End of Equestria

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.