The Equestrian Apocalypse

— Devan —

Sweat beat on my forehead. My heart raced. Every muscle in my legs strained, uncomfortable with their continued use. Beside me, Trixie panted as her body tired too. Both of us were struggling to keep up with a much more energized Doc Hooves and Redheart as we passed the houses of Ponyville. The race to follow Cheerilee’s tracks had worn us out, let alone being chased by zombies the second we got somewhere important. It had not been long since we left the station—not even two minutes.

Yet, this world offered us no breaks. Celestia’s sun was setting behind us, and its dusk glow illuminated a zombie pony coming out from behind a house a few houses ahead to the left. We continued, as one zombie pony was nothing we couldn’t handle.

Then another pony came from behind them.

We all slowed to a stop after realizing the ponies had not noticed us. They continued trotting across the street ahead, making their way to the right side. Without speaking, we cautiously waited for them to cross.

Then another pony came out.

Then another.

The fourth one noticed us. At the same exact time, there was a new sound filling the air. A distant mob could be heard groaning to our left, near the edge of Ponyville. I thought of the previous train mob from yesterday, wondering if these ponies were a part of it, as they were coming from the north.

Crap.

“The hospital isn’t far from here,” Redheart stated.

“Good, let’s hurry through them,” Trixie replied, glowing her horn.

Another pony came out. Suddenly, three more made their appearance from the house to our left. I backed up a step as Trixie blasted two of them with a double-freeze spell, and I readied my bat to down the third.

One swing of the bat knocked the last to the ground. But more were coming from the corner the first zombie came from, and now, even more were coming from between the houses in between them and us. The count quickly grew to a dozen, then there were too many. I turned around, and to my shock, an army of zombie ponies were crossing the street behind us. A lot of them noticed us, and we were suddenly being surrounded by the biggest mob I had ever seen. It wasn’t even a mob at this point. It was a damn horde.

“THIS WAY!!” Doc exclaimed.

With the cart behind him, he turned toward our right side and started rushing to the right side of the street, away from the edge of Ponyville. The rest of us followed him as he darted in between two houses. However, he was stopped as two zombie ponies trotted past the other side. When he started going again, more zombies crossed, and one of them noticed us.

“Back Back BACK!” he shouted, reversing the cart backwards.

I heard the faint sound of Trixie releasing another spell behind me and turned to see the horde approaching from all sides of the street we were on. The way we were headed previously was growing dangerous, but the other side, to our left, was filling with even more pale ponies. The street was not even visible from the rush of zombie ponies. Without speaking, we all knew we had to go right. Trixie and I took the lead as Redheart ran alongside Doc hauling Luna behind us. With how many ponies were surrounding us, I knew I needed a quicker way to down them.

I switched my baseball bat into my left, non-dominant hand and pulled out my Beretta. It had been a while since I fired it, but I knew it had a full magazine inside. I flicked off its safety switch with my thumb as I firmly held onto the middle of the bat with my left hand. As we ran along the right edge of the street, I pulled the gun up and popped off a round at the nearest attacker, which was crossing the street to our immediate left. He dropped to the ground. I noticed Trixie flinch at the loud burst of my gun, but there was no time for me to warn them about its sound. I popped off two more shots, downing another mare on the other side of the street.

A flash of Trixie's magic entered the corner of my eye as she shot a spell at one farther ahead of us. The spell hit her foreleg, causing her to stumble and veer to her right, eventually knocking both her and another zombie mare beside her over. I shot four more rounds at the ponies approaching from our left side, downing three more. For most of them, I couldn't tell if I was hitting their heads or not. Regardless, they were incapacitated, which is all we needed right now.

Over my shoulder, I noticed that a few of them from across the street were getting close to Luna's stretcher. Redheart had just stopped, very briefly, as she threw her hind legs back and bucked one of them to the ground. Another stallion, just a pony-length away from her, started lunging for her. My bullet ripped through his forehead, dropping him instantly by her side. This caused Redheart to jump out of her fur, but she quickly came back to her senses and continued with us. As I turned to face ahead again, Trixie shouted out.

"THIS WAY!!"

In the midst of the chaos, I noticed she was referring to an open door of a house down the path we were headed. No zombies were exiting, or entering, and boards on the windows showed that someone used to be holed up there. This open door was mysterious, but I had not seen any pony running out of the house since the horde appeared. While it was hard to tell, there also seemed to be no living ponies amongst the swarm. This open door was our best chance at escaping this sudden nightmare. Even though the path to it was clearer than the other options, we still had a few more zombie ponies in our way.

Trixie ran beside me as Doc and Redheart followed us down the path. We had mere seconds left until the horde would be pouncing us from all sides. The first zombie in our way was just a few pony lengths away, so I hastily aimed the gun down and popped off a shot that ripped through his cranium.

