End of Equestria

Chapters

Chapter One: Tragedy
Chapter Two: Beneath the Surface
Chapter Three: New Ponyville
Chapter Four:the Road to Ponyville
Chapter Five: Survivors
Chapter Six: New friends, Old Enemies

Chapter One: Tragedy

End of Equestria by gamerjay7

WARNING: this fanfiction is a grimdark and contains blood and gore, read at your own risk

Prologue

Pinkie Pie woke up with a shock. She was covered in cold sweat and she was panting heavily. She could feel her heartbeat pounding throughout her entire body, if she didn’t know better she could have sworn her heart was inside her skull. Pinkie had been woken up by another one of the nightmares she had been cursed by ever since she caught this horrible sickness about a month ago. Suddenly, a sickening feel of nausea swept over Pinkie and her stomach lurched and her throat felt like it was being strangled. She quickly jumped out of bed and into her bathroom, emptying her stomach contents into the toilet bowl. She spat the remaining vomit out of her mouth and groggily walked back to her bed and slumped face first on to the pink mattress. The pink mare thought to herself as she got back down under her soft cotton blankets, she was starting to get worried. Pinkie had never been this sick before, this was even worse than when she ate Applejack’s tainted muffins. Pinkie couldn’t tell whether she was boiling hot or freezing cold and her bedroom seemed to be spinning around her, the wall almost seemed to be moving, shadows shifting and swirling in impossible ways. She started to get scared, not of the nightmares or the hallucinations, but of the thought that this disease could be the end of her. What if she DID die? Pinkie still had so much to do, so much to see, and what about Gummy?, who would look after him?. Pinkie started to cry. This only made her feel worse and made her want to throw up again. She held back the rest of the tears and slowly fell into a sleep plagued by fever induced nightmares.

Chapter One: Tragedy

Twilight couldn’t believe this. She had never cried so much in her life. The others weren’t taking this well either. Fluttershy was sobbing quietly into her hooves and Rarity was doing a terrible job at holding back her emotions. Nopony saw this coming. Sure, Pinkie Pie had been sick for quite a while but they didn’t think it would end like this. Pinkie didn’t want her friends to worry about her so she masked her illness by throwing more parties. Her friends noticed that she would stay indoors for days and excuse herself from her parties for hours on end, but when the girls finally realised how serious Pinkie’s illness was it was already too late. Now they were all sitting in a church, wearing black dresses, each with a small badge with multi-coloured balloons on it. Exactly the same as Pinkie’s cutie mark. Soon enough, the reverend approached the front of the room. “We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of Ponyville’s most cheerful pony” said the reverend. “Pinkemina Diane Pie was a close friend to everyone here and her absence will be a burden to all of us”. Twilight was trying to listen to the reverend’s speech over her own crying but was having trouble. "Oh Celestia why didn’t we talk to her sooner?" thought Twilight, over and over. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen the signs of Pinkie’s declining health at the start.

“I can’t believe this is actually happening” said Applejack as she wiped the tears from her face with a handkerchief. “She seemed so alive and well when we last saw her”, “there’s nothing we can do about it now, Applejack” whimpered Rarity. Twilight was comforting Fluttershy as she continued to sob. “If w-we only had m-more time” said Fluttershy, a horrible stutter to her voice. “We could h-have tried to help”. Twilight watched as her friends mourned the loss of Pinkie Pie. She too was shocked that this happened. Rainbow Dash was crying uncontrollably into Applejack’s arms. She seemed to be taking Pinkie Pie’s death the worst. Eventually, everyone went outside and watched as Pinkie’s coffin was lowered into the ground. Twilight watched as the dirt was shovelled into the grave and covered the coffin. She was sad but knew that Pinkie’s suffering had ended and that now she can finally rest.

Twilight was looking at Pinkie Pie. She wasn’t looking at her grave at Ponyville’s cemetery but through the wooden planks that were nailed to the library’s windows. She thought that she would never see her pink friend again but there she was, walking around in the light mist that shrouded Ponyville. Pinkie was different though. Her coat was stained with red and brown and her mane was drooped down and coverd in a mixture of dirt and mould. Her eyes were white with a sort of cloudy look about them, like the eyes of a blind dog. Pinkies mouth was hanging open, her teeth were stained with blood and her tongue had turned black from decay. This wasn’t the first time that Pinkie wandered around the library though. She often came here; sometimes she would be gone for a few days only to come back to Twilight’s home looking worse than ever. It pained Twilight to see her this way, in a state between life and death, wandering around without a purpose. In fact, it pained Twilight to see any of the monstrous creatures that wandered Ponyville. Because the town was so small Twilight knew almost all of the beasts that were once ponies. Right now she could see Mr Cake, gnawing on the rotted leg of a filly. Right next to him was the animated corpse of Colgate, slowly hobbling around on three legs while twitching every now and then. Twilight couldn’t watch them anymore. She closed the curtains and walked back downstairs. Sitting there was Spike, eating a stale doughnut. “That’s your third one today Spike” said Twilight. “We need to limit our food intake or we’ll have nothing left by the end of the month”. Spike gulped down the last piece of the doughnut and stared off into space. “What’s the point Twilight” he said with a frustrated tone to his voice. “Spike, we need to keep optimistic, its the only thing thats keeping us going” said Twilight. “Why Twilight?! Why the heck should we?!” shouted Spike as he jumped up out of his seat and glared at her. “We’ve been cooped up in this place for two years! We haven’t seen anyone else who isn’t one of those.. those THINGS! “. “Who knows if anyone in Ponyville is still alive” he said starting to lower his voice. “I haven’t spoken to Rarity or Rainbow Dash or Applejack for as long as i can remember”. Spike sat back down again and gazed at the floor. “We’re all down here trapped in a living hell while Celestia sits up in Canterlot castle and does nothing!”. Twilight couldn’t believe what Spike was saying. “Spike!” said Twilight angrily. “Don’t speak of the princess like that! She is probably up there trying tirelessly to find a cure to this plague”. “She’s the princess Twilight, if she was trying to find a cure don’t you think she would have found it by know?”. Spike was looking depressed now. He slumped back down onto the stool again and said nothing. Twilight wasn’t sure if she should be angry or worried about Spike. He wasn’t acting himself lately, but then again he hasn’t been outside for two years. “Listen” said Twilight calmly. “We’re running out of food and if we stay here without anyone else we might go mad from isolation”. “What are you getting at?” said Spike suspiciously as he looked back up at Twilight. “What I’m saying is that i think its time to find our friends”.

