Dead Pony Rising: Off the Record

Chapter One

Back in the Game

A pony stands alone in near total darkness, hundreds upon hundreds of glowing, red eyes staring back at him. This pony was fortunately protected by a barrier of fences and cages that prevented the hungry beasts from attacking and devouring him. As he stood, quietly waiting, blood started dripping onto his right shoulder… coming from the ceiling above. He groaned and wiped it off with his left front hoof. He had a scruffy black mane and a puffy tail to match.

“Excuse me, sir?” Somepony behind him asked. He was a young unicorn casually floating a clipboard in front of him.

“What is it kid?” The pony asked. “I signed your waiver…you’ve got my next of kin…are the vultures circling already?”

“Yeah, sorry sir,” the unicorn said, “it’s just paperwork. They want it from everypony…would you mind if I got your autograph?” The earth pony breathed out heavily and turned around to face the unicorn; a light shining in his face showing an aged expression.

“Sure,” he said as he trotted over to the unicorn, “sorry about that…it’s just…it’s been awhile.” He started signing the 8x10 glossy of himself.

“You’ve always been a big hero of mine, Mr. West.” The unicorn said. “I was really bummed when your show went off the air.” West handed the clipboard and pen back to the unicorn and turned back to face the hungry zombies.

“Wow, thanks.” The unicorn said. “So, I guess this would worth something if anything happened to you out there tonight.” He said as he looked at the photo.

“Yeah…I guess so.” West said as he looked at the zombies.

“Good luck out there.” The unicorn said as he trotted away, leaving West to stand and think to himself openly.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.” West said. The roof above West started opening up revealing the center of a massive arena. Crowds of cheering ponies could be heard all around and it started to give the aging earth pony a headache.

“CK has a very special surprise for you.” Said a voice over the loudspeaker. “He is the original zombie kill himself.” The floor beneath West started lifting up as he was hauled towards the arena center.

“The one!” The voice shouted. Flank closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“The only!” The voice continued. The elevator came to a stop and West found himself staring at four Clydesdale zombies in classic wrestling uniforms.

“FLAAAAAAANK WEEEEEST!” The voice shouted. Everypony in the arena started screaming even louder when they heard Flank’s name announced over the P.A. system.

“So, Celestial Sisters…” Flank looked over and saw the host of the game show he was on: Chaotic King. He was dressed in a purple vest with a white dress shirt underneath. Black slacks to match and a faux fur purple-ish blue trench coat on top. He was standing on his hind legs and was talking into a small microphone in the palm of his talon; Flank assumed it was just a gryphon.

“Now we’re in for a show.” He said. “The rematch of all rematches! Now, Flank has to kill zombies so he can earn bits. The bigger the death…the bigger the payoff…especially if he uses those corner grinders at the corners of the ring. I do enjoy a good grinding.” He said with a wave of cheers from the fillies and mares in the audience.

“But first, CK has got a personal message just for you, Flank West.” CK said. “You’ve got to be willing to risk it all…if you’re ever. Really. Gonna’.” He aimed his microphone at the crowd and everypony, in unison, shouted.

“WIN. BIG!” Flank braced himself and got ready for the fight of his life. The three zombie ponies slowly trotted their way over to him. The ring that CK was talking about had giant fences surrounding Flank and at the corners, were massive grinders that are typically used to chip bark and wood away. Flank tilted his head down and charged at one of the zombies. His head made contact and the zombie flew back into one of the grinders.

Blood shot in all directions and coated Flank in blood from head to hoof. Once the grinder stopped spewing out blood, one of the fences closed down and more zombies started pouring in. Flank figured it out: every time the grinder gets a zombie, one of the gates goes down, letting in more zombies. The more zombies he got in the grinders, the more points he’ll win, that, in turn, gives him more bits for Zombrex.

Without missing a beat, Flank charged another zombie pony and sent it flying into another corner grinder; another fence slowly closed. For three, long minutes, Flank charged and bucked many zombies into the corner grinders. So much blood had built up on his fur, that anypony could think it was his natural color.

“10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…” The horn blared through the entire arena as the event came to a close and the fences sealed themselves, preventing anymore zombies from coming into the ring.

“All right, let’s wipe him off and hose him down!” CK shouted, referring to Flank’s newly dyed fur. “Let me here it, Equestria!”

“I love you, CK.” A mare in the audience shouted.

