The Equestrian Apocalypse

— Twilight Sparkle —

“Slow down, Twilight!” Spike yelled, “I’m gonna die if I fall off at these speeds!”

Twilight kept her pace. “Quit being such a drama queen. We need to get there now.”

She ran alone, with Spike clinging to her back. Guilt coursed through her veins about not being able to help the other ponies at the castle. She hoped they made it out too, but her hopes weren’t very high at this point. She shed a tear, overwhelmed by all that had happened so far.

“But Twilight, you should conserve your energy in case we run across another zombie pony. Think about it!”

Twilight realized Spike’s logic made sense and slowed her pace a tad.

“Thank you,” Spike said, laying back down with his claws still gripping her back. She continued along the path with the castle still fresh in her mind.

Somepony screamed out. Twilight looked up from the Cutie Map and exchanged a frightened glance with Spike. They both hopped out of their seats and ran toward the commotion down the hallway. A few ponies stood around the sides, unsure of what to do. Down the long hallway laid an elegant red, swirl-decorated rug. Tall blue, double-paned windows lined the hall, along with crystal pillars rising to the tall ceiling. As they ran through it, a distraught Daisy rounded the corner at the end of the hallway and met up with them.

“Somepony turned! They’re onto Mayor!” she cried.

Spike turned his attention to Twilight, and both he and Daisy waited for her to do something. She froze for a moment, lost in thought, before looking back at Daisy.

“Go to the main room and tell the others to meet there too. We’ll be back. Come on, Spike!”

She then took off in a gallop to save Mayor. Spike stayed hot on her tail. As they rounded the corner to another hallway and closed in on the room she was in, they heard shouting. She let another pony rush past her and called for him to join Daisy. After that, she entered the doorway to the room Mayor was in, just to see her getting her neck bitten by a pale blue Sassaflash in the corner. The room was being used as a backup storage room, so there was not much stuff inside. However, the furniture and boxes that were inside were scattered and knocked over, indicating a bigger fight.

Twilight froze in terror as she watched Mayor frantically beat back on the pony. The grizzly sound of her yells mixed with the sound of Sassaflash ripping into her flesh echoed in her brain. She shook herself out of her daze and rushed into the room with them. Spike shouted behind her, but she could not hear him as she tunnel-visioned on the zombie mare. The mare had not noticed her, so she made her way to the outer wall beside them and swung around to set up a buck.

As she did, she noticed Spike running along the opposite end of the room. She tried not to get distracted for too long, but as she watched him to see what he was doing, another pony came trotting through the doorway. It only took a few seconds to realize the stallion was a zombie pony, and it only took him a few seconds to relocate Spike.

Twilight quickly threw her hind legs back in her buck, but she had not realized that Sassaflash had already brought Mayor to the ground. Her hind legs struck the air before setting right back down, nearly causing her to stumble. Now she had a choice to make, but only milliseconds to choose. She quickly abandoned Mayor and bolted across the room on an intercept course with the zombie stallion. Spike rounded the corner in front of her, and suddenly, she was facing a head-on situation.

She preemptively swung around again, setting up for another buck long in advance. She tucked her tail between her legs to avoid getting snagged as the zombie pony trotted toward her. Once he was within range, she sent energy shooting through her hind legs and bucked him right in the face. The stallion fell to the ground, giving both her and Spike enough time to run to the other side of the room.

“Twilight, we have to go!” Spike shouted.

She realized he was right. Mayor was not screaming out anymore, and the other stallion was quickly standing back up. With Spike by her side, they ran outside of the room, slamming the door shut behind them. Twilight sat against it and wiped her sweaty forehead. A few seconds later, the door banged violently behind her. Then Spike cried out again. She looked where he was pointing, just to see another zombie mare from the hall they had just come from. They could hear screams across the castle, and she was quickly realizing how bad their situation was becoming.

“Run!” she yelled at Spike. They both sprinted down the rest of the hallway as fast as they could. They then entered the last room and slammed the door shut.

“Quick!” Twi shouted, “We need to barricade the door!”

She pushed her back up against the door in preparation. As Spike ran to grab a chair, the pony banged violently on the door. She held steady against it but was shocked at the strength produced by the pony's blow. Another one sent the door open a few hairs. Twilight forcefully shoved it closed again.

“Hurry Spike!”

With sweat beading on his forehead, Spike hauled a chair over that he and Twilight shoved against the doorknob. After realizing it was secure, they both backed up.

“Now what?!” Spike asked her.

“I don’t know …” she replied, looking around anxiously for anything to help them.

Spike pointed at a broom in the corner of the room. “What about that? With enough force, that could knock him out.”

She thought for a moment before responding, “We might need to break it and use it as a makeshift spear …”

Spike looked up at her mortified. “But-“

“Spike. You saw what I saw.”

Spike looked down at his claws, wondering if he was in some fucked up dream. One moment, it was a peaceful morning. Then it was an apocalyptic nightmare. Equestria had been through some mean stuff, but this was another level. Violence to this degree usually never had to be used.

“O … okay …”

Twilight picked up the broom but hesitated. The room had a window they could break through, but like the front windows, these were also reinforced. After observing the broom, she thought of a trick she had learned from a book.

“Hold on.”