It was dark. Very dark. Rainbow dash was still having trouble seeing even after a month in pitch black. “Do you think its safe to light the lanterns again?” asked fluttershy with a worried tone. “I don’t think so, i can still hear some faint noises out there, we should probably wait another couple of days”. Fluttershy didn’t like this one bit. It was bad enough having to stay in her cottage for over a year but having to spend every second month in darkness was too much. The only light that Rainbow Dash and herself had was a few jars with some of Fluttershy’s pet fireflies trapped within, Rainbow Dash wondered why they were there due to the fact that they didn’t provide any light whatsoever . Fluttershy decided to start up a conversation. “Do you think the others are alright?”. Rainbow Dash gave an annoyed groan and looked at Fluttershy. “We talk about this every week and my answer is, just as always, I don’t know...”. Fluttershy stared down at her hooves and whimpered a little. “I’m sorry Dashie; its just that.. well... that same question burns at the back of my head every waking second”. “I can’t sleep at night because I’m worried about the other girls”. The pair sat in silence for what seemed like hours until Rainbow Dash finally spoke up. “Me too Fluttershy, me too”, Rainbow Dash got up from the sack of wheat she was sitting on a walked into the kitchen. She needed some time to think. Fluttershy stayed in the dark, watching the fireflies as they danced inside they’re glass houses. But something was troubling Fluttershy. She couldn’t tell what it was, everything seemed fine. The doors and windows were barricaded, Angel was asleep in a shoe box in the spare room and the lanterns had been turned off not to avoid detection. But then she noticed. The silence. There was complete silence. A moment ago the sounds of shuffling hooves and quiet groans could be heard outside, but not anymore. Fluttershy got up and walked over to the window. She slowly grabbed on to the curtain with her mouth and pulled it to the side. "Maybe all of the ponies are gone, maybe we can turn on the lights again..." Fluttershy thought this to herself and became optimistic. She poked her head out from behind the wall and looked outside. She was momenterally blinded by the sudden light and had to close her eyes. When her vision had returned she opend her eyes and looked through the window. She expected to see her front garden shrouded in a thick mist. But that was not the case. Fluttershy was instead stared back at by the rotted face face of a pony pressing its face up against the glass. Behind it were dozens of other creatures that resembled ponies. Fluttershy let a scream pass her lips and staggered backwards against the wall. The undead ponies smashed through the glass and wooden planks that had been nailed to the window frame and advanced on Fluttershy with surprising speed. Rainbow Dash heard the commotion and ran into the living room. There she saw Fluttershy desperately trying to push away a group of zombies. Rainbow Dash tried to get to the yellow pegasus to no avail. Fluttershy wildly swung her forhooves around her, trying to push the ponies away. One of the animated corpses got a firm hold of one of Fluttershy’s legs and bit down on it. Rainbow Dash screamed wanting to save her best friend, but she knew it was a lost cause. Fluttershy was slowly ripped apart. Her limbs being pulled from her torso, tendons and muscle ripping with a sound similar to cloth being torn. Fluttershy could no longer hear Rainbow Dash’s frantic screams, she had slipped from consciences seconds ago. The last thing she saw was her lungs being pulled through her ribcage. Rainbow Dash watched as her friend was decapitated, blood spraying from her carotid arteries all over the wall. Rainbow Dash, horrified at what she had just seen, knew that Fluttershy wouldn’t want her dead as well. She spread her wings and flew out of the smashed window and into the dense fog. She sped off towards Ponyville, blinded by the fog, and the tears in her eyes.

Chapter Two: Beneath the Surface

Chapter Two: Beneath the Surface

“Twilight this is crazy, we’re not gonna make it two feet outside the library without alerting the zombies”. “Don’t worry Spike, I’ve already thought that over” said Twilight optimistically as she gathered books and placed them into a saddlebag. Spike carried a heavy sack of apples into the room and placed it on the wooden floorboards. “Then what’s the plan? Are we just gonna politely ask them to move aside so we can walk past?”. Twilight looked at Spike with a unamused expression and continued on with her work. “No Spike, we’re going to go through the tunnel network under Ponyville”. Spike’s eyes widened at this and he quickly started making ‘slow down’ gestures with his claws. “woah woah woah, you mean we’re going to go through diamond-dog territory?!”. Spike looked slightly panicked and Twilight tried to ease his mind. “Don’t worry, Im pretty sure all the diamond-dogs have left their home by now, I heard that some infected ponies found their way down there”. “So there are more zombie ponies down there?” Spike asked. “Yes” answered Twilight, “but only a small amount, it will be a lot easier sneaking past them than the ones on the surface”. “I guess you’re right Twilight, but what if they catch us?”. Twilight pulled a hard cover book off of the shelf and showed it to Spike, the cover read ‘Basic Combat and Defence Spells’. “That’s why I have this Spike, I hoped that I would never have to use it but if the time comes I will not hesitate to cast one of these spells”. Spike glanced at the book and looked at Twilight with a confused expression. “If you have this then why don’t you just use it on the ponies outside?”. “Because Spike” said Twilight, “these ponies may be changed in many different ways but they’re still technically alive, killing one of those things is no different than killing a living pony”. Twilight placed to book into the bag and started to magically levitate the apples out of the sack and into a small box designed to be placed on the back of a pony. Spike was still looking confused however. “But if those ponies are alive then why do they still rot?”. Twilight looked up at Spike, “you sure are asking a lot of questions huh?” , she smirked and continued packing the apples. “I’m not sure why that happens, or why they have a unquenchable hunger for blood and flesh, but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the virus attacking the brain and spinal cord, the fact that the ponies die and come back to life after getting the virus is a complete mystery to me, it is quite interesting however”. Twilight finished packing the last of the apples as Spike packed some vegetables for Twilight and some rubies for himself. “Well Spike, are you ready to go?”. “I sure am, but, how are we going to get to the tunnels?”. Twilight walked over to the basement door and unlocked it. “There’s a way to get to the tunnels through the basement of the library, its going to be pretty dark so bring a lantern”. With that the two slowly crept down into the basement. Old sheets covered the many machines and equipment that Twilight had used for science experiments. That was a long time ago. Twilight and Spike soon found themselves in front of a heavily barred wooden door. Twilight opened it and looked down a long dark tunnel that seemed to stretch far into the pitch black. Twilight put on a brave face and turned to Spike. “Well, lets get going”.