The second zombie was just as close, so I fired another round that struck her cheek. As I aimed at the next closest zombie, one of Trixie's bright blue orbs flew ahead and struck her square in the forehead. Not only did the pony get shoved back hard, but the orb also split and flashed left and right. The following orbs then struck two more zombies beside the initial pony, albeit less effectively. The orbs wiped out at least four of them, greatly clearing the way for us to get through.

Now, the door was right ahead of us. One more zombie stood in the way, so I aimed the gun one last time as we ran. When I pulled the trigger, there was a click instead of a bang. I tried it again, rapidly pressing the trigger over and over, but it was jammed.

Piece of fucking SHIT

There was not enough time to fix it or evade the pony, so I instinctively let go of the pistol. As it fell to the ground, I loosened my grip on the bat and let it slip until my left hand was on the handle. My right arm crossed my chest to grab the handle, and with both hands gripping the handle, I quickly raised it over my right shoulder. I swung forcefully, and the bat contacted the mare’s face, sending her to the ground. Trixie leaped over the mare to avoid tripping on her, and we both made our way to the door.

Trixie rushed inside to quickly check the interior for threats, warming up her horn in preparation. While she did, I waited by the door for Doc and Redheart to haul Luna through. I swung on one more pony who got too close, and Redheart bucked another that was following them. Finally, it was fully clear, allowing Doc to dart inside, followed swiftly by Redheart and me.

After slamming the door to the house shut, an accent chair from the living room came lumbering around the corner surrounded in a blue pool of light. I hesitantly shimmied away from the door so Trixie could set it down to barricade it. Banging followed seconds later.

We all finally took a moment to catch our breaths. We were safe … sort of. The downstairs windows, while boarded up, were still a concern. Plus, how well could a structure like this handle a horde? What I saw before we bolted in here far surpassed even the large train mob Trixie and I escaped from. There were so many ponies trotting down the street that they even kicked up dust around them. DUST. They weren’t even galloping, they were just trotting along at their staggered zombie pace.

“Will this place even hold?” I asked the others.

“It should,” Trixie replied, “but let’s do some more reinforcing.”

She trotted through the living room and started casting a spell on a nearby couch. With my help, we pushed the couch against one of the living room windows. We then used any available furniture we could find to barricade the other downstairs windows. Redheart helped Doc unstrap from the cart, and he helped us after setting Luna down in the living room. It took us a solid five minutes to properly barricade all the possible entry points to the house as the horde banged on the outside. After we were done, Trixie and I sat against the barren wall of the living room where the couch used to be while we caught our breaths. In front of us, we could vaguely see the furniture shake in the coming darkness.

“You sure it will hold?” I asked.

Doc, on the other side of the room, walked over to us. He had been observing the barricade closely.

“If my estimates are right, given I guess the materials used correctly, it will hold, but maybe not for as long as we need.”

“What?” Trixie asked.

“I haven’t gotten the chance to observe these sick ponies thoroughly, but given they supply the amount of force I am guessing, with variable factors included, they will eventually degrade this structure’s material in due time.”

“What the hell are you saying?” I interrogated.

“I’m saying, in time, this place will go BANG. And POW. And OUCH. The structure will not hold forever!”

The Doc was suddenly whacked in the face by a small blue orb. Trixie, still catching her breath, leaned her head back against the wall again. Doc shook his head.

“Rude. Anyway, to put it simply, we need to get the heck out of here.”

Trixie huffed. “And how do you suppose we do that?”

“I don’t know! I’m just saying.”

“Well start THINKING instead of TALKING,” Trixie shot back.

“You littl-”

“GUYS!” Redheart exclaimed, taking her attention off Princess Luna briefly, “just relax. We need to figure out a way to get out of here soon. Not just because the house may fall, but Luna is not doing very well.”

Shit fucking shit.

Doc started pacing, observing the now-barricaded windows downstairs. As he left the room to check the rest of the house, I turned to Trixie. She looked back at me curiously.

"Do you have any ideas?" she asked.

"Mmm ... not yet."

"I think I've got one, but it's not fully worked out in my head yet."

"That's okay, what are you thinkin?"

Before she could respond, Doc came rushing to the living room archway with an interesting box wrapped in one of his forelegs. Despite his hoof blocking most of the text, as well as a few pictures on the side, I could see its colorful exterior and hazard markings.

"Look what I found!" he exclaimed.

Trixie and I observed it as he set it on the ground in front of us. Suddenly, Trixie smiled and turned back to me.

"Now it is."

The wind blew against my back as I stood on the rooftop, facing North toward Canterlot Mountain. The sound of the horde below from the two story drop was more intense than I first imagined, but they were quiet enough from up here that I could hear myself think.

Three days.

