Dead Pony Rising

Chapter Two

Dr. Barnapple's Appleloosa

Date: May 21, 2011 12:01 a.m.

Flank woke up to a loud crashing sound. He pulled himself up and galloped out the yellow door to investigate; finding Brad carrying in a box full of food and other supplies.

“You scared me.” Flank said. “Need any help?”

“Yes, please.” Brad said. Flank then trotted up and took out a can of soda from the box. Brad grabbed his arm and took the soda out of his hoof.

“Hey!” Flank said angry.

“Help doesn’t involve that. And considering the chariot and all, we have to work together.” Brad said as he trotted away from the box; still carrying the can of soda. He slowly trots over to the welded door; listening to the zombie moans coming from outside.

“But that doesn’t mean we can tell you everything.” Brad continues. “And everything we do tell you can’t necessarily be printed.”

“Yeah, so?” Flank asks.

“So, I just want you to appreciate the situation.” Brad says.

“Well,” Flank says, “we’re up to our necks in zombies. Yeah, I think I appreciate the situation just fine.”

“Zombies.” Brad says bluntly. “I still can’t believe it myself.” He scratches the back of his neck. “It just seems so unreal…you know?” Flank nods his head in agreement. Brad tosses the can of soda back to Flank; he catches it, opens it, and starts drinking. Brad picks up the box and starts trotting back into the security room.

“You okay there?” Flank asks as Brad opens the door.

“Yeah, I got it.” Brad says as he trots inside; Jessie still sitting in front of her laptop. He sets the box down on the bed and stretches his back.

“You should rest awhile, Brad.” Jessie says. Brad slowly starts trotting over to Jessie.

“You go ahead and catch some sleep first.” Brad says. “We can switch in four hours, okay?” Jessie gets up from the chair and trots over to the small green mattress. She lies down and quickly falls asleep.

*** *** ***

Date: May 21, 2011 5:58 a.m.

Flank looks at his watch and notices it’s close to six in the morning. He massages his shoulder lightly as Brad starts to wake up.

“Morning.” Flank says. “You ready to get the doc?”

“Just let me actually wake up first.” Brad says as he stands up. Jessie then jumps up from her chair; staring scared at the monitors. Brad and Flank gallop over to see what was happening.

“What’s going on?” Flank asks.

“Well,” Jessie says, “before this whole thing started, someone called the professor and told him to come to this mall.”

“Jacked the line, did you?” Flank asks. He watches the monitor and sees the earth pony he fought the day before dragging out Dr. Barnapple’s writhing body. “So, was this the caller?” Flank asks motioning to the monitor. “This guy here?”

Brad starts to trot up to the two of them. “They’ve got something to do with the zombies, don’t they?” Flank asks.

“They’re the reason we came here.” Brad says. He starts trotting over to the yellow door; getting his gun cocked and loaded. “And if he gets away with Dr. Barnapple; none of our questions will be answered.” Brad gallops for the vent and starts crawling back to the mall. Flank hesitates, but grabs the gun Jessie gave to him and follows Brad out of the security room.

*** *** ***

Date: May 21, 2011 9:02 a.m.

Flank was trotting slowly through the Entrance Plaza; looking for Brad. As he was trotting next to the escalators, he heard hoofsteps galloping after him. He turned around and got rammed by a galloping Brad. The two hit the ground and roll behind a barrier. Flank started to pull himself up, when a bullet clipped the side of the barrier.

“Don’t be daydreaming out here.” Brad says. “Somepony’s shooting from the floor above.” Flank carefully looks around the barrier and sees the cowboy hat wearing earth pony he fought the day beforehoof. He was carrying a giant, Royal Guardianship-grade sniper rifle and was firing at Flank and Brad.

Flank pulled out his camera and looked through the small monitor. He could see, in the distance, Dr. Barnapple hanging by his back legs over a small group of zombies. Unbeknownst to the two of them, a zombie was quickly approaching them.

“Hey,” Flank says, “it’s the professor.”