“Oh Celestia what happened?” wondered Spike. He didn’t know how this happened. First he was walking with Twilight through the tunnels and then.. he couldn’t see, it was dark. Was it diamond dogs? No, it couldn’t have been. Spike’s thoughts were frantic, he was split up from Twilight a little while ago and he’s been running since then. The tunnels are very dark, mould and mushrooms coat the walls and the stench of decay hangs in the air. This was normal for old, abandoned tunnels like this but something was different. The floor, it was the floor. It should be a mixture of grey and brown dirt but its not, its red. The floor in the tunnel is caked with blood. Spike tried not to think about it and continued to run further into the darkness. He eventually came into a large cavern. The only light was coming from luminescent crystals forming in the walls. Spike slowed down and started to slowly walk through the cave. He took time to admire the beauty of his surroundings which reminded him of the time he and his friends came to save Rarity from the diamond dogs. It wasn’t until Spike had walked further into the cavern that he noticed that the blood was no longer covering the floor, and that there was a shape in the shadows of the cave. Spike almost jumped when he noticed the outline of a object in the shadows of the cave, was it a pony? A rock? No, it couldn’t be. Noticing that the shape didn’t move Spike cautiously approached the shape. On closer inspection Spike realised that the shape was in fact a mine cart. Spike was relieved at this until he noticed something attached to the cart. It was a harness joined to rusty old chains, this was all to familiar to Spike. This was one of the carts the diamond dogs put on Rarity to carry gems. Spike suddenly realised the eeriness of the situation, he was in the exact same cave that the diamond dogs had held Rarity captive in. Spike then heard it, it was barely audible but it chilled Spike down to his core. It was a scratching, like a dog scratching on a door to come inside. Spike started to quicken his pace and started to bolt through the cave, desperately trying to find an exit. The noise was becoming louder and louder and eventually became deafening. It was right behind Spike now but he dared not look. He then saw something that caused his heart to sink. A cave wall, it was a dead end. Spike knew he had no choice, he turned around to face his opponent only to see that nothing was there. The noise was still there though but now it wasn’t around Spike, it was above him. “RAAAAAAAGHHH” the scream punctured the air as a diamond dog leaped from the ceiling of the cave. It landed on Spike, pressing its exposed rip cage against Spike’s body. The re-animated dog raised its hand above Spike, showing off its claws. The paw came down with all its might and hit Spike in the side of his face. Blood spurted out of Spike’s mouth as he tried to fight off the dog. He let out a burst of magical green flame that engulfed the dogs face. While the dog was technically dead it could defiantly feel pain. It screamed and jumped off of Spike. The creature ran around the cave as its face slowly melted, exposing its skull and muscle. The dog shook off the flames and ran towards Spike. The beast was now in a berserk rage, it chased after Spike in a blind rage. Spike was terrified, diamond dogs were scary enough but one with no face and a hunger for flesh was too much. He then saw an exit on a stone ledge high above the cave floor. He started to climb up the rocky wall towards the exit, with the diamond dog in hot pursuit. Spike looked back down at the dog, its face was horrible to look at. Smoke bellowed from the charred skin and the crooked sharp teeth were exposed as the lips were burnt off. Spike reached the ledge and pulled himself onto the platform, he ran into the tunnel and looked back at the dog climbing up onto the ledge. Spike turned back only to see a caved in tunnel. Spike turned to the dog and closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

Before the diamond dog could rip Spike apart a blinding flash of magic appeared in front of Spike. He opened his eyes to see Twilight standing before him, her horn glowing with a powerful magic. “Twilight!” shouted Spike as he ran to her side. By now the dog was but inches away from the two. Twilight’s horn flashed a brilliant purple and discharged a bolt of magical energy. The blast hit the dog in the chest and ripped it apart from the inside. Blood and bone blasted across the tunnel, covering the walls and spraying Twilight and Spike with gore. The only thing left of the dog were its legs, they clumsily waddled around before falling onto the floor, spilling the bright pink intestines of the creature upon the ground. Twilight and Spike stood motionless, gazing at the display of carnage that had just occurred. Spike turned to Twilight and hugged her. “Oh Twilight I never thought I would see you again! You saved my life!” ,Twilight returned the hug warmly and held back tears of joy “thank Celestia I found you Spike! I thought you were killed!”. The two hugged for what seemed like an eternity. They eventually broke the embrace and Twilight started to remove the rubble from the tunnel that blocked their path. Spike sat down and applied bandages to his wounds. He glanced at the remains of the dog that just moments before had tried to kill him. “Wow, you really took care of that dog huh?”, “listen Spike, I know that taking down that dog was easy but I would like to avoid encounters like that”. Spike looked confused “but why? I mean, that was pretty cool how you shot that bolt at him, it sure did make a mess..”. “Spike, that’s not the point, I just killed another creature, a diamond dogs one thing but I don’t think ill be able to live with myself if I was to kill a pony”. They stopped talking until Twilight finished removing the stones that blocked the tunnel, Spike then jumped onto Twilights back and they headed off into the passage. The tunnel ended at a stone wall, not like a natural cave wall, a wall that had been placed there by a pony. “stand back Spike” said Twilight, Spike quickly ran behind Twilight and blocked his ears. Twilight’s horn shot a bolt of magic which blew through the weak wall with a deafening blast. After the dust cleared the two walked into what looked like a basement. There were boxes full of scrolls, quills, and other supplies. “Where are we?” asked Spike. “If my calculations are correct we should be directly beneath the town hall”. Spike pointed out a stairway that lead up into the main lobby. The pair walked up and saw the full devastation of what had happened here two years ago. Half of the town hall was knocked down, exposing the main lobby to the cold of Ponyville. Twilight and Spike slowly walked through the rubble. It wasn’t just wood and rock that scattered the ground, there were bodies. It looked like they had been there for a long time, their coats were gone and the flesh was a pale green leather. Spike fought through the stench and came into the open. He breathed in the fresh air, it was good to be able to breath air that wasn’t old and dry. “Spike!” yelled Twilight “we have to go!”, “what? Why?” Spike was puzzled, then he heard the groans.

