Breaking Beans

Breaking Beans

by MelbTerminal

Author's Disclaimer: [This story is a crossover of My Little Pony, DayZ and other things that do not belong in either world.]

"and authorities have officially confirmed that there is nothing more they can do to resolve the situation..."

Breaking the silence that loomed over the road was the sound of wheels; 4 of them completing a revolution many times over for every metre it covered. The carriage the wheels were connected to was shaped differently; not like the wagons Equestria usually had. It was not built to look pretty, neither was it built for pegasus ponies to fly it across the Equestrian skies. No, it was built for practical reasons; half of it no longer needed for the days ahead. Its driver continued to push the carriage forward, pressing on a lever that spun the carriage's wheels faster. The driver needed to get home; before it turned dark. Before the night really turned into a nightmare...

*****

Rainbow Dash awoke with a start, lying down and finding her face partly dug into sand. She opened her mouth in fear. She coughed repeatedly, making grains of sand fly about around her muzzle and only making her coughing even worse. She tried to pull herself up, groaning over the pain that flared up from her body. She kept here head down, trying to overcome the burning headache that tried to pull her down and keep her on the sand. Breathing hard, she made one more push and finally getting herself to sit up on two hooves.

She blinked multiple times; each blink removing grains of sand in her eyes and clearing out the circular blurriness of colours. Her sight soon replaced the blurs with lines; forming into shapes of detail. She faced out towards the sea. It was dull and didn't look pleasing. It stretched endlessly out into the horizon. The sky was blanketed with dark grey clouds.

"Somepony hasn't been doing their job here..." she muttered in a raspy voice.

She cringed upon the pain that spread across her body as she tried to stretch out her legs and wings. She shook herself slowly to dry herself from the seawater that kept her wonderful rainbow coloured mane wet. She coughed and sniffed as she did her little exercises on the sand. She was a very strong pony, no doubt about that. But this was beyond what she had suffered before back at home. Most of the time she had her friends to comfort her if things went wrong; especially when she had to stay in the hospital when she broke her wings. Rainbow Dash smiled slightly, bringing back the memories of spending whole nights reading the books of Daring Do. Dash closed her eyes and let her mind wander into the world of imagination - where the tan-coloured pony soared across the skies of Equestria, not leaving Rainbow Dash's sight as she raced off after her. At one moment, she looked down briefly, where her friends were simply tending to their daily businesses in Ponyville. One by one, they looked up at her. They smiled and waved. Dash smiled back...

...and wiped it off her face as she re-opened her eyes. She was alone right now. There wasn't anypony around. Confirming that fact, she turned her head slowly to face the opposite side. Large green hills lined the horizon beside a wide gray road. Pine trees spanned from left to right. Just like the sea, it was just as depressing as it was. Not sparkly like Crystal City, or shined brightly like the trees in Ponyville. Nope...just dull.

Another groan came from a distance. Dash rubbed her stomach.

"Oh...I need food..." she thought.

The groan came again in a harsher tone. Dash looked up. That sound didn't come from her body. She turned to her right, where not far from her was a sight that really filled her mind with fear.

The creature had tried to sneak up on Rainbow Dash. Its eyes were bloodshot; wearing tattered clothing and two old boots on its hind legs. Its fur body was gray, with pink and red spots where small tufts of fur had been long pulled out. Streaks of dark red and scars all over it. Its right foreleg showed rotting flesh and bone. The biggest smear of red was around its muzzle. It opened its muzzle a little to release another raspy sound of groaning.

"No...it can't be a..." Rainbow Dash tried to think. Her heartbeat was now at a rapid rate. She breathed in and out faster and faster with each passing second. She tried to collect herself. It resembled a Timberwolf; but this one was gray. It bore the description of what had been written in the history books; stacked in one of Twilight's shelves; even in one of Zecora's mystery books. It was a...

Dash gulped and attempted to be polite and welcoming. "N-n-n-nice zombie-timerberwolf..."

The undead creature let out a scream and instantly charged at her with immense speed. Dash shrieked and turned away from it, jumping off the sand beach, onto the hard road and running for her life. She panted repeatedly, trying not to think of what it might do to her.

"Ok Dash... you can do this...just...fly away!"

She shrieked as a spark of pain flared in her wings. It made her stumble and stop suddenly. Her wings were damaged badly. She turned to see the zombie closing in on the gap.

She huffed once, before bringing out the real Rainbow Dash. Her scared face replaced with a determination look she once had when racing against Applejack. She picked up speed quickly, ready to put the zombie in the dust. She had already left behind her fear. She looked back once, noticing the zombie was keeping up. She sprinted faster. The zombie wasn't failing to lose speed. It kept up, making Dash try harder to run faster. She followed the road, where it curved parallel with the seashores. She stared away at the horizon of the road, not daring to look back. The screaming and rasping sounds of the zombie started to fade slowly. Only then did Dash look back; and noticed that she was getting away from the zombie. She let down her guard and slowed down a little, thinking that it couldn't keep up no longer.

