See You on the Other Side

See You on the Other Side Part III

Rainbow Dash could no longer stand the harsh reality; she leaped from the cloud and allowed her wings to go limp, and landed head first on the earth. While her neck cracked, she remained conscious for a short period of time, just long enough to see Zecora standing before her, laughing at the pegasus pony. Then all went dark, and Rainbow Dash couldn’t wait to join her friends on the other side.

While Rainbow Dash and her five friends now lay dead, all is not lost in Ponyville, for not every pony was ended by the virus. All of Applejack’s family members were taken over by the virus, and later decided to join Zecora’s army; the remaining of the staff at Sugarcube Corner saw that Pinkie Pie was gone, and managed to make it to Canterlot to warn Princess Celestia of the zombies, allowing Canterlot to close its gates and be unaffected by the virus. But what of the young cutie mark crusaders?

Clearly Apple Bloom was no longer part of the club, as she had fallen victim to the virus; but two fillies’ tales remain untold; these are their stories.

It was a warm, bright summer day. Sweetie Belle had been begging her big sister to help with the dresses she was making for Sapphire Shores, but alas, her sister took pride in her work and would not accept any help on the dresses. Sweetie Belle decided to go assist Twilight Sparkle in organizing her books, so off she went to Twilight’s library.

At Twilight’s library, Sweetie Belle spent the entire day organizing books on every subject, sometimes she would sneak a peek inside a book to learn more about the subject than the title could tell her, and she was delighted to learn so many new things. Sweetie Belle was especially interested in how much Spike knew about book keeping, and how he could locate any book in the library just by the name of it.

Later that night, as things were winding down, Sweetie Belle was talking to Spike in the back room while they both worked on dusting the shelves. Sweetie Belle recalled hearing some commotion in the other room, but was too interested in the conversation to bother seeing what was going on. When Sweetie Belle went back to tell Twilight she had to go home, she noticed that Twilight was gone. Spike came to see what was going on and looked out the window, only to see a mob of changed ponies surrounding the library; thankfully the door was locked, and there was no way any of the changed ponies could possibly get into the library.

For weeks the two lived in that library, living off emergency rations and tap water; but the mob did not want to leave. Several months passed, they were running out of food, and the changed ponies still had not left. One day, as all hope was beginning to die, a bright flash of light showed from the Everfree forest, and every one of the changed ponies took off towards it, never to be seen alive again. Sweetie Belle left the library accompanied by spike in search of her friends and family, and food of course.

The first pony Sweetie Belle wanted to find was Rarity, seeing her sister was the one thing that would make her feel better after the apocalypse. Sweetie Belle went straight to Rarity’s house, only to find the horrific scene upstairs which at first made her vomit, but she then went outside and sat down to cry; the loss of her sister was the emotional equivalent of all of Equestria on her back, she now had to carry on the legacy of her sister, and she no longer had any pony to look up to.

Sweetie Belle, no longer knowing where to go, decided to search for Apple Bloom, hoping that her friend may have survived; but upon arriving at Sweet Apple Acres, she found it to be deserted, no signs of the family anywhere. Sweetie Belle then began searching for Scootaloo, ignoring all of Spike’s complaints that they should’ve been searching for food. Sweetie Belle decided to check the school, Cheerilee being Scootaloo’s big sister, they might’ve both been there when the changed ponies took over.

Sweetie Belle took a deep breath as she walked into the school, she had no idea what she would find. The hallways were completely empty. Sweetie Belle walked through the hallways, looking through all the empty classrooms, hoping to find her friend. Sweetie Belle was getting ready to quit when she heard some pony banging on a locker, confused, she looked all around but found no pony. Sweetie heard it again, but found it to be coming from inside a locker; she approached the locker to see who it was trapped in the locker. Sweetie Belle peered through the holes in the locker and saw… Scootaloo! Scootaloo sounded very hungry and pushed a small key through the slits in the locker, requesting to be freed. As soon as Scootaloo was free, she gave Sweetie Belle a big hug, “I didn’t think any pony was going to save me.” Scootaloo began to cry, “I thought you and Apple Bloom were goners.” The whole situation confused Sweetie Belle, she wanted to know how in Equestria Scootaloo lived through those several months. “How did you survive in there that whole time?” asked Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo began to explain the story of her survival.

She was riding her scooter all around Ponyville on that warm summer day; everything was as it should have been. Scootaloo recalled that she was going to meet Cheerilee up at the school to discuss their plans for the weekend. Scootaloo raced to the school, she was there so fast that it would have made Rainbow Dash proud. Scootaloo walked into Cheerilee’s classroom and they had a long conversation about what they were going to do over the weekend, and Scootaloo was excited. Cheerilee decided to go home so she could work on lesson plans, but Scootaloo stayed back so she could use a textbook and work on homework.