Spike watched her as she walked over to the window and put the broom handle against it. She specifically targeted the bottom right corner, only a few ear-lengths away from either side. With the broom in place, she grabbed hold of the other end and placed her horn through the brush of the broom, lining it up with the rest of the handle. She then turned her head sideways and backed up a step before throwing her head clockwise as she jabbed the broom forward against the glass. The pressure exerted through her horn swirled along the broom like some witch’s magic and smacked the glass with the handle, forming a crack.

“Wow!” Spike cheered, appalled by her trick.

She smiled softly, pulling the broom back and swinging hard at the window. It only took one swing for it to send glass flying outside, taking a good half of the window with it. Glass continued to shower the window sill for a few seconds.

“But what about the others?” Spike asked.

“Once we are out, we can loop around to the front and do the same thing to the front windows so the others can get out.”

“Okay.” Spike nodded, happy with her suggestion.

She threw the broom outside and watched the door as Spike jumped out. As he did, the chair gave way with one of the two back legs snapping as the door burst open. The zombie pony snarled as Twilight quickly bolted through the window. Outside, Spike was picking up the broom.

“Run Spike!” she yelled.

Spike looked up and saw the zombie pony coming toward the window she just jumped out of. The sight of it put a pep in his step as he ran after Twilight with the broom in his claw. They both darted around the corner of the castle and jumped up on the purple rock base near the front entrance. Spike nervously gave her the broom as she set herself up next to the staircase, ready to repeat what she had done to the first window. She again lined up her horn with the handle while Spike anxiously kept an eye out for their pursuer. As she got ready to jam the window, the zombie pony stumbled around the corner.

“Twilight!”

She jammed the broom into the window, making a similar crack as she had in the first. Before she was able to swing at the glass, the zombie pony jumped on the rock and leaped at them. Twi held the broom tight as she put it behind her shoulder and swung. The end of the broom handle whacked the zombie mare hard, knocking her off balance for a second. She tried again to swing at the window, but the pony started going for Spike, who was anxiously attempting to climb over the golden stair railing.

“Spike!”

Twilight batted the pony before she got to him, causing her to fall next to Spike. He finally stumbled over the railing, falling head over claws down the flight of stairs as Twilight ran down off the rocky castle base. As she turned around to fight, she noticed a group of zombie ponies coming from the other side of the castle.

“Spike, we gotta go!” she yelled. She leaned down and let Spike jump on her back. As the zombie pony got up, she took off for Applejack’s barn without looking back.

Without warning, Twilight came to a dead stop. This sent Spike hurtling over her shoulder, despite his grip, and crashing onto the ground in front of her. Before he had time to yell at her, she shoved a hoof in his face and gestured forward with her head. He looked over to see a white pony in the distance, slowly walking toward them. They couldn’t make out the details, but they saw her stop as well.

“Phew,” she sighed with relief, “looks like a living pony. Come on, Spike.”

Spike squinted toward the pony, still unsure. He reluctantly took off after Twilight, jogging to meet up with whoever it was. At first, the pony turned sideways, but she turned back around to face them as they got closer. When they were close enough, both Twilight and Spike realized who it was.

“Rarity!” Spike yelled.

Rarity started galloping to meet with them when she realized who it was too. She slowed as they approached but was unable to dodge Twilight’s quick hug.

“Twilight! Dear, are you alright?”

She kept her hooves locked around Rarity. “I am now.”

Rarity rested her head on her shoulder, rubbing her back while they hugged. When they finally let go, she was pounced on by Spike as well.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said.

“I’m glad you’re okay too.” She looked up at Twilight as they hugged. “Do you know where the others are?”

She shook her head. “We are headed to Applejack’s barn now. We were hoping to find at least you and her. Where were you headed?”

Rarity disconnected from Spike. “I was on my way to her barn too until this gruesome-looking pony attacked me. I could not get her off of my tail! What in Equestria is going on?”

Twilight sighed and shrugged defeatedly.

“A ... zombie apocalypse …”

“Are you being serious? How bad is it?”

She closed her eyes, trying not to think of the castle.

“It’s bad.”

Rarity glanced at both of them, reading their frightened expressions. “I thought about going to the castle … is there anybody there?”

Twilight and Spike looked at each other nervously before looking back at her.

“N- no …” Twilight started.

“Oh, it was horrible!” Spike cried out, “we saw a pony getting eaten! Eaten!! We barely made it out! I- it was - ah…”

He dropped down, trying to shake the memory from his head. His eyes opened up to tears flowing down his cheek as he started to grieve. Rarity looked on in disbelief.

“You saw- you saw what now?!”

She turned to Twilight but she was unable to answer too as fearful tears formed in her eyes.

“Oh you poor things …” She sat next to Spike and rubbed his back, still taken aback by what she heard. “Gosh … this is a lot more serious than I imagined.”

Twilight nodded as she wiped away her tears. “... This is going to be unlike anything we have ever faced …”

She watched Rarity nod along as her friend took this in. Rarity described her experience with one, but it did not come close to what they saw. She had only been chased by one, seeing its gruesome face as she ran.

“We need to go,” Twilight said, “We’ll get Applejack and make our way back to find others.”

Rarity thought for a second. Twilight read into her.

“I know,” she started, “but the barn isn’t far from here. We will get Sweetie Belle right after, I promise. We need to stick together right now.”

Unfortunately, the old schoolhouse that was down the road from Sweet Apple Acres had been wiped out in the mega-storm months ago. The community had voted on the new schoolhouse being partly across town, near the other side of Ponyville. Rarity sighed as she nodded along.

“Okay … Let’s go.”