“Look out!” Brad shouts noticing the zombie shambling up to them. Another gunshot is heard and the zombie pony’s head is blown clean off. Its limp body topples to the floor; blood spurting out of its neck. Flank starts wiping some of the blood off his jacket.

“If we don’t do something, the professor is going to end up as zombie chow.” Brad says. He looks at the earth pony in the distance. “I’m going for it. You just worry about staying alive, got it?” Flank nods as Brad takes off for Dr. Barnapple. Flank gallops over to the escalators and up to the second floor. Another shot is fired, and a bullet misses Flank by a few inches.

Flank hides behind support beam and takes out his gun. He looks down and sees Brad galloping back to the escalators. Flank pokes his head out from the beam and nearly gets hit by another bullet.

“C’mon, Brad, hurry the hay up.” He said in a low tone. Brad then appeared in a few seconds.

“I couldn’t get the doctor.” He said out of breath. “That stallion kept firing at me. Do you have any ideas?”

“I thought it was against regulations for a civilian to help out a D.E.S. agent during a pressing issue.” Flank says sarcastically.

“Yes, it is.” Another bullet flies past them. “But I think I can overlook it for the time being. Again, do you have any ideas?” Flank looks over at the earth pony; who was reloading his gun. Flank took out his pistol and started firing at the earth pony’s hooves. One hits the gun, causing the earth pony to panic and drop its gun to the ground below.

“Nice one, Flank.” Brad then gallops out from behind the support beam and starts chasing after the earth pony. The earth pony pulls a small pistol out from the brown leather vest he was wearing and takes aim at Brad. Brad gets his pistol ready and starts firing rounds at the earth pony. The earth pony fires one last round, hitting Brad in the front leg. Brad fires another shot and hits the earth pony in his back right leg. Brad falls to the ground clutching his leg as the earth pony jumps off the balcony and down to the first floor.

Flank gallops up to the balcony and watches the earth pony gallop through a door labeled ‘Underground Access’. He grunts angrily and gallops over to Brad.

“You okay? Where’d he hit you?” Flank asks.

“In the leg, but don’t worry about me.” He pulls himself up. “Help me get the doctor up.” Brad and Flank start pulling the ropes; hauling up the old doctor.

“I never thought…” Flank says running out of breath, “…a stallion this old…could be this…heavy.” The two kept pulling the ropes up; slowly so they don’t snap the ropes. Finally, Dr. Barnapple comes in reach and Flank pulls him up and over the bar. He places a hoof on Dr. Barnapple’s throat; looking for a pulse.

“Is he alive?” Brad asks, still clutching his leg.

“Yeah, just unconscious.” Flank says pulling himself up and adjusting his back. “How do we get him back to the security room?”

“Well, considering I’ve been shot,” Brad says, “you’re gonna’ have to carry him.” Brad starts limping away to the stairs.

“Wait, hold on. I have to carry him on my back all the way to the security room?” Flank asked angrily.

“If Rainbow Dash, or whatever her name is, could carry three unconscious Pegasi and a struggling unicorn at Mach 2 speeds during the Best Young Fliers Competition, I’m sure you can carry an old stallion.” Brad continues to limp away. Flank hauls Dr. Barnapple onto his back and slowly follows Brad.

“I was actually taking pictures at that event.” Flank said.

“Why am I not surprised?” Brad asked.

*** *** ***

Date: May 21, 2011 9:10 a.m.

Brad opens the yellow door to the security room and limps in. Jessie jumps up from her chair and gallops over to help Brad out.

“Oh, Celestia,” she said, “what happened?” She asked.

“Got shot in the leg.” Brad says. “The target got away.” Brad falls forward onto the bed; groaning and clutching his leg.

“What about Dr. Barnapple?” Jessie asked.

“Right here.” Flank says as he slowly trots in with the old stallion on his back. He trots over to another room towards the back of the security room and opens the door. He carefully lays down the doctor and trots over to the side of the mattress. Jessie gallops into the small room and checks on the doctor. She notices a small syringe mark on the side of his neck and pulls herself up. She trots out of the room and closes the door behind her.