Chapter Three: New Ponyville

Chapter Three: New Ponyville

Twilight had never had to be so quiet in her life. Her and Spike were hiding inside the Three-Leafed Clover café from a hoard that had seen them around a hour ago. “I cant hear any more groans Twilight, I think we can go out now”, “I don’t know Spike, I’m pretty sure I saw some shadows moving across the walls a moment ago”. Spike cautiously got up and peeked out the window, “I don’t see anything, I think its ok to go out”. Twilight looked out the window and saw nothing, she then proceeded over to the door and slowly opened it, trying not to make any noise. “Ok, lets get going” Twilight whispered. The two quickly ran outside and crouched behind a over-turned table. “where do we go now Twilight?”, “well, we’re pretty close to Sweet Apple Acres, so we should probably head over there”. Spike nodded and followed Twilight through some abandoned houses. They would see the true horrors of the zombie outbreak in almost every home they passed through. Blood was stained on the walls and rotted bodies could be found lying on the floor. Twilight had never seen such carnage, it was almost too much to bear. Spike looked away at the hunks of dead flesh that were once ponies, he was only a baby dragon and Twilight could see that this was disturbing him deeply. She suggested that they stop in the next ‘clean’ house they find, Spike agreed and tried to wait patiently. “Twilight, look” Spike pointed at a house across the road from the one they were in. Twilight recognised it as Sugar Cube Corner. “Well, if we want to stop and eat I guess that’s the best decision”. The two hurried across the road and through a broken window into the kitchen. Inside they were met not by the smell of rot but the sweet smell of ovens baking pastries. Twilight looked into one of the ovens and saw that it had recently been lit and a cake had been placed inside. “Spike, somepony’s been here”, “what? Really?” Spike looked excited “well come on we gotta find ‘em”. They started to look around for any sign that somepony was or had been inside Sugar Cube Corner. Spike hurried up into Pinkie’s room while Twilight looked in the shop. Spike slowly opened the door slowly and looked inside. All of the curtains were drawn and it was very dusty. Spike picked up a framed-photo that was sitting on the dresser. It was a photo taken at Pinkie’s birthday, they were all there, happy. Spike gave a sad sigh and put the photo into a bag he was carrying. He then picked up a object next to the dresser that was alien to him. It was a piece of wood, like one you would use to whack a piñata but it had a large metal nail stuck through it. “hey Twilight! Look at this!” shouted Spike down to Twilight. Twilight came in the door and looked at the strange object that Spike was holding up to show her. “What is it?”, “I dunno, it was just lying next to the dresser, it looks like it has blood on it”. Twilight inspected the red stains on the object, “it looks like somepony has used this as a weapon”. Spike swung it in the air a few times, hitting at a invisible target. “You know Twilight, you’ve got your magic to take care of zombies, how about I use this?”. Twilight contemplated the idea before nodding at Spike. “That’s a good idea Spike, but, who made it? I mean, Pinkie’s been dead for a long time now and Mr and Ms Cake evacuated to Manehattan”. Spike wondered for a bit and shrugged, “beats me, but I’m wondering who would leave it here”. Spike inspected the object carefully and noticed a mark on the side. It was carved into the side of the wood, it read ‘Happy Birthday Rainbow Dash, xoxo Pinkie Pie’. “Its Rainbow Dash’s!” shouted Spike, “this means she might be still alive!”, Spike was nearly jumping with joy and Twilight gave a warm smile. “This must mean that she came here not long ago, but..” Twilight stopped and looked at her hooves. “But what?”, “well, that cake downstairs was made pretty well and I know that you know that Rainbow Dash cant cook for horse apples”. “So, you mean that Rainbow Dash wasn’t here?” Spike looked at Twilight with disappointment, “Spike, if Rainbow Dash was here, it would have been a few days ago”. Spike looked at the weapon and gave a heavy sigh and started to walk out of the room. “Well, no matter, I’m pretty sure we can still find her”. Twilight followed Spike down into the shop and they sat down and ate some apples and pastries. After about ten minuets they gathered some supplies and headed off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“Oh Celestia please no!”, Cinnamon Swirl was being cornered by the strange pony that she had saved a few days ago. She found the pony being chased by a group of zombies and quickly brought her into her home. She seemed very nice, she said that her name was Ice Crisp but Cinnamon wasn’t sure of that now. “Come on now Cinnamon, this wont hurt too much” Ice Crisp was levitating a sharp knife in front of her and was slowly walking towards Cinnamon. “Oh please no don’t kill me! Please don’t kill me!” she was crying uncontrollably and shaking a awful lot. “My my this is depressing, all of you ponies are always begging for me not to kill them, I really would appreciate it if one or two of you put up a fight”. Cinnamon was against the corner now and the pony was just a metre away now and the knife was coming ever closer. “I trusted you! I brought you into my home and now you try to kill me and steal my supplies?!”. Cinnamon was now very angry and panicked at the same time, she still couldn’t stop crying. “Hush now, its time to go to sleep”, Ice Crisp swung down the knife deep into Cinnamon’s shoulder and pulled it out with a spray of crimson. Cinnamon screamed out in pain and slumped down into the corner while trying to stop the gushing of blood. “Ice Crisp you bitch!” she screamed as her blood pooled on the wooden floorboards. “I’m sorry Cinnamon but there’s no other way”, knife struck Cinnamon’s throat this time, blood flowed down her chest and stained her golden coat. As she chocked on her own blood the pony leaned in towards Cinnamon’s ear. “And by the way, my names not Ice Crisp”, the pony smirked, “its Trixie”. Cinnamon closed her eyes as she took her last breath.

Twilight and Spike approached Sweet Apple Acres. There was a large wooden wall built around the farmhouse which was boarded up with planks. “Do you think they’re still alive?” asked Spike as he munched down the last of a cupcake. Twilight surveyed the area, looking for any small details that could show her that anyone was still alive. “I don’t know, lets go a bit closer”, just as they started to head towards the farm a loud crack broke the silence before a huge rock flew towards Spike and Twilight. Twilight screamed and grabbed Spike before the rock hit the dirt, throwing soil everywhere. The two ran towards the gate and banged furiously on the hard wood. Suddenly, the gate swung open as Big mac’s hooves came towards Twilight. She screamed and dogged the hooves just in time, “what the hay are you doing?!” yelled Twilight angrily. Big Mac turned around and looked surprised at the two. “Spike! Twilight! I cant believe it!”, He quickly hugged the too before being pushed away by a angry Twilight. “You almost killed us!”, Big Mac looked a bit embarrassed and shuffled his hooves. “Uh, yeah, sorry about that, its kinda hard to see if somepony’s infected from here, we thought you guys were one of them”. Twilight accepted the apology and hugged Big Mac. “Its good to see you Mac, where are the others?”. “Granny Smith is sleepin and AppleBloom is feedin the pigs” Twilight looked a bit puzzled, “what about AppleJack?”. Big Macs expression suddenly turned to that of sorrow. “Oh, AppleJack’s in the barn, do y’all want to see her?”. Twilight nodded and followed Big Mac to the door of the barn. Mac opened up the door, Twilight wondered why there were so many locks on it. It was very dark inside the barn and Twilight could only make out the shape of a pony in the shadows. “AppleJack! Why don’t ya come out now” yelled Big Mac. This was followed by a bloodcurdling scream and AppleJack leaping towards the group. Twilight and Spike jumped ack in surprise only to notice that AppleJack was held back by a chain around her neck. AppleJack had dark rings around her eyes and a deep bite-mark on her side. “Oh..oh my..” Twilight held back the tears from seeing her friend like this. She was so excited about seeing AppleJack that she didn’t contemplate the fact that she would be like this. “Yeah, old AppleJack was bitten around a year ago when she went out to grab some apples from the field, we didn’t want to put ‘er down so we keep ‘er here”. Twilight gave a sad smile and looked at Big Mac, “well, its good to see that you guys are still ok”. Big Mac smiled back and closed the barn doors before walking over to the gate. “Its good to see that you’re ok because we were just about to head into Ponyville, we could really use your help”. Twilight gave a confused look, “we were just in Ponyville and the place is deserted, why do you want to go there?”. Big Mac turned to Twilight, “Well, AppleBloom says she saw a group of infected ponies wanderin round the apple trees in the South Field”. “So?”, “so if there’s a few ponies that have found our little fort that means there’ll be a whole lot more”. Twilight knew this was true, if one zombie pony came near the library a whole hoard will soon follow. “You’re right about that, but why Ponyville? Why not try head out to Canterlot or Trottingham?”. Big Mac rolled his eyes, “because we know that our friends are still alive, just a few days ago we saw a pegasus pony flying over near Ponyville, only one pony is as fast as that pegasus and that’s Rainbow Dash”. Twilight told Mac about how she and Spike found Rainbow’s bat in Sugar Cube Corner and that she was probably still alive and in Ponyville. “Hmmm, interesting, we should try and find her first when we head in there”. Twilight smiled at Mac, “when are we going to go in?”, “in about an hour” said Mac. “An hour? Why so soon?”, Big Mac turned to the South Field, “cause a bit of trouble is on its way”.

