The Equestrian Apocalypse

— Twilight —

She ran beside Dash in the dark of night, struggling to shake the thoughts of everything that just happened. She was done deeming a new shelter ‘safe’, regardless of how much protection it seemed to have. Somehow, this new world would eventually spit in her face and prove her wrong. Part of her almost wished that she had never arrived at AJ’s farm. She thought about whether or not that would really change anything, realizing the horde would probably sweep through it regardless.

Where had the horde even come from? She had seen hundreds on hundreds of ponies, more than she remembered even living in Ponyville. The only logical explanation would be that they came from Manehatten or Canterlot, and Manehatten seemed more likely given the sheer scale of it. Her mind sparked a new fear when she thought of Devan. If he was heading to Manehatten and was approached by this …

She shook the thought. They had a cart; Dash and Fluttershy told her. The mare friends he was with would reverse him out, but then what? They said the tunnel going up Canterlot Mountain from that rail was blocked off. How would they escape with his missing leg? Her brain hurt. It didn’t help that her emotions were swirling out of control as her mental state slowly deteriorated at recent events.

Throughout their short run, they had not come across any issues. They ran through the streets, passing house after house, some boarded up and some broken into. There were stragglers from the horde littered around town, but she and Dash were fast enough to juke and outrun them. That didn’t really concern her. What concerned her was Fluttershy, and if they could get back with the supplies in time. Dash carried the saddlebags they would use to haul them back.

Then again, what would they do once they saved her? She and Princess Celestia had not made much progress on how to regain magic before shit hit the fan, so she was still at square one. And now, the clock was ticking. She needed to solve it ASAP. Maybe it was just her anxiety, but she felt shivers run down her spine as the temperature around them started to slowly cool. How cold would it get in the coming days?

They rounded the corner to Rosemary Ave. This street was slightly wider than the others around Ponyville, as various shops lined it. The clinic was not far down it, but unsurprisingly, they ran into another obstacle. Ahead of them was another group of zombie ponies. There were more than six in total that were spread out through the street, meaning they could not simply juke or go around them all. The one closest to them was only two shops away, and he caught sight of them despite the dark of night. He turned toward them and began his trot as he let out a yearning grown. This seemed to trigger the others nearby, who one at a time started turning their heads to see what he was on about.

Before Twilight could holler a plan, Dash shouted out for her to follow and rushed to the right side of the street. She followed her as Dash entered between two shops and swiveled her head left to right after they passed through. It was clear, so they turned left and continued down the path connecting the backs of the shops. Behind the path, to their right side, was a small forested area that stood ominously in the dark. After they passed the first building, a zombie mare came trotting out from behind a building ahead of them. The mare stopped briefly, gazing in their direction for a few seconds before turning and coming at them.

These smart pieces of shit, I swear.

One was nothing they couldn’t handle, so they continued down the path. Dash ran ahead of her, and before she could react, Twilight was sideswiped by another zombie as she crossed another alley to her left. The blow wasn’t severe, but it was surprising enough to cause her to lose her hoofing and stumble sideways briefly. Dash heard this happening and rushed back to her, swinging around and swiftly bucking the zombie stallion as he stood back up as well. They continued.

Twilight downed the one ahead of them with a non-lethal blow of her hatchet and kept galloping along the back of the shops. Ahead of them, the path stopped as the shops turned into houses with fenced backyards. She was not fully up-to-date with this area anymore, but she assumed the clinic was somewhere on the other side of the street between where the shops turned to houses. She took the lead from Dash and turned left down a thin alley separating the last shop on the street and the first house. A thin concrete wall stood to her right, rising just above her head. Her hunch was proven correct as they approached the end of the alley, seeing the clinic on a corner across the street.

The two mares peeked their heads around the corner, expecting to see a clearer street as their pursuers were likely drawn through the various alleys between the shops. However, a zombie mare and stallion standing in front of the shop they were next to met eyes with them. They both growled as they turned and started trotting toward them. Twilight glanced across the street, noticing an opportunity to get across as long as they juked them. However, the front of the clinic was boarded up, and there were two more zombie mares hanging out in front of it. It was too risky.

She annoyingly followed Dash back down the alley, but as they reached the end, a blue zombie mare rounded the corner. As she readied her hatchet in her hoof, Dash ran up to a door beside him. When she turned the handle, the door swung open with no problem. Twilight followed her inside before shutting it and holding it shut until Dash could shove a chair against the knob. The mares sighed as they caught their breath.

The door they had used was the side door to the shop, which appeared to be some kind of bakery. In front of them was a small walkway with a see-through display shelf that stored various loaves of bread and pastries next to a cash register. On the other side of the walkway were counters against a wall with stuff on it, but they could not make it out in the darkness. There was also a doorway leading to an even darker room.

“Well … what now?” Dash asked.

“We’ll make a break for it.”

“How??”

“We’re safe here, so we’ll just distract them all into the alley and leave out the front.”