“He’s been given a sedative.” She says. “He could be out for quite awhile.” She slowly trots over to look over Brad. “Could you pass me that roll of paper towels, please?” She asks Flank. Flank grabs the roll and hands it over to Jessie. She starts cleaning up Brad’s wound and applying the necessary pressure.

“How did it happen, anyway?” She asks Flank.

“It was that yellow stallion again that we fought in the food court yesterday.” Flank explains. “He had this sniper rifle that could easily take us out a few hundred yards away.” He pulls out his gun and places it on the desk next to him. “I fired a couple shots; one of them got the stallion to drop his gun to the floor. Brad went after him but the other stallion had a gun in his vest. The rest is pretty easy to figure out.” Jessie takes her hoof and places it against Brad’s forehead.

“Well, I’ve managed to stop the bleeding.” She says. “But he’s starting to run a fever; he’ll need medicine soon.” Flank pulls himself up and starts trotting to the door.

“Where are you going?” Jessie asks.

“Getting Brad some medicine.” Flank says as he opens the door. “I’ll be back in a little bit; you just worry about him and the doc.” Flank closes the door behind him and looks around for the Pegasus that gave him the map.

“Hey, Otis!” He shouts as he looks around the ventilation system. “Where are you?”

“Over here, West.” Otis says from one side of the vents. Flank trots over to Otis.

“What are you doing?” He asks.

“I’m checking up on the generator to make sure it won’t give out on us. What do you need?”

“Do you know where I could find antibiotics? Is there a pharmacy somewhere in this mall?” He asks.

“Yeah,” Otis says, “it’s in the back of the grocery store.”

“And where’s that?” Flank asks.

“In the North Plaza.” Otis says as he pulls himself up. “The fastest way to get there is to go through the park from the Paradise Plaza exit and head right. You’ll see a giant stairway leading up to a bunch of double doors.” Otis continues. “The building was under construction when this whole thing started; it might be a little dangerous inside, so be careful. Head inside and go straight through until the end, it’ll be to your right. You can’t miss it.”

“Thanks.” Flank says. He then starts trotting to the vent systems and crawls back into the mall.

*** *** ***

Date: May 21, 2011 11:09 a.m.

“Here we are.” He says as he approaches the entrance to the grocery store. “Seon’s Food and Stuff.” He opens the door and trots inside; the smell of produce and bread filling his nostrils. He looks around and sees a giant Pharmacy sign in the back. Flank starts galloping over; but stops when he hears the sound of a cart being pushed behind him.

He quickly turns around but finds nothing out of ordinary. He slowly trots over to where he heard the sound.

“Is anyone there?” He asks. He hears the sound again coming from the aisle next to him. He turns to his left and starts trotting down the aisle. As he gets closer to the middle, a can of tomatoes rolls past him and stop at his hooves. He gulps and slowly turns around to find a Pegasus with tattered wings pushing a blue shopping cart.

The shopping cart had knives, barbed wire, and other deadly utensils taped and tied to its front and sides. Inside the shopping cart was an orange earth pony mare, lying unconscious.

“THIS IS MY STORE!” The Pegasus shouts at the top of his lungs; causing Flank to jump and slightly lose his balance. The Pegasus was wearing a faded yellow button up shirt and a faded green smock on the front with a name tag that reads ‘Steven’. He slowly pushes the cart closer and closer to Flank. “You came to vandalize my store, huh?” Steven says psychotically; getting closer and closer to Flank. “NOT ON MY WATCH!” He shouts.

“Look, pal, someone’s been hurt badly.” Flank says defensively. “I need medicine, now!”

“Hurt?!” Steven asks. “That’s just what this mare said,” Steven then grabs the mare by her mane and jerks her around, “When she came to vandalize my store!” He lets go of the mare. “I don’t take kindly to vandalism. I won’t allow it!”

