Left 4 Friendship

*TWO WEEKS AFTER FIRST INFECTION*

   A dark alleyway, filled with bodies of ponies of all walks of life - most with bites on their necks or arms - sits quietly, waiting for someone to walk into it. Then, the once dark alley is suddenly flooded with light as four figures, wielding weapons, walk in from the darkened street. One of them, a unicorn with purple fur and mane, stops the other three by swiftly raising her hand into the air.

   “HOLD UP!” she commanded. She bent down into the light from one of her companion’s flashlight. The light making her M-16 assault rifle glisten. She reached down to one of the bodies and lifted up a handful of green sludge.

   “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

   “Jeez, Twi, don’t let that stop you from smearing it all over yourself,” said a rainbow-maned mare wielding a pump shotgun.

   Twilight stood, walked to Rainbow Dash, and rubbed the foul-smelling sludge onto her favorite Wonderbolts t-shirt.

    “They’re changing!” she yelled

    “SWEET CELE-- AW, THAT STINKS!!!” cried Rainbow Dash.

    A pink-maned filly standing next to her chuckled quietly but was interrupted by loud wailing coming from inside the door to her right.

    “Somepony’s still alive!” exclaimed a Stetson-wearing mare with a thick, southern accent.

    Twilight and Applejack walked cautiously into the room.

    “Lights on, guns drawn,” Applejack remembered Rainbow Dash saying 3 days ago when they were in a similar situation.

    They finally reached where the young mare was sitting in the corner, bawling.

    “It’s alright. We’re not gonna hurt you.” Applejack said  soothingly as she raised her light up to the mare’s pale face. Her eyes were glowing red and she started to growl. Twilight quickly lowered Applejack’s pistol.

    “Lights off!” she whispered through gritted teeth.

    Outside, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie quietly waited for Applejack and Twilight to exit the building, when they suddenly heard angry, babbling and screaming coming from the alley entrance. More silhouettes appeared, but these were running straight towards them.

     “SHIT! SHIT!” Pinkie screamed. She ran into the room Applejack and Twilight were in.

     “THEY’RE COMING!!!” she cried, shining her flashlight directly into the eyes of the undead mare, making it scream like a banshee.

     “RUN LIKE HELL!” cried Applejack.

     Running as fast as they could they escaped the room. Pinkie closed the door behind Twilight in an attempt to trap the Witch in the room. Loud pounding was heard from inside as the door bulged outward with every hit. The Witch finally broke her clawed-fingered hand out of the door. Pinkie immediately started screaming and shooting through the gashed door with her Uzi submachine gun.

      “DIE YOU BASTARD!!!” she yelled.

      “STAY CLOSE!” yelled Twilight.

      The four stood their ground for as long as they could, but not long after they had regrouped, an extremely tall infected stallion with a large growth on his face appeared in the fire escape above them, and grabbed Twilight with his long tongue.

      “NOOOOOO!!” she cried.

      “Hang on!” said Rainbow Dash as she aimed her shotgun. Moments later, the Smoker got a face full of buckshot.

      Rainbow Dash helped up Twilight while halting incoming zombies with a blast from her shotgun.

      “Happy Hearth's Warming Eve,” she said gruffly.

      Applejack pulled a pipe bomb from her belt.

      “FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!” she exclaimed as she hurled the explosive at the incoming onslaught of undead ponies. Friends. Family. The infection didn’t care who you were, if you were bitten, you weren’t going to live much longer than a few hours after.

      Pinkie Pie perked her ears up to a rapid whipping sound coming from above them. A spotlight from the helicopter shown on them, but still, it passed.

      “HEY!! DOWN HERE! WE’RE NOT INFECTED!!!” she cried to the helicopter as she ran out into the street. “Damnit!” she exclaimed as the helicopter flew off into the distance.

      Although the helicopter didn’t see her, something else did. A short, skinny stallion, wearing a hooded sweatshirt which covered the top part of his face, was crawling on the wall behind her, staring. With a giant leap, he was on her in no time, his large claws ripping into shirt, then flesh. Applejack came up behind him and body checked him off of her friend, and with one fluid motion, once again raised her pistols and started firing. Pinkie, still on the ground, was firing with her pistol as well. The Hunter was backed into a car by now, as Pinkie Pie, this time, aimed for the head. She didn’t miss. The stallion’s body slumped backwards onto the car.

      When this happened, the alarm of the car suddenly went off. Blaring and blaring to alert an owner who would never come.

      “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Twilight said as shadows of hundreds of zombies were cast onto buildings all around them.

      They got into a tight circle formation, knowing all too well that they were going to be surrounded very quickly.

      It didn’t take long for their predictions to become reality as the infected approached from all sides. The sound of garbled screaming and babbling filled the air, but one sound stood out for Rainbow Dash. A deep, bellowing roar was coming from the direction she was facing. She didn’t know what it was, but she certainly knew it wasn’t friendly.

      A car came hurtling violently at them, crushing some zombies underneath the mangled wreck, but came to a stop twenty yards away. By now, the other three had turned around to see what had just happened. What they saw was an eight foot tall infected pony with biceps measuring about two feet in diameter running straight at them.

      Pinkie began backing away slowly, gun raised.

      “Run or shoot?” she asked. No answer.

      “RUN OR SHOOT!?” she said again, voice raised as high as her weapon.

      “Both!” answered Twilight.

      All four ran from the lumbering beast charging towards them. They ran back into the alley from which they came. Applejack noticed the fire escape where the Smoker’s lifeless body lay and started to climb the ladder.

      She reached the top, Pinkie started next. The Tank came around the corner and hurled a rock at Rainbow Dash, knocking her onto her hands and knees. Twilight came to her aid, shooting the Tank before it could crush her friend with it’s fists that were the size of microwave ovens.

      But her bravery would come at a price, as she was smacked into a wall by the beasts’ beefy hands. Before it could smash her into juice, Applejack fired five rounds into the Tank’s chest.

      “Come on!” she yelled to Twilight. By now, Rainbow Dash had already staggered her way to the top and was waiting for Twilight.

      Twilight began climbing the ladder as Applejack covered her. The Tank also started climbing. It’s arms were so big however, it used the multiple levels of the fire escape as a ladder. Twilight just barely made it to the top when the fire escape started creaking and warping from the Tank’s weight. Applejack continued shooting at it, attempting to halt it’s climb. Finally, the fire escape gave out. Applejack tried running and jumping onto the roof, where everyone else was, but didn’t have the height.

      “Rainbow!” she cried, fortunately, Rainbow Dash was there just in time to grab her hand before she fell five stories to an untimely death. The rest of the fire escape fell and crushed the Tank. It groaned in pain and gave a death gurgle before succumbing to his wounds.

      “We made it! I can’t believe we made it!” Pinkie said in awe.

      “Pinkie, we just crossed the street. Let’s not throw a party until we’re out of the city.” Twilight interrupted coldly.

      The end of pony kind is just the beginning. The struggle to maintain it is where this story begins. Little do our heroes know, that only fifty feet below them, an army of the undead awaits.

      TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 1...