She made her way through the walkway so she could see the front of the shop. Through the ceiling-high glass windows, she could vaguely see the silhouettes of more ponies wandering on Rosemary Ave. One of them moved quickly, trotting from left to right past the storefront and toward the alley they were just in. Another one followed them for a second before slowing down and stopping in front of the store. The zombie mare peered through the windows, causing Twilight to get low behind the front counter, leaving just enough of her head above it to see. After a few seconds, the mare turned her head and started walking back toward the alley.

She heard Dash scoot beside her before a crashing sound happened behind them. She heard an odd sound of rolling metal until a dark shape came rolling out of the doorway behind them. Dash picked it up, realizing it was some kind of mixing bowl as she squinted behind her to see into the dark room. A few seconds later, there was an all-to-familiar groan from inside.

Twilight readied her hatchet again. The zombie mare finally appeared through the doorway, sporting some kind of apron. She watched as Dash swung the bowl at the pony, whacking her face but not knocking her over. As Dash squirmed to get out of the way, she swung the hatchet, aiming for the zombie’s head. The zombie got lucky as she dove down toward Dash, unintentionally dodging her first swing. Below, Dash kicked herself against the counter and swung at the pony with her forelegs.

They tussled for a moment longer until Twilight found another opportunity, carefully swinging her hatchet in the dark. The blade connected with the mare’s head, causing her to freeze before dropping between them. Relieved, Dash squirmed away from the pony and stood back up. Twilight squinted her eyes and opened her ears, checking on any more that may be in the room. The only noise she heard was from the front of the shop. When she looked back over the counter, she saw the pony from earlier banging on the window now, clearly agitated by the sounds she had heard.

As they both stood silently, the mare continued. The banging attracted more ponies from the street, and soon, one started to bang on the front door. The side-door of the shop was also still shaking from the zombies in the alley, so they had no choice but to run into the dark room behind them.

Twilight grabbed a flashlight from Dash's saddlebags and shone it through, scanning the entire room. It was clear, so they continued to an area by the other side of the shop. They heard the sound of breaking glass out front as they looked around. In the corner was a cubby hole that revealed stairs to the second story with an ajar door at the top. The mares rushed up the stairs to the second floor and rushed through the door, shutting it softly behind them.

The room was the same size of the kitchen they had run through, with one door indicating a bathroom. The room hosted a twin-sized bed against the corner, a desk facing them with a window right behind it, some floor lamps, and a double-wide bookshelf with neatly organized books. Twilight winced at the thought of the now-dead baker downstairs. She had clearly worked hard on this shop, following her passion up until this point. Dash broke her from her thoughts.

“Twilight, hey. What do we do now?”

Twilight scanned the room, taking note of the mattress next to them. They spent a few minutes observing the room, startled by the sudden banging on the room’s door. The zombies had made it inside. Of course. Dash pulled the chair from the desk to barricade it. Once it was somewhat secure, they discussed possible plans before coming to an agreement on one.

There was a window beside the bed that had no screen to it, so they opened it up. Below them was another small alley between the bakery and another shop. This alley, unlike the other one, was clear of ponies. If their hunch was correct, the street was also mostly empty as the zombies they had seen were now inside the building or in the alley on the other side of the bakery.

Once the window was open, she and Dash each grabbed an end of the twin-sized mattress and pivoted it to face the window. While the short side was slightly wider than the window, they were able to tilt it slightly so it would fit through. With Dash’s guidance, Twilight pushed the mattress slowly out of the window until it smacked the ground below them. The mares then waited for a minute to see if it gained any attention, and amazingly, it had not.

The mattress laid perfectly below them, and even with its navy-colored sheets, they could vaguely make it out in the darkness.

“Ready?” Dash asked Twilight.

“Yes.”

“Alright, I’ll go first.”

Twilight watched as Dash shimmied herself through the window. The stunt-happy pegasus took no time in lining up and jumping down to the mattress below. Twilight was a bit more nervous, so she hesitantly set her left hind leg out of the window before poking her head out as well, hanging on with her other legs. She glanced down at Dash, waiting for her to move off the mattress so she could land safely. However, Dash wouldn’t move.

She squinted to see what the pegasus was up to, finding Dash squirming her legs around as she laid on the mattress. She glanced back inside, noticing the door to the room was moving a lot now. She wasn't keen on waiting around to see how long it would last, so she glanced back down at Dash.

“Dash!” Twilight whispered, “move!”

Dash would not move out of the way, so Twilight looked to the other end of the mattress where she could land. She would have to push herself out of the window more forcefully in order not to land on top of Dash, so she built up the courage to do so as fast as she could.

In the dark, she used her hind legs to propel herself forward, landing square on the other end of the mattress and successfully avoiding Dash. She turned to the mare, growing mad at her for not following through.

“Dash,” she whispered, “why didn’t you move?”

Twilight stood up above Dash, who turned her head to face her. A shocked, panicked expression filled her blue face as she breathed heavy, using her forelegs to hold her chest.

“Dash … Dash what is it?” Twi asked nervously.

In the darkness, Twilight noticed a glimmer when she leaned down and moved Dash’s foreleg. She moved Dash slightly, just to find a metal pole piercing through her friend's shoulder.