Chapter Four:the Road to Ponyville

Chapter Four: the Road to Ponyville

Twilight and Mac were carefully slipping through the shadows in the apple orchard. Spike and AppleBloom were next to Granny Smith who was having some trouble keeping her cool in this situation. “What was that? Did ya hear that?”, Twilight rolled her eyes, Granny Smith may be old but this level of paranoia was ridicules. Big Mac insisted that everyone find something to use as a weapon before they left the farm, Granny Smith had a large kitchen knife in a saddle bag and AppleBloom had the top of a barrel to use as a shield. She wanted to use a knife but Mac didn’t like the idea of her using a weapon. Spike had the piñata bat he found in Pinkie’s room and Big Mac was wearing iron horseshoes that were studded on the underside. Twilight thought it would be a better idea to go through the orchard under the cover of night to avoid detection, Mac didn’t like this because he knew a hoard was nearing in on the farm but knew they would be killed going through the orchard in the day. While the dark provided good cover from zombies, mixed with the fog it was a challenge to navigate through the trees. “Wait, everypony hold up”, Big Mac raised a hoof to indicate everyone to stop. “I saw somethin move, over there”. He pointed to a apple tree that had fallen over a long time ago. Twilight moved closer to the tree and peeked behind it, she was met with the stench of rot and the sight of a rotting foal. She held back the vomit and motioned everypony to move around the tree, she didn’t need AppleBloom seeing this. The group walked for another hour before stopping at the end of the orchard, there was a old road that lead to Ponyville but it was blocked by three infected ponies. “AppleBloom, take Granny Smith over there, and don’t look until I say you can”, “but Mac I wanna-“ “no buts, you don’t need ta be seein this”. Mac and Twilight moved up to the ponies, these ponies weren’t like the others, they were fast. One of the ponies galloped up to Mac but was met with his two back hooves. The metal horseshoes hit the snout of the pony, separating its lower jaw. The jaw flew back while the metal studs cracked the skull of the pony which sent bone fragments and the ponies frontal lobe flying. The pony hit the dirt with a sickening thud followed with the gurgling sound of blood seeping out of the ponies head. The second pony was hit with one of Twilight’s bolts before it could reach Twilight. The pure energy blew straight through the pony’s lower half, the pony tried to crawl towards Twilight but was first crushed by Big Mac’s hooves. The third pony was hit in the eye by Spike’s bat, blood gushed from the socket as the pony lurched at Spike, its maw snapping wildly. Spike withdrew the nail and landed it again in the forehead of the pony, with a loud crunch the face of the pony caved in and gore spilled out onto the dirt road. With the last pony down the band re-grouped and cleaned the blood from themselves and snacked on some sandwiches. Twilight was still grieving over the loss of AppleJack and this gory encounter wasn’t helping, “are you ok Twilight?” asked Spike who was obviously concerned about Twilight. “I’m fine don’t worry, its just a bit hard seeing ponies and my friends this way”, Twilight dismissed the topic and gathered everypony up for a quick plan. “Ok everypony, at the moment we’re just outside of the farm and about a hours walk from Ponyville, we needed the dark to get through the orchard but we wont make it through the meadows in the night”. “Twilights right, if were going ta make it to Ponyville we’re either gonna have ta wait until sunrise of find another route”. The group discussed this for a while before deciding to find a place to sleep for the night. “There’s a house on the top of a hill near here, I think it belonged to CarrotTop”. Big Mac suddenly remembered CarrotTop’s house, his sister used to go there to have lunch with CarrotTop on some days. “Ah been there before, its pretty isolated an easily defendable”. The group agreed on sleeping at CarrotTop’s place and walked up the hill to the house. Other than the large carrot on the roof being gone the house was in a perfect condition. Big Mac opened the door and checked the inside for any ponies, the place was empty and everypony settled down as Twilight and Mac kept watch. “Hey Mac? You remember that hoard you talked about, you know? The one that was coming through the South Field?”, “eeyup”. Mac turned to Twilight and noticed that she looked unsettled. “What about that?”, “well, I think they might be a bit closer than we first anticipated”.