“CK loves you too, filly.” CK said as he walked closer to the edge of the stage. “Though, I did expect a little bit more from our celebrity zombie killer.” The audience then came out with loud booing and angered moans. “But, we’re just getting started, ponies! The carnage has just begun! So, right now, let me hear you MAKE SOME NOOOOOOOIIIIIIIISE!” Everypony in the audience started cheering loudly as more fireworks were blasted into the air.

*** *** ***

“Veterinarians are looking into the problem and are examining the diets on different farms.” An anchorpony on the T.V. in the locker room said. Flank had just finished cleaning himself up and was just sitting in the locker room; waiting patiently for the right time to leave. “This seems to have only compounded the problems,” the anchorpony continued, “which have been linked to the milk shortages in local areas.

“The zombie rights group P.U.R.E. is in the news again.” Flank turned his head to the T.V. to get a scoop on the story. “The protest group has shown up in the adult pony playground of Celestial Sisters, which was chosen as the site of the latest season of the pay-per-view game show Terror Is Reality. The protest just compounds the problems of the game show, which has been plagued recently by tumbling ratings and controversy.

“PURE was on the site of the show to display their opposition, to what they call the unethical treatment of zombie ponies. Rainbow Dash, a close friend of the leader of PURE, had this to say…” The screen then cuts to footage of Rainbow Dash in front of the Celestial Sisters arena from earlier in the day.

“Let Celestia know that we will not stand for her systematic neglect of the infected!” She shouted angrily into the camera. “We must take drastic action now!”

“Public opinion is mixed on the groups views,” the anchorpony continued, “which are sometimes seen as radical.” The camera cuts to video of two average pony citizens.

“This is a joke right?” The stallion said. “Why would anypony want to save those…things?” The report then cut back to the anchorpony.

“Stay tuned,” he said, “coming up right after the break, we’ve got weather and sports.” The report ended and a new commercial for the Phenotrots drug, Zombrex, started playing. At the same time, another stallion, this one wearing a dark blue, faux leather suit trotted in and sat down next to Flank.

“I can’t believe I just did that…” he said. “I feel like such a sellout.” Flank nodded his head in agreement, slightly regretting coming onto the show in the first place. After a few more silent seconds, Flank pulled himself up from the bench and closed his locker; his wrestling uniform still bathed in blood from the event from tonight. He turned to a unicorn pony, who was applying deodorant to his under-foreleg, and asked him a question.

“Do you know a way out of here?” Flank asked.

“Sure, just go straight down the hallway, take the elevator, and go up a floor. That’ll take you to the main entrance.”

“Thanks.” Flank said as he trotted away and down the hall. Hooves hurt as he took each step; pain from punching and throwing so many zombies into the grinders. As he trotted down the hallway, he saw many posters of him in his wrestling outfit fighting off hordes of unseen zombies. That helped him get through the pain, knowing that he was, remotely, successful with tonight’s game.

While he was walking down the hallway, he saw a rusty-orange earth pony, with olive hair, trot onto the elevator. He was wearing a yellow and black faux leather jacket with the word Tsuaf written along the back. He turned and saw Flank and the two shared a brief smile.

As Flank was passing by some giant metal double doors, he started hearing the voices of CK and some other pony. Their conversation peaked Flank’s interest and he entered the double doors to find out what the hay they were talking about.

“Keep it down, stallion.” CK said as Flank approached at catwalk overlooking a massive storage room. “This is no time to lose your nerve.”

“Uh…you’re sure this is going to help, right?” The nervous unicorn pony talking to CK asked. He was wearing a light and dark green striped sweater and had a greasy, dreadlocked mane.

“Seriously, you worry way too much.” CK said. “It’s bad for your health. You have to keep this under your hat, stallion. You just have to chill out a bit, okay?”

“Oh, sure, Mr. King.” The pony said. “This is cool though. I never thought I’d get to do something so important…it’s really kind of awesome.” Flank adjusted his camera to get a better look at the two.

“What the hay are you up to, CK?” Flank asked under his breath. The old pony watched as CK handed the greasy pony a metal case full to the brim of bits and a strange metal device jutting with red and blue wires. The two figures started moving over to the other side of the storage room and Flank just followed them on the catwalk.

The two just kept talking about something ‘big’ and ‘important’. Flank just took picture after picture of the two as they approached the other exit leading into another part of the arena.