“Clearly you won’t.” Flank says sarcastically. Steven starts gritting his teeth.

“Listen to me, and listen well, partner.” He says quietly. “I DON’T ALLOW VANDALISM IN MY STORE!” He shouts again. Steven then starts galloping at high speeds with the cart towards Flank. Flank starts galloping away down the aisle and makes a hard left toward the bakery. He jumps up and over a counter and lands with a loud thud. Steven slams his cart into the bread counter and knocks it over to the side, spilling the mare out onto the ground. Steven starts to pick the cart back up.

“You think you can hide from me?!” He asks. “I know you’re back there! There’s no escaping from me!” Flank looks around and finds a bread cutting knife. He slowly picks it up and carefully thinks about what he plans to do with it. “You and this little mare will never vandalize again!” Flank jumps up with the knife.

“Will you lay off the whole vandalism thing?!” Flank then chucks the knife; landing it in Steven’s gut. He falls back and starts crawling away; towards the registers. He pulls himself up on his hooves and starts trotting away. Flank jumps up and over the counter and starts to follow him. Steven falls on the floor again and continues dragging himself to the registers.

“My store…” He says. “My…store..!” He pulls himself up and lies on top of the sixth register. “Who will take care of my store when I’m gone..?” He asks. Flank slowly trotting up to him. “My store…” Steven continues, “my food…my sales…my…” He looks back at Flank. “Customers.” Flank starts to tear up from what he was seeing.

“Have a nice day…” Steven says as he falls to the ground. Flank starts to trot over. “CLEAN UP! REGISTER SIX!” Steven shouts before finally dying. Flank looks over and sees a small blanket behind one of the registers. He grabs it and drapes it over Steven’s body. He turns around and trots back over to the orange mare; she was starting to wake up.

“What in tarnation?” She asked as she started to pull herself up. Flank trots over and helps pull her up. He suddenly recognizes her as the same mare he saw in the Entrance Plaza the other day.

“Back in the land of the living?” Flank asks jokingly. “You’re one tough cookie.” He helps her get on her feet. “Can you stand?” The mare looks at Flank and pushes him away; angrily.

“Look, I, uh, I saw you at the entrance yesterday.” Flank says. “You need medicine too, maybe we should work together.” The mare keeps backing away from Flank.

“Ah don’t need any help!” The mare says. “Y’all don’t know a thing!” She keeps backing away. “You’re the ones who done caused this here nightmare! You ruined Appleloosa and started all of this!” The earth pony trots away and leaves the grocery store. Flank sighs and heads back for the pharmacy. As he trots past Steven’s body, he sees a ring of keys on the Pegasus’ belt. He grabs it and heads into the pharmacy.

*** *** ***

Date: May 21, 2011 12:02 p.m.

Flank trots back into the security holding some gauze and a couple bottles of antibiotics.

“I didn’t know which one to grab, so I just took them all.” He says as he hands Jessie the bottles.

“Thank you for doing that.” She places one of the antibiotics in Brad mouth and pours some water down his throat. Brad swallows the pill and rolls over on his side. “He should be fine for now.” Jessie says as she stands up. Flank sits down next to the desk and starts massaging his hooves.

“Are you alright?” Jessie asks. “You’ve got blood on you.” Flank looks on his jacket sleeve and wipes away some of the blood Jessie mentioned.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” Flank says. “Must’ve been from that mare I saved.”

“Mare?” Jessie asks. “Was she hurt?”

“I offered to help her out, but she took off.” Flank said as he grabbed a paper towel and continued wiping the blood off his jacket.

“Can’t really blame her for galloping from a stallion with your looks.” Jessie says with a smirk.

“Anyway,” Flank continued; ignoring what was said, “she was saying something about Appleloosa.”

“Appleloosa?” Jessie repeated. “I think I…” They hear loud groaning coming from the room Dr. Barnapple was sleeping in. Jessie rushes over and opens the door to find Dr. Barnapple sitting up.

“Dr. Barnapple.” She says. “You’re awake.”