Big mistake. It gained back the distance Dash had got between them. With a yelp, Dash picked up her speed again. It wasn't losing any speed at all; she was just too fast for it. She didn't want to fight back against it. If the books were right, it's not a sensible idea to go hoof-to-hoof combat with them, or otherwise an infection may occur and then in time...

Dash exclaimed her fear across the air as she thought about it. It wasn't long before her speed put a massive distance between her and the zombie. By the time it was simply a speck in her view, she stopped suddenly, hid behind a nearby rock and watched the speck. The small silhouette in the distance had stopped too. It was too far away for its groaning, rasping and screaming to be heard. Slowly it turned around and ambled away from Dash, before disappearing completely.

"It probably can't see me anymore..." she said to herself quietly.

Getting up on all four hooves again, she rested for a minute re-gain her strength.

"Ohhhhh....this isn't a nice welcome for me...I hope its all just a bad dream..."

She stared across the road, where a new feature stood out. She breathed a small sigh of relief as she saw the small silhouettes of homes and buildings. That town might be able to help me, she thought as she paced across the road towards it. The sky was darkening. Night was arriving shortly.

*****

The driver had returned to her home successfully before nightfall. Well, she called it home anyway. Her real home was many miles away. She had no intention of returning back home. She drove much more slowly, rolling down a window to carefully listen to the sounds around her. The carriage hummed quietly in stationary. She perked up her ears and looked about in her darkening surroundings. The darkness didn't faze her one bit - her eyesight allowed her to see clearly in the dark; as if she had permanent night-vision goggles.

No zombies in sight, but there were low sounds of them groaning, but that didn't faze her either. She was used to the zombies hanging around...often killing quite a few. Maybe a couple hundred.

She parked the carriage beside the road. Before getting out of it, she pulled out a set of keys and a small screwdriver. She looked at the carriage's steering wheel. She set to work on it, not rushing her delicate work of removing screws. With two screws in her paw, she put down the screwdriver. Yeah she had some genetic night-vision eyes, but it was far too dark for her to see the other two screws. She bit down on the canister of a black flashlight and turned it on, illuminating the steering wheel in a red glow. She resumed her work with the wheel and screwdriver. Eventually, all four screws were removed. The driver popped the screws into a small plastic packet and pocketed it. She kept the red light on the wheel as she grabbed the wheel with both paws and detached it completely from the carriage. She opened up the carriage's door, and stepped out, standing on only her hind legs; holding the wheel in one paw, the screwdriver in the other and the flashlight in her mouth. Detaching the steering wheel was a precaution for her. There were thieves and bandits were out there. It was an effective way to keep her carriage safe from possible theft.

Hiding the wheel in a shed beside the house, she pulled out her backpack out from the exposed back of the carriage containing all of her essential needs. Calmly, she set to work hiding the carriage from sight, covering it up from top to bottom with large dark sheets. With all of the precautions set in place, she walked into the house, unlocked the front door and stepped in.

The place was just the same as it was before. The red light illuminated the dusty walls and furniture that had been barely touched and used. She kept her things hidden, to make scavengers have a hard time looking for anything. Another precaution. Locking the door, she lifted off her black cap and propped it on a hat stand. She walked into the kitchen where she stripped off her black tactical vest. Manufactured long ago for military use, it had special armour plating sowed within the fabric and allowed the wearer to have an assortment of pockets. She propped the flashlight on the table, standing it up to make the blub shine its beam on the ceiling where with basic physics; the light reflected off and lit up the entire kitchen in a dim red glow. Taking off her backpack, she placed it onto the kitchen bench and opened it up to inspect her findings for today's scavenging period: Some cans of soda, two black boxes containing long brass cylinders, a tin can of beans and another broken device.

She sighed. A shit day today, she thought.

*****

A gasp leapt quietly out of Rainbow Dash's mouth as a sound of a twig snapped filled the deafening silence. The zombie not far from her flinched at the noise; made a gurgling sound before deciding to ignore it and stumbled its way into a house. Dash huffed a relief before blinking and squinting again to try and get a better look of the town. She was surprised to see no-pony was around...and extremely frightened when she found out the town had already been run over by zombies. With the thought of looking for a safe shelter to stay for the night, she pressed on; squinting often to try and see ahead of her through the darkness. She constantly flinched upon each sound: the moans, the rustling of trees and bushes, the distant sound of the sea...it all made her very conscious about her surroundings... and completely paranoid.