“And, remember,” CK said as he grabbed the handle, “not a word of this to anypony.” All of a sudden, a beeper on Flank’s watch went off and filled the whole room with two seconds of noise. Flank quickly turned it off and ducked away from the catwalk handrail. CK and the greasy pony looked around, but couldn’t find the source of the noise.

Ignoring it, CK turned back to the other pony, “Okay, you stay cool, alright? I need to get back to my show.” CK said as he led the pony out of the storage room.

Flank stood up and started trotting back to the hallway he trotted through before he heard CK’s voice. He looked through some of the photos on his camera as he left the storage room. But, whilst distracted, Flank ran into Silver Tail, one of CK’s own personal entourages for the show. She had a stern, yet sensual, look on her face.

“I think you’ve overstayed your welcome a bit, Flank.” She said. She had a dark black mane that covered half of her face and a silver sequenced dress that matched perfectly with her name. Flank scanned her body up and down and just started trotting to the elevator doors.

“Call me if you’re up for a photo shoot.” He said sarcastically. As he approached the doors, they swung open to reveal Golden Tail, Silver Tail’s twin sister. She had a blonde mane that covered up half of her face and a gold sequenced dress that, like her sister, matched her namesake. She stepped off the elevator and got right into Flank’s face, the smell of apple perfume filled his sinuses and almost made him sneeze all over the sensual mare.

“Your performance was a little limp tonight, Flank.” She said as she ran a hoof down his chest. “You must have to take pills for that at your age.” She said mockingly. Flank grunted and trotted onto the elevator, as he pushed the button, he watched Golden Tail trot up to behind her sister and embrace her as if they were stallion and fillyfriend. Flank just smirked.

“Goodnight, fillies.” He said as the doors closed. Light muzak filled the small compartment and the beeping of the elevator was very light on Flank’s old ears. A poster for the Phenotrots drug Zombrex hung right next to the doors. Flank just rolled his eyes. “Bloodsuckers.” He said.

The price of Zombrex was just unbelievable. For merely one syringe, without medical insurance, could set any pony back about $300. For Flank, this was a major problem because…

BOOM!

The elevator came to a sudden halt and threw Flank to the floor. His head slammed hard to the ground and nearly knocked him unconscious. He pulled himself up and galloped over to the broken doors. With all of his strength, Flank pulled the doors apart and saw ponies running away from an unknown assailant.

That’s when a Pegasus pony galloped into view with blood falling from his face. His wing was broken and he was staggering majorly.

“Oh, Celestia,” he said with pain in his voice, “dear, sweet Celestia…she got me…she…got me.” He came to a sudden stop and started growling like a rabid and hungry dog. He spun around and Flank saw that he was a new zombie, a giant bite mark across his face revealed how it happened to him.

“Oh, no…” Flank said, more annoyed than frightened and started to pull himself out from the elevator. The zombified Pegasus saw Flank and started shambling over to him. Flank knew that if he didn’t hurry, the zombie would be on top of him in an instant. But, the Fates were on his side.

Before the Pegasus got too close, a unicorn galloped around the corner and slammed head first into the zombie, killing it with her horn. She slowly pulled the horn out and looked over at Flank.

“Are you okay, sir?” She asked.

“Yes, I’m fine…thank you.” He said as he held out his hoof. “The name’s Flank West.”

“Twilight Sparkle.” The unicorn said. “And these are my friends Rarity and Fluttershy.”

“Pleasure to meet all of you.” Flank said. “Let’s just get out of here and get somewhere safer.”

*** *** ***

Flank and the other ponies were standing patiently inside the first compartment of the Celestial Sisters Outbreak Bunker. Ever since Fillydelphia, most cities and towns were required to build these bunkers for anticipation of any form of zombie outbreak. Most ponies were slowly pacing back and forth, trying to get a hold of the situation at hoof.

That’s when the second set of metal doors opened showing the rest of the main bunker. Waiting at the control panel was a tall Clydesdale with a name patch on his faux leather jacket that read: Ray. Everypony in the room filed out and started getting themselves situated in the safety of the bunker. Flank was about to enter the bunker…when Ray stopped him.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said, “don’t I know you?” He asked. Flank turned his attention to the aging unicorn.

“You could.” Flank said. “The name’s Flank…Flank West.” He held out his hoof to Ray as a sign of welcoming.

