Plague in the Land of Equestria

Chapter 5: The Quarantine's Downfall

"I'm sorry. She left here two days ago," said Princess Celestia.

"Do you have any idea where she could have gone?" Rainbow Dash was urgent to find her friend. She was genuinely worried.

"Well, her brother, Shining Armor, went with Cadence to the Crystal Empire. That's your best bet, if she's not in PonyVille."

"Thank you, Princess." Rainbow Dash turned to leave, then a question popped up in her head. "Do you know how this all started?"

Celestia sighed. "Yes, I'm afraid I do... last week, these mysterious storm clouds appeared over the Everfree Forest. No matter what, our Pegasi could not clear the skies of this unscheduled weather. I sent a few of my Guards in to see if anything was causing this occurrence from within the forest... only one returned. He had several bites all over his body, and had some strange fever. No matter what, we could not get him to tell us what happened in the forest. We all thought some creature in the Everfree attacked him, but we were far from the truth. A day after, the soldier died. When he was taking to the burial grounds, he turned and attacked the ponies that were gonna bury him. Then we had three of these things inside of Canterlot..." Celestia paused, and a tear formed in her eye. Rainbow Dash didn't think she had ever seen this Princess cry. "I survived. My sister wasn't so lucky. She was bitten. Now, the power of being a goddess is delaying her turning; she just got a fever after a week, whereas normal infected got a fever in hours. The sad part is that eventually, she will turn, though when, we aren't sure. I have her locked up in the dungeon."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Princess. But do you know how these ponies got sick? Where this sickness came from?"

"Nopony knows, not even me. I have my top scientists and doctors working day and night for a cure, and a cause. So far, we have nothing. It would help a lot if they had a live subject. Rainbow Dash, would you like to help find a cure?" Dash knew where this was going.

"I'll go bring you one of them," she said with fake enthusiasm. Celestia nodded her thanks, and one of her guards handed Dash a rope and a pistol.

"Just in case," he said as she grabbed the gun. Dash nodded and flew out. She flew outside of Canterlot, and circled around until she spotted one of the dead. It was a green pony, with a red and blue mane and tail. Dash saw it was a Pegasus as well. It had white eyes, just like every other undead. She flew in close, so that she was hovering just out of his reach. Rainbow Dash almost puked as she saw his stomach- literally. His intestines were bulging and dripping the black fluid that was in the undead, and had maggots swarming them. All his organs were slimy and heavily rotted.

Once the Pegasus spotted Dash, he flapped his wings, trying to lift up and get her, but unfortunately for him, his wings were too weak with decay to lift him more than a few inches. Dash tied a loop in the rope, lassoed the zombie, and tied him up, so that he couldn't even move any of his limbs. It was very tricky trying to tie him up without him biting her, but eventually the job was done. Dash lifted him up and carried him back to Canterlot. After briefly explaining to the guards why she was trying to take an infected into the city, she was allowed in. She brought the zombie back to Celestia.

"You have done good," praised Celestia. "Bring this one to the labs." Two guards came, lifted the pony, and carried him off through a doorway.

"Thank you for the information, Princess. I'm off to find Twilight," said Rainbow Dash.

"Thank you as well. You've done an amazing thing," replied the Princess.

Rainbow Dash left the palace, and to her surprise, was greeted by Spitfire.

"How dare you leave when we needed you the most!?!" shouted Spitfire, angrily.

"I needed to find my friend," defended Rainbow Dash. "I think she went to the Crystal Empire."

"I don't care! The quarantine was breached, we're trying to evacuate everypony here to Canterlot, but the guards are overwhelmed. I need to speak with the Princesses about the evac, you get to the quarantine zone! They need all the help they can get!" Dash nodded and flew off for the quarantine zone. If this was a Wonderbolt drill, she would've set an academy record. The long distance from Canterlot to the quarantine zone was closed in just barely ten minutes.

Spitfire was right about the outpost needing all the help it could get. The stone walls that used to protect from the relentless army of the undead had crumbled and fell under the endless beating and clawing from the undead. Even stone will eventually fall under the dead. The Guards were huddled in the middle of the quarantine zone, surrounding the civilians. They were desperately fighting off the dead with their spears, and several rather large piles of dead zombies had already been formed, but the soldiers definitely wouldn't last much longer. Rainbow Dash shot off all 12 of her bullets into the heads of the dead, but it did very little to help. She grabbed a bloodstained spear off the ground and joined the fight. Then she remembered something she had seen in the supply warehouse: explosives. Dash lifted off, and shouts such as "get back here and fight!", and "traitor!" echoed out from the guards. Dash ignored them, and to her delight, found the explosives in a far corner of the warehouse. Unfortunately, it was surrounded by zombies. Rainbow Dash was ready; she was no stranger to combat with these things, especially when it came to overwhelming amounts. She rushed in, grabbed the bundle of TNT, bucked a zombie off her back, and flew away from the hungry mouths.

Outside, the guards were down by two more. Undead guards wore strong helmets that were hard to get through, which meant an even tougher battle. Dash flew down to the crowd of undead, pressed a button on a remote she found with the explosives, dropped the bundle into the undead mass as she heard a sizzle, then flew up as fast as she could. Dash heard a loud BOOM, looked down, and saw that her plan had succeeded. The explosion had created a path through the undead, with a few stray survivors. The guards and the civilians they were defending rushed down, dispatching the few zombies that roamed in the open area. The survivors had escaped before the undead even realized what was happening. Frustrated at the loss of a meal, they turned and tried to give chase, but could not possibly keep up with the group of the Living. Rainbow Dash followed the guards. When they were too far from the crowd for them to even begin catching up, a very important looking Guard called for everyone's attention.

"Ok everypony, we're safe from all the dead that was attacking the quarantine zone, but we have no idea how free of the dead this place is. I'll take three guards and provide a search of the area, the rest will stay here to protect you all. If it's safe here, we'll hunker down for the night and head down to Canterlot in the morning. It'll be at least a three day journey, so if you have any food, make it last. We might find something on our travels, but we all believe that it'll be a hungry journey. You'll be tired, hungry, cold, and scared, but the reward is worth it: Princess Celestia has cast a force field over Canterlot. There are lots of farms that were created inside the city, enhanced with powerful magic. There's food, warmth, and safety there. Is anypony hurt?" rasped the guard. Rainbow Dash believed he was a captain or other high-ranker. One pony raised a hoof. "Yes? What's wrong?"

"One of the strays nipped me when we were escaping. It didn't break skin but it hurts," the pony answered. The captain mantained an emotionless stare.

"Come with me," he said. The injured pony looked excited to finally get medical attention and happily followed the captain into a nearby grove of trees. Nothing happened for a few minutes, then the sharp crack of a gunshot. The captain returned alone.