The Equestrian Apocalypse

— Applejack —

The barn stood tall against Celestia’s rising sun. Applejack stood near an apple tree, already done harvesting one long row of trees. She bucked the tree next to her with a mighty blow, sending apples careening into the buckets below. It was a good day so far, at least in her mind. She looked on at the barn in the distance with that familiar sense of pride and happiness she felt. It was always a pretty sight to see on mornings like this. That was part of the reason she got up so early all the time. Her peace was interrupted by Granny Smith hollerin’ from the house.

“Applejaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!”

AJ shook away her serenity as she started galloping for the house. Granny shouted her name again. As she got closer, she could start to make out Granny’s worried expression. She ran up and met her at the front door.

“What is it, Granny?! What’s the matter?”

“Zombieeeeeees!”

AJ squinted her eyes and cocked her head, wondering if Granny had finally lost it. “What in tarnation are you on about, Granny?”

“The radiooo! It said that Manehatten’s got them zombies! Living dead! Golly, I didn’t believe it at first either but it sounds real!”

AJ grew a new sense of fear. A zombie apocalypse? It seemed a bit unrealistic and unlikely that a zombie apocalypse would break out in Equestria, but AJ had seen some crazy stuff in the past. She thought a minute about the possibility.

“...A-are ya’ positive?” AJ asked nervously.

“Yes, dear. Why would I lie to ya?”

She was right. AJ cursed quietly to herself. Applebloom had already left for school. That damned school just had to be moved across town, didn't it? She thought about it more and realized that, thankfully, if there really was a big apocalypse starting, Manehatten was pretty far away. Ponyville had plenty of time to prepare for whatever happened.

“Applejack! Look!!!” Granny shouted, pointing her hoof toward the fields.

AJ looked back to see the shape of a pony in the distance. She squinted to see Big Mac, who had accompanied her for the morning harvest. He was galloping toward them, likely to have heard Granny’s hollerin' as well.

“Zombie!” Granny shouted.

“It’s just Big Mac!” AJ hissed.

“Oh… okay, sorry dear.”

Big Mac ran up to meet them. “What’s goin' on?”

“Granny said she heard about zombies on the radio. Some kinda zombie apocalypse, I guess?”

“That’s right,” Granny replied, “They said Manehatten is chaos … that it’s starting to fall apart!”

Big Mac looked at them dumbfounded. “What?”

“Come here,” Granny said, gesturing both of them inside. They made their way into the living room as static started filling the air.

“Darn!” Granny walked up and started adjusting the dials on the radio, but the static continued to play. “I swear-”

AJ placed a hoof on Granny’s shoulder. “It's okay. We believe you.” She turned to Big Mac. “We need to get Applebloom from school. Let me grab something real quick and we will head out, alright?”

Big Mac stared at the radio a few seconds longer, caught in a gaze.

“... Big Mac?”

He left his daze and looked at her worryingly. “... Eeyup …”

“Okay,” AJ replied suspiciously.

She side-hugged a worried Granny before heading upstairs to her room. She made her way inside and opened up her closet. After digging around the top shelf, she moved aside a box and felt with her hooves until she felt rope. She pulled out the lazily stored lasso and inspected it to make sure the knots were correct. She then wound it up into a smaller circle and set it on the ground. She set her hind legs in the circle and slid one of her hooves underneath the rope. Next, she tucked her tail between her legs and kicked the rope up around her hips. Once it slid to her midsection, she bent her foreleg to tighten it in place, making sure it was easily accessible for when she needed it.

Once it was set, she made her way back downstairs. As she started to head back to the living room, she stopped next to the kitchen. On one of the countertops was their knife block, with sharp kitchen knife handles sticking up out of it. She stopped and contemplated for a moment, wondering if she needed them. After some thought, she walked over and took out a knife. She pulled on one of the drawers and took out some tape as well, awkwardly taping it around her foreleg. She thought about what this implied, hoping not to have to use it. When she finally went back to the living room, she found Granny sat up in her rocking chair, but no Big Mac.