“Oh, you’re the big shot from Fillydelphia.” Ray said. “Yeah, yeah…I seen you on T.V. Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but ain’t you infected?” He asked as his magic created a field around the pistol near his right flank.

“Hey, don’t worry,” Flank said pulling out a box of Zombrex, “it’s all under control.”

“Oh, yeah?” Ray asked. “Well, you better have three days worth, pal. Because you seem real nice…and I’d hate to have to put a bullet in your head.” The magical field died down as Ray started trotting over to the control panel.

“Uh…thanks.” Flank said hesitantly.

“We ain’t got any Zombrex here.” Ray said. “The Royal Guardians will have to quarantine first. They’ll enter the city at first light three days from now to get all of us. That’s the standard procedure.” Flank stood there for a moment.

“So…we’re stuck here?” He asked. Ray nodded his head slowly.

“Better to be stuck in here and not out there, don’tcha’ think?” Ray asked. Flank listened on as the zombies outside started pounding their hooves against the doors. He had no choice but to accept his situation and he proceeded away from Ray. The elder unicorn used his horn to shut the doors and seal the rotting corpses outside.

Flank trotted into a room labeled ‘Security’. All around him were working camera monitors that got footage of the entire city from the Zebra Zavana all the way to the Wonderbolts’ Wonderland. Flank threw the empty carton of Zombrex he showed Ray and started to look through the many drawers and filing cabinets along the walls of the room.

“If I were a box of Zombrex,” he said, “where would I be?” Every time he would check a drawer…he’d come up short. Maybe Ray was telling the truth about there not being any Zombrex. His heart rate started to increase and adrenaline was starting to flow rapidly through his veins.

But, unbeknownst to him, another pony trotted into the room while he was in panic mode.

“I know where you can get some.” She said. Flank spun around to find a cyan-blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane and matching rainbow tail. She bore a cutie mark that looked like a rainbow lightning bolt.

“What are you talking about?” Flank asked, feigning ignorance.

“Really?” The Pegasus just sighed. “Zombrex. And don’t worry, I won’t say anything.” She slowly started trotting up to Flank. “I know who you are.” She said. “I figured you were infected…though, I don’t remember you saying anything about that in your book.” She came to a slow stop between Flank and some of the camera monitors.

“Well,” Flank said, “it’s not exactly something I go around advertising.” The Pegasus stood there for a moment.

“There’s a pharmacy in the Royal Sun Mall.” She said. “I’m Rainbow Dash, by the way.” She said as she held out her hoof. Flank reached out to her hoof.

“I’m Flank.” He said. “Flank…”

“Flank West.” Rainbow interrupted. “Plenty of ponies know you.” She brought her hoof back and turned around to face the camera monitors again.

“Do you know a way out of here?” Flank asked. Rainbow sat down and started thinking.

“No.” She finally said. “But if you find one, I suggest you take this.” She said handing him a small headset that she found on one of the desks. Flank took it a carefully placed it on his ear…a feat very difficult for any earth pony. “That way you and I can keep in touch.” Flank nodded.

“There’s closed circuit cameras all over the city.” Rainbow said. “These monitors seem to be playback only, but I will keep an eye on them.” Flank looked down at the desk holding the monitors and found a small pamphlet/map of Celestial Sisters. Without thinking, he grabbed it and placed it in his front jacket pocket.

“And Flank?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah?” Flank asked.

“If you find anypony alive out there…” She started to say. Flank just smiled.

“Sure,” he said, “I’ve got…ugh…a little experience rounding up survivors.” And with that, Flank proceeded out of the security room and into the main hallway of the Celestial Sisters bunker.

How do I get out of here? He thought to himself. The main entrance was closed with two massive sets of metal doors; those, in turn, are surrounded by Celestia knows how many zombies. Thinking long and hard, Flank came to a conclusion…something he remembered Brad did back in Fillydelphia over a year earlier.

While Ray was in the cafeteria getting a carrot to munch on, Flank carefully trotted down a stairwell leading into an area that had a massive ventilation system leading back into the main mall of Celestial Sisters. There was a closed hatch just waiting to be opened; and Flank grabbed it with his teeth. With one good yank, the hatch door swung open and threw Flank back a few feet. Aside from some pain in his front teeth, Flank was just fine.

“You can’t keep Flank West bottled up.” He said as he pulled himself up from the cold, concrete floor.