Twilight had Spike riding on her back as they along with the Apple Family galloped through the meadows. “That was too close Twilight, what were you thinking stopping in a house so near the orchard?”, Twilight kept on kicking herself for not thinking this one through. Not only did she put herself at risk but also all of her friends. “Quick, we can go through the woods to lose em”, Mac pointed out the dense trees that bordered the meadows and leaded the group towards them. Twilight headed into the forest followed by Granny Smith and AppleBloom, Big Mac was on the flank of the group to watch out for any un-welcomed guests. Everypony quickly grouped in a small clearing, the moonlight gave the area eerie glow that made Twilight uncomfortable. Mac perked up his ears, as if he had just heard something, “quick! Everypony form a circle round AppleBloom and Granny!” shouted Mac, Spike and Twilight moved into a defensive position. The first pony came towards Spike, who quickly swung the bat, hitting the pony in the shoulder. The blew was so hard that the leg was dislocated and fell limp, useless to the infected pony, Spike took this opportunity and belched a blast of magic fire that melted through the pony like a hot knife through butter. The only thing left was a charred corpse. Twilight was faced by two fast ponies, one managed to knock her to the ground while the other was decapitated by a beam of pure energy. Before one of the ponies could maul the dazed Twilight it was suddenly head-butted by Mac, he turned around just in time to cave in the skull of a pony with his back hooves. The other pony who was hit by the full force of Mac’s forehead fell to the ground and was gored by Spike’s nail. Five more ponies came towards the group but were quickly taken care of by Twilight’s magic, purple and black flames erupted from the tip of Twilight’s horn and disintegrated the five zombies. Mac and Spike took out another three but missed a fourth one. The pony ran towards AppleBloom who screamed in fright, the pony knocked her to the ground but couldn’t get a bite on her because of the barrel-top. Granny Smith came up behind the pony and with one great thrust of the knife drove it straight through the head and out the face of the zombie pony. It fell to the ground with a thud and created a pool of blood in the grass. “Come on! We gotta get goin!” Mac picked up AbbleBloom onto his back and grabbed hold of Granny Smith, Spike hopped on Twilight and they sped off in to the forest. It wasn’t long before they came out the other side of the forest and could see the shadowy outline of the ruin that was Ponyville, Twilight was a quarter of the way across the field when she looked back and saw a hoard of around thirty ponies galloping out of the trees. Everypony ran with all their might towards the town, a small group of zombies ran towards them from Ponyville but were cut-down by a volley of golden lightning, Twilight leaped over the smouldering bodies of the ponies and towards the bridge that lead into Ponyville. Once everypony was over the bridge Twilight incinerated it with a brilliant display of orange and white liquid plasma-energy. Some of the zombies attempted to jump the bridge but ended up being carried away by the strong current of the river or were melted by the plasma. Twilight and the group ran deeper into Ponyville, it was time to find the others.

Everypony was walking through the foggy ruins of Ponyville, it almost seemed deserted, not a single infected pony had been seen since the bridge which wasn’t normal. Twilight knew that Ponyville was crawling with infected but she couldn’t see or hear a single one. “Where are all them evil ponies?”, Twilight thought it was cute that AppleBloom referred to the infected as ‘evil ponies’, it was nice to see that there was still some innocence in this world. “I dunno AppleBloom, just keep ya eyes peeled, ya hear?”, “yes Mac”. Twilight could see that AppleBloom was very tired, they didn’t get much sleep back at CarrotTop’s house due to the ‘disturbance’, but Twilight knew that they couldn’t stop to rest now, somewhere in Ponyville their friends were still alive. “wait, what was that?”, Spike looked around a bit, “it was like a swishing noise, but it came from.. the sky”. Twilight’s eyes widened at that, “everpony get inside!”. Suddenly a pegasus pony swooped down from the fog and onto Big Mac, its rotted face just inches from his. Spike hit the pony with the bat and Mac smashed its head in with his hooves, AppleBloom and Granny ran into an abandoned cottage but their path was cut off by another pegasus. Twilight launched a bolt at the pony but it was too quick, it flew up and onto Twilight, it bit down on her horn, trying to eat the flesh of the lavender pony. Twilight let out a sonic-boom of sorts from the tip of her horn, this blew the face off of the pony and splattered Twilight with bone and muscle. She immediately regrated using the sonic-boom, remembering the noise it makes. “Everypony! Follow me!”, Twilight started galloping towards the centre of Ponyville and was followed by the group and about twelve infected. Twilight soon found herself at the library, she kicked down the door and motioned everypony inside, when they were all in Twilight used her magic to repair the door and apply some extra barricades. It was only a matter of time before the hoard started smashing their hooves against that barricades and began getting in. Twilight managed to take out a few of them with magical-flames while Mac used his hooves to throw furniture at the zombies. Suddenly, the front door smashed open, Twilight wished it was some random pony but no, it was Pinkie. She looked horrible, her rips and organs were exposed and most of her coat was gone. She had the look of anger on her face and blood dripped from her maw, leaving a sticky pool of red in the doorway. “Oh, Pinkie..”, this time, Twilight couldn’t hold back the tears, “I’m so sorry..”. Twilights horn glowed a brilliant purple and a shadowy wave of blue and purple flowed and wrapped around Pinkie. Twilight knew this wouldn’t be pretty but it would cause Pinkie no pain, the wave shun brighter and brighter and soon was just pure light. Pinkie ran towards Twilight but couldn’t get to her in time, Pinkie was held in place just in front of Twilight, her jaw snapping, trying desperately to bite Twilight. The light was blinding now and white cracks showed on Pinkies body, Twilight looked up to Pinkie, her eyes full of tears, “I’m sorry”. A white flash blew from the waves which then disappeared from Pinkie, leaving flames on the floorboards of the library, Twilight turned and kicked Pinkie, knocking her to the ground and slightly dazing her. Twilight ran towards the back door and kicked it open, everypony followed her into the foggy cold of Ponyville. AppleBloom ran upside Twilight, “what was all that? What wer ya doin?”, twilight spoke but did not turn to AppleBloom. “I couldn’t do it, I could’ve but I just couldn’t kill her”, tears were now flowing freely down her cheeks as she looked back at the now burning library. Big Mac suddenly noticed something, “look! The boutique!”. Twilight looked towards Carrousel Boutique, it was heavily boarded and defended by wood and scrap metal, but there was something else. The lights were on, and smoke was rising from the chimney.