“Where is Big Mac?” she asked.

“He’s waiting outside, dear,” she answered.

AJ ran up to her and kissed her on the cheek. “We’ll be back soon. Just stay inside. And lock the doors!”

“I was fixin' to do that now.”

Granny got up and followed her to the door. AJ stepped out onto the porch and looked around to find no Big Mac. She turned back to Granny. “He said he was waiting?”

“He did,” Granny said.

AJ stepped off the porch and looked around, but still couldn't find Big Mac. She glanced back up at Granny and yelled at her to close the door before cursing to herself and taking off for the school.

Damn it, big brother.

She sprinted as fast as she could through the orchard, reaching the gate faster than she ever had before. She knew now that he had taken off without her because the gate was left ajar. When AJ caught up with him, she was going to kick his big ass to Manehatten herself. On her way to the school, a pony started crossing the path that laid out ahead of her. She thought nothing of it until he turned, revealing his torn up face. The pale color of his coat stood out, and the stallion opened his mouth wide in a groan.

Shoot.

It was real ... and it wasn't just Manehatten. She readied herself, reaching her foreleg down to loosen the lasso until she realized how slow he was moving. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but his trot was slow enough to where she could possibly avoid him. So instead, she set her foreleg back down and trotted toward him. When she got close, she quickly juked to the right side and bolted into a gallop. The pony lunged when they were within range, and to her surprise, he was able to snap his teeth onto her following tail. She was grinded to a stop as his resistance pulled her back.

She dug her hooves into the ground as she turned, before pulling hard on her backend to get him off. This only caused him to fall to the ground, with her tail still held firmly in his mouth. Another frantic tug only pulled him along the dirt. She quickly realized that she would have to use her knife to either cut part of her precious tail off, or … kill him.

As she fought back to keep him down and slithering on the ground, she reached down and used her mouth to pull the knife off of her. She felt the tape rip off her coat as she yanked the knife up and spit it into her front hoof. The knife glimmered in the sunlight as she rose it and looked the pony in the eyes. With one fell swoop, she sliced her tail in half. She immediately felt his resistance vanish, so while holding the knife in her hoof, she turned and took off.

While she got away from him, she realized just how agile these ponies were. She did not feel like risking an encounter with any more of them, so she made her way into the trees lining the path and went off-course a bit to stay hidden in the greenery. This route would take her a bit longer, which she greatly disliked, but she had no other safe choice. She taped the knife back on her foreleg and continued.

As she looped around the outskirts of Ponyville, halfway to the school, she heard a rustling up ahead. Despite not seeing what it was, she was taking no chances now. She tip-toed her way around some fallen leaves and quietly pressed herself into a sunken area of dirt next to a tree. Bushes and shrubbery covered her bright orange coat as she hid. There were no groans associated with the couple different steps she heard, but she remained quietly in place as they passed, fading off behind her.

She made it most of the way to the school before encountering another rustle in the bushes. This time, she was back on the path to the school. Before she could sneak away into the bushes on the other side of the path again, a pale zombie mare emerged from the bushes and took notice of her. The path they were on was not wide enough for AJ to safely go around this time. She was also too close to the school to risk running through the woods and luring the pony back with her.

AJ reached back and unloosened the lasso. She tucked in her shortened tail again and pushed her forelegs to stand upright briefly, allowing the rope to slide down her body and hit the ground. She then leaned down and bit into the stem before turning to face the pony again. The mare had made more distance than AJ had expected, and she was within close enough range already. AJ quickly threw her head sideways with the rope still in her mouth and ran to the side. When there was enough force to drag the lasso, she spun around, causing it to lift in the air. With one accurate toss, she managed to land it right in front of the mare's forelegs.

