The Trotting Dead

Panic.

Some say it doesn't help.

That it's just an obstacle.

But they've never been in a situation like this.

"Twilight, he's not answering!"

"Just, just try again, Scootaloo!" Twilight shouted, still focused on one of the Trotters in front of her.  Twilight tried to ignore the fact that it had a camera hanging from its neck, and instead focused her horn on snapping its head in two.

"Twilight, there's no way—"

"Just keep trying, Scoots!  Don't look back, we'll all be okay!"

Despite Twilight's warning, Scootaloo turned away from the door and looked out onto the porch.

The survivors, the mares, Scootaloo's friends were scattered, each trying to make their way.  Rainbow Dash was above the field of dead ponies, making swoops for the bag they had left, Twilight was directly in front of her, trying her hardest to keep the Trotters away from everypony, and Fluttershy was slowly backing away from a large gang of rotting earth ponies.  No one will get hurt, Scootaloo thought to herself.  Shade will open this door soon enough, and we'll all be okay.

Sure enough, as Scootaloo scanned the crowd again, it seemed as though it was impossible for anypony to die.  Maybe—

Fluttershy screamed as she tripped over a rake.

"Fluttershy!" Scootaloo screamed as she began running towards the yellow mare.

"NO, SCOOTS!"

Scootaloo suddenly felt her lungs being squeezed as all of the air left her, and she was slammed on the ground.

"Stay here!" yelled Twilight at the orange pony as she got off her, running towards Fluttershy.

Scootaloo sat up, trying to force air back into her lungs.  That hit had been hard.  When she finally was able to see colors other than black, Scootaloo saw Twilight running as hard as ever.  Only she wasn't the first one to get there.

Laying between Fluttershy and her pursuers was one, red-maned mare.

Roseluck.

Fluttershy screamed as soon as she saw the redness trickling down onto her coat.  Resisting the urge to puke, the pegasus was attempting to push the bleeding mare off of herself when Twilight arrived.

"What happened?" Twilight frantically asked as she joined in the pull to get Roseluck's limp body off of Fluttershy.

"Roseluck was...  She was..."

Fluttershy was on the brink of tears.

"Alright, nevermind, just..."  There was a burst of magical aura, and Roseluck's body was soon floating alongside Twilight as she ran back to the front porch.  Fluttershy followed, crying.

When Twilight reached the front door once again, she set down Roseluck and hit the door with her might, feeling its wood crack under her hoof.  It didn't matter what happened now, now that one of her party's members—no, one of her friends had been injured.  All that mattered was that this door—as well as the pony inside of it—were keeping her, her friends, and her daughter from salvation.

With a magical burst, as well as a scream of rage, Twilight teleported inside.

"Alright, girls, Twilight's in!  Everypony but Fluttershy and Scootaloo get back out, make sure—"

"What happened, Rainbow?  I heard Roseluck scream, but then—" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Celestia, we don't have time for this!"

"I hope she's not hurt, that'd be—"

"Fine!  Bucking fine!" screamed Rainbow Dash as she pushed her through her friends.  "You idiots wanna see her?  There she is!  Right...Bucking...THERE!"

Rainbow Dash pointed towards Roseluck's limp body.

"Oh my Celestia," said Rarity through her hoof as she looked down upon the gruesome sight that was Roseluck.  Blood was streaming down from her leg in rivers, and Roseluck's light-yellow mane was becoming even more bleached.

"What...  What happened?" asked a small voice, pushing through the crowd.

"Scootaloo!" said Rarity, who was blocking the filly's sight.  You really shouldn't be seeing—"

"I wanna see her."

"Well, honestly, that's—"

"No, get out of my way."

Rarity shifted her weight from one side to another nervously.  "It's not really my call..." she said, looking at the door, almost in anticipation.

"I need to—"

"I don't know if you guys noticed, but there are literally thousands of Trotters, and you're about to become their food!"

All eyes turned to Rainbow Dash, who was hovering above a slowly-approaching horde of Trotters.

The first thing Twilight saw when she teleported in was the barrel of a gun.

"Alright, back up.  I see one light from that horn of yours and you're getting it."

Twilight didn't move.

"I said, back UP!" shouted Shade, kicking Twilight with his hoof that wasn't on the trigger—he was wearing a contraption on his hoof that allowed him to not hold it with his mouth.

Twilight flew backwards into the wall, her ribs aching from the blunt force of Shade's leg.  As the gray pony advanced on her once again, Twilight sprung up to meet him, knocking his gun—as well as his mechanism to pull the trigger—out of his hoof.  She then stood up on her two back legs, using one of them to kick Shade as he had kicked her, but a bit harder.  He fell against the floor, and Twilight took the opportunity to hit him in the head.  It worked the first time, with her hoof making a clunk noise against his forehead.  However, Shade anticipated the next time, rolling out of the way and  pulling Twilight's arm so that she lay next to him.

Shade got up and dived on top of the purple unicorn, beginning to choke her.

Shade was taken back when Twilight's horn glowed purple, and almost let go of her soft trachea when she teleported the two of them yards away.  However, he held on, and Twilight's face began to turn an even deeper shade of purple.  Her horn began to glow again, but this time she didn't teleport.  Instead, there was a click of the door unlocking.

"Ha," Shade laughed after seeing this.  "That all ya got?"

Twilight shook her bruised neck as there was another click, this time behind Shade's head.

"Did you hear that?!" asked Pinkie Pie as she eyed the front door.

"What?" asked Rarity, distracting herself from Scootaloo.

"The door, it's unlocked!"

"You sure?  I didn't hear—"

"Yeah, yeah, just look!"

"Alright!" said Scootaloo, finally pushing herself past Rarity to open the door.  She reached it, used her mouth to turn the knob, and opened it.

Twilight was laying on the floor, a massive amount blood on her face.

Shade was limp on top her her, lying without a face.

...Or a head.

Scootaloo threw up on the floor as Rarity fainted.