“Appleloosa?” He asks. “I should have known.” He adjusts himself. “I thought Appleloosa was over and done with…you plan to dispense justice now?!”

“Calm down, Dr. Barnapple.” Jessie says. “We’re only following orders; we have to protect you…”

“Protect?” Barnapple interrupts. “More like imprison.”

“Professor,” Jessie says, “if we’re going to protect you, we need to know the truth.” She starts bending down low until she’s eye level with Dr. Barnapple. “All of it, please…talk to us.” Dr. Barnapple starts to pull himself up from the floor.

“I take it you know what Appleloosa is. Am I right?” Jessie asks. Dr. Barnapple stands straight up and sees Flank standing there with his camera; taking pictures of everything that was going on. Jessie gets angry and slams the door on him. Flank sighs and starts to trot away.

“Fine,” he says, “I’ll just get my information somewhere else, thank you very much.” He looks up and the monitors and trots over to them. “Maybe if I could track down that earth pony again…” He looks around at the monitors carefully. After many hours, Flank spots the mare he met in the grocery store pulling up with an empty wagon.

“Gotcha’!” He says as he gallops out the door.

*** *** ***

Date: May 21, 2011 5:03 p.m.

Flank approaches the entrance to the grocery store just as the earth pony leaves the building. She spots him and stops dead in her tracks.

“Hey…” Flank begins to say, but the earth pony takes off for her cart and gets ready to gallop. She spins around aims at Flank. Flank looks over and sees piece of wood from one of the construction areas. He gallops over and grabs it. The earth pony was about to get away when Flank chucks the piece of wood into one of the spoke of the wagon; causing the earth pony to lose control and crash into some scaffolding.

Flank gallops over to make sure she was okay and to stop her before she could try to getaway.

“Wait!” He shouts. “I’ve gotta’ talk to you!” He gallops over and pins the earth pony to the ground. She struggles and almost gets away but Flank keeps holding her to the ground.

“Will you listen to me?” He asks angrily and out of breath. “I’m not here to hurt you, I just wanna’ talk.” She starts to calm down. “Now, what do you know about all of this, anyway?”

“Are you a reporter?” The earth pony asks. Flank nods his head. “Let go. I won’t gallop, so let go! Y’all are hurtin’ me.” Flank lets her go and stands up. She lifts herself up and rubs her hooves.

“How much do you already know?” She asks. “Have you called for help?”

“Hold your horses, babe, I’m the one asking questions here.” Flank says in an angry tone. “What is Appleloosa and how is it connected to all of this?” The earth pony breathes heavily and looks up at Flank.

“The zombies were created by you, not us.” She says. “That’s what Braeburn wants y’all to know.”

“Who?” Flank asks.

“If you want to interview somepony,” the earth pony continues, “talk to Braeburn. He has all the answers.” Flank bends down closer to the earth pony.

“You’re talking about that stallion that kept shooting at us with the sniper rifle earlier today, aren’t you?” Flank asks. “Take me to him.”

“No.” The mare says. “Not now, at least. He’s been injured and in no mood to talk to anypony.” The earth pony adjusts her back. “I’ll bring him to you, once he’s recovered.” She says. “I can persuade him. I’m his cousin after all.” Flank pauses for a moment.

“Why should I trust you to bring him to me?” Flank asks.

“The zombies are a message from Braeburn.” She says. “He wanted ponies to know.”

“Fine. Go.” Flank says. “When will you be back?” The earth pony thinks for a moment.

“Tonight at midnight.” She says. “Wait for us in the store next to the camera shop in this plaza.” She pulls herself up and starts trotting away. When she’s a few feet away from Flank, she turns around to look at him.

“I’m Applejack, by the way.” She says. “And I promise you I’ll come back.”

“See you then.” Flank says as she trots away.

*** *** ***

Date: May 21, 2011 6:12 p.m.

Flank gets back to the security room and goes inside to find Brad up and moving and Jessie with Dr. Barnapple. He looks around and closes the door behind him.