Just a second later, the mare stepped both of her forelegs right inside the loop as she continued pursuing her. AJ reacted swiftly, yanking the loop tight around her front hooves and causing the pony to fall. The clumsy mare kicked both of her legs in an attempt to get up, but when she did, AJ would pull on the rope and make her fall again. As she did this, AJ was starting to realize this probably wasn't the best tool to use. She nervously looked down at the knife, but she wasn't ready to use it yet. As much as she wanted to keep the lasso, she decided to leave it. While the mare was tied up, she easily ran past and continued toward the school.

When she approached the school, she noticed a few ponies huddled together by the left side of it. Most of them looked small, and she could tell they were fillies. She approached the group to find Applebloom with her crusader friends. They noticed her, but Applebloom was too covered in tears to say anything. Their teacher, Cheerilee, was kneeling over somepony. That somepony ... was Big Mac.

AJ ran up to the side of a teary-eyed Cheerilee. Big Mac was on the ground, blood leaking out from his neck. Another pale pony laid out behind him, dead, with a knife sticking out of its head. The blood from Big Mac's neck was coming out of a bite-shaped wound, and AJ instantly realized what this meant. She dropped to his side with her mouth hung open in shock. She made eye contact with Cheerilee, unable to speak. Big Mac coughed up blood, opening his eyes a squint and looking up at AJ. He too, was unable to speak as she grabbed his hoof. Tears started rushing down her face as she squeezed, watching his eyes close slowly.

A few minutes went by until Cheerilee shook her. AJ’s tears had stopped, but her blank stare glued to Big Mac’s once open eyes. AJ kept squeezing his hoof despite him no longer returning the pressure. His breathing had stopped, and his red coat had already started to grow pale. Big Mac was gone. Cheerilee shook her shoulder again. Her muffled voice started to enter AJ’s brain.

“Applejack!”

Blinking out of her trance, she turned to Cheerilee.

“Applejack, come on! We’ve got to go, he’s going to turn!”

Cheerilee tugged on her shoulder, pulling her off Big Mac. Nearby, the fillies were huddled together, clearly afraid and distraught. She shook her head and returned herself to reality.

“Alright, alright!” she exclaimed.

AJ shoved Cheerilee’s hoof away from her. She stood up and took a deep breath as she trotted up to the fillies with a nervous Cheerilee right behind her. They made eye contact again before realizing they were on the same page. AJ turned back to the girls.

“Come on girls, we have to go.”

She looked down at them, seeing the fright glowing in their eyes. Applebloom stepped forward and grabbed her front hoof tight. AJ felt her shaking and nearly lost it again. Instead, she put her other hoof on Applebloom’s head, petting her mane in an attempt to calm her.

“Shhh. Big sis is here.”

Cheerilee trotted up to the other two fillies and attempted to comfort them.

“Applejack ... fillies, we need to leave.”

Scootaloo turned to Cheerilee. “But the others! We need to find them!”

AJ looked back at Cheerilee questionably. She returned the stare and sighed.

“The other fillies … some of them ran when it was all going down,” she explained, “and some …” She looked at the school house before shaking her head and looking back at Scootaloo. “We don’t have time. I’m sorry. We need to go before he turns.”

“Can’t we move him somewhere?” Sweetie Belle asked, “or tie him up?”

“He’s too heavy,” AJ replied, “and too strong …”

“But,” Scootaloo joined, “all of us together could move him.”

AJ and Cheerilee exchanged glances once more and looked back at Big Mac. While they briefly pondered the possibility, they heard a quiet groan come from him. His coat was really pale now, and his foreleg attached to his bitten shoulder twitched.

“It’s too late!” AJ exclaimed, “Come on, we have to leave NOW!”

“Follow me!” Cheerilee yelled, galloping toward the path AJ had come.

AJ made sure all three fillies were accounted for as she took the rear of the pack, galloping from her undead brother. She wiped away forming tears and followed the others. She turned back one more time to see the school house fade in the distance as they escaped.