The zombies were however, docile. Dash found herself encountering zombies close-up, but as long as she kept quiet, they would simply walk away. It slowly occurred to Rainbow Dash that the zombies on this land only respond to sound and sight: and if its too dark to see anypony, then their sight during at night must be very low. A major advantage for Rainbow Dash...that is, if she had good night vision. Instead she stumbled around, bumping into trash cans, fence and into brick walls, looking about afterwards to ensure she hadn't attracted any zombies over.

Rainbow dash finally found herself in a large building - the dark hallway resembling a square tunnel with doors on either side. She glanced behind her, looking into the darkness filled with the moaning undead, before she stepped inside. She trotted into the first room on the side. There wasn't much in the room. A large wooden cabinet, some toppled chairs beside a table, piles of junk and a couch with a massive stain of dark red. Dash shuddered at the stain and began her first scavenging search. The piles consisted of empty tin cans and rusted cans. There were some things dash had taken that she assumed would be of use to her: Some bits of fabric and cloth that sewn together would make a nice saddlebag, a water bottle and some small red tubes that pleased Dash when she snapped one; forcing the chemicals in the tube to glow. Looking into the room's cabinet, she also discovered some large red sticks. Unsure of what their use was, she still took them with her.

Dash then spent the next few minutes sewing up a saddlebag with the material she had. While the job relaxed her, she contemplated on the events of today. For how on this land did it come to the point of zombies roaming about? Who was responsible for such a thing to happen? How did she even get there? Where was everypony else?

Why was she here?

Tying up the last stitch with her mouth, she tested the saddlebag's durability. Strong enough for her liking, she packed the things she had found within the room before slipping the bag on. It may not be much, but it was a start to get somewhere. She smiled.

"I'm coming back girls," she said to herself.

She was answered with a groan; coming from the hallway. She turned to see the blood-stained creature stepping into the room.

*****

The scream startled her. Having only gotten an hour's worth of sleep, she got up from the couch; clutching the rifle harder and raising it. With a kick of adrenaline she vaulted off the couch, got on all fours and propped the rifle into her mouth. There was nothing in the house but her. She sneaked over to the front wall of the house, before getting up and swapping the rifle to her paws and leaning onto the wall. She took one long huff to collect her mind before turning her head to look through the window.

It was dark, but from her perspective, she could distinctly make out the silhouettes of the homes, trees and hills. She perked up her ears and listened attentively. There was the pitter-patter of paws hitting the road, moans and screams coming from multiple sources. A soft huff and puff from a single one. A poor fellow is being chased.

She turned her head back and thought about her options. She was capable of helping; but running on an hour's rest would affect her and may put herself in danger. She turned the rifle in her paws. An AK-107, with a silencer attached to it. A weapon of violence; a paradox of hope and freedom. It couldn't choose a side. It didn't have a conscience. But there it was in her paws, questioning what moral choice she could give to it.

The sound of a spark diverted her attention to back outside. A large flare of red light flickered in the darkness, slowly moving through the streets. The light was attracting more and more zombies from around the town.

That drew the line. The light could attract others into the area. That's something she didn't need right now.

She drew the bolt on the rifle and went outside, putting on her hat. She patted her jacket, making sure she had a few extra clips of ammo. Skillfully, she weaved about the obstacles around the town, dodging all the zombies; not that they were paying attention to her anyway. The skills of her stealth was put to the test once again, as she moved closer and closer towards the flickering red light.

The source of the light suddenly changed direction. The flare flew up, flying over a large horde of zombies before landing into a garbage bin; the shining light soon blocked out by the mass bodies of zombies that went to attack and decimate the bin to get at it. She scanned the area, spotting a shadowed figure that jumped over a fence and ran behind a building, still chased by a few zombies. She followed by with both stealth and speed. It wasn't long before she caught up, where the zombies had trapped the figure in a different house. She flipped the rifle up and aimed at two that were about to break through the door. Two flashes came, putting the zombies down without their heads attached. One more was still alive, having gotten through the broken-down door. She clutched the rifle in her mouth, getting down on her legs and sprinted towards the door. Running on two legs was fast, but being on four was a lot faster for her. She dived into the room, crashing into a side table. It was enough to divert the last zombie's attention, having turned out of the room and snarling at her, with mixed saliva and blood dripping from its muzzle. She was slightly dazed from hitting her head into the table, but instincts kicked in as she grabbed the rifle with a paw and emptied half a clip into the zombie's face. Bits of rotted flesh, fur and blood painted the walls of the hallway.

She groaned as she picked herself up. She checked the clip in the rifle and made a quick count of the remaining rounds before setting off to find the source of the whimpering in the house. Aside from the whimpers, the night was silent again. The flare must've snuffed out, she thought.

With deathly-quiet stealth, she stepped into another room, where the bluish figure was lying down covering its face with its...legs? It slowly looked up, staring away at her. It was about to jump up and run away.

She responded quickly by firing a single shot into Rainbow Dash.

Chernarus

Kamyshovo

Day 0