Chapter Five: Survivors

Chapter Five: Survivors

The small group of survivors were furiously banging on the front door of the boutique which had been heavily reinforced with wood and metal. The hoard was closing in and the boutique seemed to be the only sturdy building in the area. “Rarity! Rarity please help!” yelled Twilight, the zombies were close now and she knew that they couldn’t fend off all of them. Suddenly, a strange stallion swung open the doors and motioned the group inside. “Quick! get in! before they get any closer!”, Twilight didn’t need time to consider this due to the fact that the hoard was but metres away. The stallion slammed the doors shut with a thud that was followed by the thumping sound of hooves being smashed against wood. Now that they were safe, Twilight took time to survey this stallion, he had a light-blue coat with a navy blue mane, his cutie mark seemed to be of some sort of plant in a flower-pot. “Thank Celestia that you found us, we were beginning to think we were the only survivors!”, Twilight cocked an eyebrow, “you mean you’re not the only one?”. The stallion gave a small smile and walked further into the boutique, shortly followed by the others. “No, of course not! There are lots of us here!”, Spike ran up to the stallion with a eager expression, “is Rarity here? Oh please oh please say yes!”, Spike almost looked a bit worried. The stallion chuckled and gave Spike a reassuring look, “don’t worry, miss Rarity is here”. Spike gave a sigh of relief and slowed his pace, they soon all came into the main room of the boutique, which was filled with junk of all sorts, it was like somepony with a hoarding problem had moved into the boutique. “Wow, Rarity has really let this place go” joked Twilight as she cluttered her way through the mess. “We don’t come downstairs, we all fortified upstairs and filled downstairs with all the junk, it really helps in case of a attack because the infected have a hard time getting through all the mess”. Twilight thought over this and wondered why she didn’t think of doing that with the library. Beyond all the junk there was the door that led to the stairs. The stallion opened it up and proceeded up the stairs, then, up at the top of the stairs, was a figure that was unmistakeably the owner of the boutique, Rarity. “Well, its been a while” said Rarity, bearing a warm smile, Twilight returned the smile and spoke in a soft voice. “I guess it has”, the two stood in silence before Rarity broke it with a giggle. Twilight ran towards Rarity laughing and the two hugged while smiling uncontrollably. “I thought I’d never see you again!” said Twilight, on the brink of tears of happiness. “Oh, I knew I would see you again!”, the two hugged for a while longer before Twilight broke the embrace. Twilight then noticed six large scars on her face, three were just above her snout and the other three were over her left eye. Rarity noticed that Twilight was staring at the scars and blushed a little, “oh, heh, that, Opal got a bite from one of those nasty ponies out there, it didn’t end well”. “Oh Rarity I’m so sorry! What happened to Opal?”, rarity looked down at her hooves and back up to Twilight. “Oh… oh, I’m.. I’m sorry”, rarity gave a sad smile “don’t worry, she went quickly, but not before giving me these scars”. Spike looked at the wounds and spoke up, “I don’t think they look that bad, they actually look kinda cool!”, Rarity smiled at Spike, “oh Spike! Stop it!”. Everypony had a bit of a laugh before Twilight brought up a more serious topic, “so, what happens now?”, Rarity smirked, “now? How about I introduce you to the others?”.

There were more survivors in the boutique than Twilight expected, all together there were eleven ponies in the boutique. There was Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Silver Skies, Bon Bon, Gem Stone and Blue Leaf, the stallion who had opened the door for Twilight and the rest. There were five other ponies but they were gathering supplies out in Ponyville. The ponies that were holding out in the shop all had very different backgrounds, Silver Skies was a royal guard before the outbreak, Blue Leaf was a botanist, Bon Bon owned a candy store and Gem Stone was a professional at finding rare gems. Twilight liked how ponies that were so different worked together so well in order to survive, it showed how tenacious the pony race was. At the moment, Gem Stone was on look-out duty, Silver Skies was putting some extra barricades on the downstairs windows, Bon Bon was cooking and Blue Leaf was tending to the plants growing on the roof. Rarity finished putting Sweetie Belle and AppleBloom to bed and approached Twilight, “Twilight, you know quite a bit about pony anatomy, right?”. Twilight was caught off-guard by this question, Rarity faint at the sight of dirt let alone blood, “of course Rarity, why?”, “why don’t I show you?”. Twilight agreed and followed Rarity to a door that led into the basement, before they went down, Rarity put on a apron and surgical mask and handed the same attire to Twilight, the only difference to the two’s clothing was that Rarity’s attire was customised to her fashion requirements. Twilight put on the equipment and followed Rarity into the basement. Twilight was surprised and shocked by what she saw down there, the basement was painted white and bright lights lined the ceiling. Chrome machines hummed while tubes and pipes pumped fluids throughout the room. Silver tables not unlike the ones you would find in a morgue or a autopsy room filled the basement, each table was occupied by a zombie pony. Most were dead but some were still living and strapped to the table by metal cuffs, they were cut open, blood pouring into small pans and organs lying on trays. Twilight simply stood in one place with her jaw wide open, “it is quite a sight, isn’t it?” asked Rarity as she started to sort some assorted knifes into neat, organised lines. “Wha-, what is all this?” asked Twilight who was in awe from the stench of bleach and the sight of raw, open bodies. “this, is where I’ve been doing my work on these ponies for the past year or so, I’ve been researching them to try and understand some aspect of these ‘zombies’”. “Rarity, I never knew you had the knowledge to pull off something like this! Its incredible!”, “umm, that’s the thing, I don’t have the knowledge to do this, I’ve only been able to discover some of the characteristics that the virus takes away when it infects a pony, I would try and do further research on the whole dead and alive thing but all that blood, eagh!”. Twilight carefully looked over the dissected bodies of the ponies, Rarity’s talent of cutting cloth and felt seemed to work the same in this situation. “You see Twilight, that’s one of the reasons I was so excited to see you here, I’m now wondering if you would like help me with my work”. Twilight’s face lit up like she was a filly on Hearth’s Warming Eve morning, except instead of presents there were half-rotted zombie ponies ready for dissecting. “I would love to Rarity”.

For the first time in as long as Twilight could remember the fog was starting to clear. It gave a good look out at Ponyville from the roof of the boutique, a few ponies shuffled around the remains of what were once houses while a chilly wind blew through the town. Twilight took a few more moments to enjoy the beauty of the sun rising above the light mist and shining rays of light through the clouds before taking a sip of her tea. The small wisps of steam that rose from the tea blew off carelessly into the wind and were carried off into the heart of Ponyville. Twilight took another sip of her tea and tightened the pink and lavender striped scarf around her neck and walked back into the boutique, gently closing the glass door behind her. Bon Bon was inside reading a book to AppleBloom and Sweetie Belle as she drank from a large mug, it seemed that everypony was enjoying the tea that Rarity made from the tea leafs that Blue leaf grew on the roof of the boutique. Twilight trotted down the steps and bid good morning to Big Macintosh and Silver Skies who had just woken up and were preparing some breakfast. Twilight felt at home here, it had been only a week since Twilight and her group had taken refuge here and they had already considered this place as their new home. The numbers of zombie ponies seemed to be dwindling. Less and less hordes had been seen passing by the safe house and Twilight suspected that they were moving out from Ponyville to other towns where they may be able to find more food. “Good morning Twilight, did you sleep well?” asked Rarity from her work room, she was sewing together some felts to make a saddlebag for Big Mac and mending some scarfs, it was the only thing she did these days. “Yes, I did, I was just up on the balcony enjoying the view, did you know the mist is thinning?”. Rarity looked up from her work with a look of disbelief on her face, “really? That’s wonderful! Do you think now would be a good time to go out and find some food?”. Twilight nodded, they were running out of food and she didn’t want to risk loosing this opportunity, the fog could return any day now. “Well then” said Rarity, “I’ll round up a party to go on a search, would you be a dear and gather some things we might need?”. Twilight agreed and went downstairs to gather some supplies. She wouldn’t need anything to defend herself but she couldn’t say the same about the other ponies. She picked up a wood-cutting axe for Silver Skies, two large blades for Rarity, and a large piece of wood with a metal studded ball on the end for DayDream, one of the ponies who had been on a scavenging trip when Twilight had first arrived. The other four ponies were RoseLuck, Vinyl Scratch, Goldheart and a pony named Filthy Rich who unfortunately didn’t make it back to the boutique. After Twilight had gathered the weapons, she gave them to each pony who was accompanying her and Rarity and the search. They then headed out into Ponyville.