Scootaloo worked for a long time until she heard a noise coming from outside, she left the classroom to see what was making the noise. Scootaloo saw one of the changed ponies, with a crazy look on her face, standing right in the lobby of the school. Scootaloo ran back into the classroom and started to think, remembering that wherever she hides, she might have to hide for a while. Scootaloo remembered that Silver Spoon always kept a bunch of bottles of water and sugary snacks in her locker, with barely enough room to fit her backpack; it would be a tight squeeze, but Scootaloo would make it work. Scootaloo saw a set of keys on Cheerilee’s desk, and she knew that one of those keys could unlock all of the lockers, for things like fillies forgetting their combinations, and getting locked inside.

Scootaloo exited the classroom and made a mad dash for Silver Spoon’s locker, the changed pony turned to her and began to pursue. There were five keys on the ring, she tried the first one, fail, and the changed pony was about 3 classrooms away. The second and third didn’t work, the changed pony was just one classroom away. The fourth key, perfect fit; Scootaloo jumped inside and slammed the door shut, just in the nick of time. The changed pony banged her hooves against the locker, but it would not give; all Scootaloo thought was, “wow, these are well-built lockers.”

Scootaloo found all the water and food to be there, plenty to last her a while. When it came time that Scootaloo had to ‘do her business’ so to speak, she found that she could undo some pins in the back of the locker and found there to be a cavity behind where she could leave waste.

After a month, Scootaloo felt she was losing sanity, she began writing letters to all the ponies in her life; she didn’t know if any pony would ever receive them, but it made her feel good to know that she had gotten some things off her chest. After 2 months passed, Scootaloo was completely out of food; she only had water left. By the time Sweetie Belle showed up, the water was all gone, and Scootaloo could only think about food; but of course, she did not forget to take her letters along, she treasured them as reminders that life is short, and she should live each day as if it was her last.

The three all agreed to go to Sugarcube Corner in search of food, particularly for Scootaloo. After a long time of talking and walking, they walked through the door to the sweet shop; but they were shocked by a strange burning smell in the air, they considered opening the oven to see what it was, but they overcame curiosity in that they probably didn’t want to know what was inside. Scootaloo searched the refrigerator and found a box of cupcakes in pristine condition, she ate half of them right there, and offered the rest to spike and Sweetie Belle, knowing that they had already been eating. They were about to leave when they noticed a note on the counter, it read “we are going to Canterlot before this virus gets out of hand –Mr. and Mrs. Cake,” they all agreed that it would not be a bad idea to go to Canterlot and meet up with them, so they headed off the fastest way they knew how: through the Everfree forest.

Spike made several requests not to go through the Everfree forest, but he was shot down every time; the two fillies were dead set on going through the forest. They all happened upon a large clearing about midway through the forest, which had a large temple in the middle of it, but was surrounded by dead changed ponies, all of which were painted to look just like Zecora. The three ascended to the top of the temple to find the real Zecora, lying dead; a foul stench filled the air, the group could swear that the smell is what killed all the changed ponies. They were getting ready to leave when Princess Luna flew in and landed on the temple. “I bet you are all wondering what happened to Zecora, aren’t you?” the royal alicorn inquired. Every pony nodded their head, “a long while after the apocalypse, we discovered that all the changed ponies were following Zecora, and if we took out the leader, the rest would fall like dominoes.” Luna continued, “I came in and killed Zecora, and immediately her body let off that powerful stench and a flash of light, any one of the changed ponies who smelled it would die, and all the changed ponies responded to the light; the virus is gone.”

The three were relieved to know that the virus was no longer an issue, but they still wanted to go to Canterlot to escape the deserted Ponyville. When they finally arrived at Canterlot they found it to be in pristine condition, untouched by the virus. But they still had nowhere to stay, so they went to the castle to discuss their situation with Princess Celestia, who was more than glad to allow them to stay in the castle.

For years they lived in Canterlot, Scootaloo became a member of the Wonderbolts not too long after she learned to fly, Sweetie Belle became the best singer in all of Equestria; Spike became a massive dragon and went to live in a mountain full of jewels. After 40 years had passed since the apocalypse, Ponyville had long been rebuilt, and the three friends used their wealth to have statues erected in Ponyville of all 6 of the ponies who defended Equestria from Nightmare Moon and Discord. The 6 may be dead, but their legacy would live on for all of eternity.

The End