The clouds above reflected some of Celestia’s sunlight as the third morning of this apocalypse was here. Raindrops continued to fall, showering them.

"Wait!" Split called, "There!"

Both Candy and Spark looked around and noticed Split pointing to the single, large tree nearby.

"It's base is too thick ..." Vinyl mentioned.

"Well, we can still try!"

The three of them worked together to lift Candy and made their way to the tree. Once they were under it, the rainfall weakened. Just a few drops fell from the tree branches above.

They set Candy down against the tree. She watched as Vinyl dug through her saddlebag. She pulled out a rope, but as expected, the tree trunk was far too wide to tie her to it. After a minute of searching for another means, they realized they would not be able to tie her up. Spark sighed in defeat before looking back at her.

“I’m sorry …” she said.

“It’s okay ... just go,” Candy requested.

Spark moved forward, holding her hoof for a minute. The tough, country mare began losing her battle against tears as she brushed Candy's curly purple hair one last time before backing away. Tears swelled in her own eyes as she watched the others turn and leave. Spark turned back as they did, so Candy used the last of her energy to give her a little wave before shutting her teary eyes as her breaths slowly came to a stop.