Chapter Six: New friends, Old Enemies

Chapter Six: New Friends, Old Enemies

The group of ponies walked through the now clear Ponyville, the sun warmly shone down onto the piles of stone and wooden debris while the breeze swept across the town. DayDream looked into an old house and called for the group to come inside. Twilight was instantly hit with a stench that felt like a brick upon entering the home. A stallion was lying on the living room floor, or at least, what was left of him. The chest was opened up and the organs within had decayed to a thick, yellowish-green slush. Silver Skies gagged and threw up a little into the corner of the room, the acidic smell adding to the already unbearable assault on the nostrils. Rarity magically lifted a handkerchief to her snout to act as a mask, this was all too much for her. They all quickly moved from the grisly scene into the kitchen where they found a large amount of useful supplies. As Rarity put some cutlery into a hessian sack, Twilight approached her. “Wow Rarity, I’m surprised at how well you’re taking all this…” she stopped to think for the right word, “..decay”. Rarity tightened the mouth of the sack and placed it onto one of the hooks on her saddle. “Well dear, we’ve all had to make sacrifices in these times, unfortunately for me these recent events force me to give up my cleanliness”. The two had a little bit of a giggle and continued to gather supplies from the house. Twilight even surprised herself at how well she had adjusted to all the gore and death, it sent cold shivers down her spine thinking of what it had been like before the outbreak. At just how different things had become. She shrugged off her depressing train of thought and finished up gathering items before moving out with the others. A small group of ponies in the distance hobbled around without purpose just in front of what had once been Sugar Cube Corner, they didn’t look like they had eaten in a long time and were desperate to feed. “We better find a way around them, I don’t really feel like getting my coat messy” said Rarity to the group. Twilight laughed, remembering how much she had missed Rarity’s little imperfections. Just as they were about to move on, Twilight noticed something, the zombie ponies were quickly moving towards a shape that was blurred from this distance, but Twilight knew exactly what it was. A survivor. “Look! There’s another pony over there! We gotta help whoever it is!” shouted Twilight, everypony ese didn’t hesitate to rush at the zombies. They quickly reached the monsters and lunged at the ponies.

The battle that followed was a messy one, the four survivor ponies were heavily outnumbered, but not outgunned. There were twelve zombie ponies, one of them being a unicorn. The unicorns horn sent spastic streaks of energy from it every second before a huge shock-wave of blue magic was blasted out from the tip. The survivors braced for impact but were protected by a shield that Twilight had erected in front of them, the blue energy merely bounced off of the purple barrier and cut down two infected ponies. Silver Skies took this opportunity and rushed at a pony with his axe raised above his head, it came down with a crack as skull and brain matter blasted out from the pony’s head. Rarity was incredibly skilful with her blades, they were moving so fast that they were just grey and red blurs, within a matter of seconds five zombies lay on the ground before the ninja-like fashionista. DayDream was brutal with his weapon, the three ponies he took down were un-recognisable after he was done with his bludgeon. The final pony was the unicorn, it shot out more random bolts of electricity which scorched the ground and left the scent of ozone in the air. Twilight didn’t want it blasting out another shock-wave and quickly acted. A purple beam of transparent magic engulfed the pony, soon reducing it to nothing more than a pile of bones and ash. Everypony regrouped and caught their breath, it had been quite a fight. Twilight almost had forgotten why they were fighting these ponies and soon reminded the group. “No time to sit around yet, we still need to get to that survivor”, they approached the house and knocked on the door. “Don’t worry, the ponies are gone now, you can come out”, the door opened and a mare covered by a cloak poked her head out, the then spoke with a very familiar voice. “Oh thank Celestia you were here, I don’t want to think of what those ponies would have done to me if you hadn-“, the pony lifted her head and quickly stopped talking, realising who it was who had saved her. Rarity and Twilight’s jaws dropped and they both yelled at the same time, “Trixie?!”.

Silver Skies and DayDream looked slightly confused at this sudden shock, “you ponies know each other?” asked DayDream, trying to figure out what was going on. “Know each other?” said Twilight, “I saved Ponyville from the Ursa-Minor that she let loose after saying she could ‘vanquish’ one”. Trixie looked back at Twilight with a stare like knives, “me? It was those idiot colts that let loose that great brute! Not me!”. “Well maybe if you hadn’t lied to the whole town they wouldn’t have been foolish enough to tick-off one of the most powerful beasts in Equestria!”, by now Trixie and Twilight were pressing their snouts against one another’s as they snarled verbal abuse at each other. Rarity pushed the two apart and held a for hoof in front of them so they could not move against each other. “Girls please! If we’re going to survive out here it means that we’ll need to get along and put our experiences with one another behind us!”. Twilight knew this was true and she could see that Trixie knew the same, with a flare of her nostrils Twilight turned her back on Trixie and moved on with DayDream and Silver Skies. She looked back to see that Trixie was standing in the same place. “Well? Are you coming with us or are you just gonna stand there and wait to be eaten?”, Trixie quickly rushed up to join the group and they headed off back to the Boutique. Nopony talked on the way back, but Twilight and Trixie constantly glared at each other as they slowly wandered through the town. After a while the fog began to return and soon Twilight was focusing hard to clear a small portion of the fog with her magic. She wished that one of the members of the group was a pegasus, then they would have no trouble finding their way to the Boutique because they could either get the pegasus to fly up to lead them the way or to clear the fog. Twilight was no pegasus, but her magic could clear a small portion of the fog, alas it was not enough to see even a few metres. This wasn’t a normal amount of fog for even the darkest days in the overrun Ponyville and Twilight noticed this, it was only after she heard Silver Skies panicked yells that she was awoken from her day dream and noticed the Boutique, with it’s windows shattered and doors broken down.