And it was ticking away to the fourth, if we lived to see it. Celestia’s sun had somehow set fully since we fiddled about inside with our plan. Princess Luna mentioned feeling a weird shift, forcing her to raise her moon to its midnight position. None of us were sure about what happened, but she was particularly concerned. Thankfully, as Doc was explaining part of the plan's logic with Trixie, I was given a few minutes to be there for Luna. I helped her calm her racing thoughts until having to leave her.

Her high moon shone down on the horde below now, illuminating the street of zombie ponies. Still, there were empty patches forming. The horde had continued through to the rest of Ponyville, but still left a sizable mob surrounding us. Trixie and Doc stood by my side, taking in the same sights.

We had formulated a plan with the help of Doc and Redheart. It was risky, and I didn’t like it all that much, but it was necessary. Behind us was a queen-sized mattress, and attached to Trixie were tightly-tied saddlebags. Inside of both of them were improvised radios with their speakers poking out of perfectly cut holes in the sides. By my side was a tube that rose to my knees and was as wide as my hand. Trixie stood tall, ready to go.

In a few minutes, she would be leading the mob away.

I was growing nervous. With how often I was being split from my friends, I did not want Trixie to leave my side. But it was necessary. If everything went right, I would reunite with her back at the hospital by dawn. I just hoped luck was on our side this time. With my thoughts racing, I turned to her and got down on my knees. I got a confused look back from her.

“What are you doing?” Trixie asked.

“Trix … please … please be careful. I don’t want to lose anybody else.”

Trixie stared at me for a moment before turning to face me, setting her hoof on my knee.

“I will be, Devan. Don’t worry. I got this.”

I leaned forward, and we both hugged tight. Her confidence was reassuring, given the situation we were stuck in. I still worried, especially knowing the risks with what she was about to attempt.

“Thank you,” I said as we disconnected.

I stood back up, and Doc glanced over at us. "You guys ready?"

“We are.”

“Let’s do this.”

Doc and I grabbed the mattress from the side and readied ourselves. Trixie grabbed the remote control from her saddlebag before tying it shut again. With one button push, static cackled from the speakers for a second before various wubs filled the air. The radios were tuned as loud as possible, blaring from the rooftop and echoing from the street below.

With Doc across from me, we swung the mattress to my left, away from the street. Then, we swung it back, and with one powerful toss, we launched the mattress off the rooftop. When we did, we released it at the right time to make sure it fell flat. Within the same few seconds, Trixie leaped off the edge with her horn aglow. Time slowed as we watched her fall above the mattress, waiting for both of them to hit the ground. Right before the mattress collided with the ponies below, there was a bright blue flash as Trixie released her spell. As my eyes readjusted, I watched Trixie hop off the mattress with a perfect, translucent sphere of blue surrounding her.

A forcefield.

The zombies around her were forcefully shoved aside as Trixie started galloping down the road, headed back toward the train station where we had come from.

Doc then ran up to my side and set up next to the tube. I leaned down and picked up one of the hand-sized firework balls laying around us. I had grown so happy upon seeing the fireworks Doc had found, and I couldn't wait to set these suckers off. I thanked whoever lived here previously for having them, wondering if they were a pyrotechnic or just a firework enthusiast. Regardless, him finding them was perfect timing.

With a lighter we found in the kitchen, I sparked it, and set the flame to the firework ball's fuze. After a second, the long fuze erupted in sparkles, so I handed the ball to Doc, who dropped the shell into the tube. With one hoof, he tilted the tube, aiming it at an angle toward the station. I set my right ear against my shoulder and used my left hand to cover the other as I picked up another ball. A couple seconds later, the tube emitted a bright red flash. The firework shot out of it loudly in a bright red streak of light.

YES!

I watched as the bright firework rose over the town, sinking back down in the distance as it closed in over the nearby train station. These fireworks were the ones we had hoped for. Doc assumed them to be ‘Comets’, that glowed bright with a tail as they flew. They were perfect for this situation, and could possibly draw even more zombies away than a regular firework. As my excitement grew, I grabbed another one and sparked it before handing it to Doc. He dunked it in. This time, a blue comet fired out of the cannon and streaked high in the sky.

For a quick second as the cannon emptied its smoke, I used my toes to rise up partially, so I could see below. Trixie’s shield was still holding strong, shrinking smaller as she gained distance from us. In the moonlight, there was a sea of movement below following her. The plan was working. With my adrenaline pumping, I eagerly grabbed another firework and sparked it, quickly handing it to Doc. A golden streak shot out, and this time it even whistled.

Awesome!

For the next minute, we slowly spaced out the remaining fireworks more and more until we were on the last one. After watching the red fire shoot across the sky one last time, I noticed something strange. In the sky, illuminated by the streak, a figure appeared.