“You learn anything new on this end?” He asks.

“Appleloosa is a stronghold for the Central Equestrian illegal apple trade.” Jessie says.

“The professor here seems to think that the zombies are a by-product of these apples.” Brad adds to the conversation.

“So,” Flank begins, “you’re telling me…what? That somepony spread a bunch of zombie apples around Fillydelphia? For what? What would making the dead come back to life accomplish?”

“They’re terrorists.” Dr. Barnapple says. “Don’t try to explain their actions with logic.” He continues, “I’ve analyzed the apples in question and reported my findings to Celestia herself.” He coughs lightly. “That must be what set them off.” He coughs some more. “They…they didn’t want to be exposed.” He stands up and stretches his legs; everypony else in the room looking at him.

“I’ve told you everything I know.” He says. “Now, get me out of here!” He starts trotting over to the back room. “Call for help and kill those creeps!” He says bitterly as he slams the door behind him. Flank, Jessie, and Brad just stand around and stare at each other after what they just heard. Flank glances up at one of the monitors and sees a group of ponies gathered outside the movie theater in Paradise Plaza.

“What in Equestria is going on there?” He asks as he trots up to get a better look.

“Looks like some other survivors.” Jessie says.

“Maybe, I’ll go check it out, see if they need any help.” Flank says. He grabs the gun Jessie gave him, gallops out the door and to the vent system.

*** *** ***

Date: May 21, 2011 9:00 p.m.

Flank slowly trotted up behind the huge group of ponies. They were all wearing bright yellow raincoats and green Nightmare Night masks to cover up their faces. Only two weren’t dressed like this and they were up front. One was a unicorn mare in normal clothing with her hooves tied behind her back and a gag in her mouth. And the other one was an earth pony dressed in a priest outfit.

“Behold!” The priest shouted; lifting up a broadsword stained with what looks like blood. “The end of Equestria is upon us. Death itself has overflowed upon the country, defiling us all.” The unicorn sitting next to him was struggling to break free.

“The only path,” the priest pony continues, “to the salvation of the soul; is the purging of the tainted blood!” A couple of the masked ponies slowly trot up to the struggling unicorn and grab her. They lift her up and throw her into a blood-stained wooden crate. Two other masked ponies pick up and place a lid over the box. Flank stays in the back taking pictures of the whole situation. The priest pony slowly trots up with his sword in hoof and places the tip against the red eye painted in the center of the lid.

He breathes in heavily and gets ready to stab the box; when he notices Flank in the back of the group with his camera pointed directly at the priest pony. He stops and moves his sword over to the side.

“Aahhh,” the priest says, “a nonbeliever in our midst.” He says coldly. The masked ponies start turning around and look at Flank. Flank starts to back away slowly

“If we are to achieve salvation,” the priest says, “his blood must flow. He must be purged.” He says pointing his sword over at Flank. “Spill his blood,” he continues, “the blood of the heretic!” Flank puts his camera down and slowly goes for his gun. As he pulls it out, the priest pony grabs his sword and gallops into the movie theater behind him. Flank starts firing rounds at the masked ponies; taking them out one-by-one.

When the last one hits the ground, he trots over to the crate and helps untie the unicorn inside.

“Thank you!” She says ecstatically. “I don’t know what they were going to do to me.”

“It’s okay, you’re safe now.” He says as he helps her out of the crate. “Listen, I’m going to go take care of that maniac and I want you to go to the security room, okay?”

“Where…where’s the security room?” Flank turns her around so she’s facing the rest of Paradise Plaza.

“Go all the way down this plaza until you see a door to your left labeled ‘Storage’. Go inside, take the elevator up to the roof, and go to the air ducts. Once you’re in the ducts, just go straight and you’ll end up at the security room. Tell them Flank sent you.” Flank explains.

“Thank you.” She says as she gallops off for the security room. Flank turns around to the movie theater and starts trotting inside.

“This better be worth it.” He says as he reloads his gun.