“Dangit, Applebloom.” Her aggravated sister drawled. The farmer pony caressed her head with one hoof while the other held a half empty bottle of her homebrewed Applejack’s Daniels.
Applebloom had apologized over and over again, but couldn’t find a way to stop. “I’m sorry sis. I’m sorry.” She wasn’t quite sure exactly what she was apologizing about anymore, but she knew that she was sorry. Very, very sorry. Her forearm throbbed with pain, though not as much as before. The numbing effect of the disease was probably beginning to set in.
Applejack hadn’t started drinking until Sweet Apple Acres had been attacked for the first, and last, time. Granny Smith had been lost to one of those monsters, one of the zomponies. Though she was great with a shotgun and had experience fighting off animals due to her young adulthood dealing with timberwolves, her physical and mental prowess had been degrading over the years. Her sense of hearing was what she had lost the most, making it easy for the zompony to shuffle up behind her undetected. Once Granny was bit, it was all over. She went into shock as the rotting teeth ripped through her soft flesh like a saw through balsa wood. However, the elder pony did not scream. It was only until the next morning the remaining Apples found her half-eaten reanimated corpse struggling to move towards them. Big Macintosh put her down, and Applejack finished her first bottle of liquor right as she heard the shot.
Winona nudged the orange mare’s thigh and whimpered. Winona always knew when something was wrong. Petting and holding her had helped Applebloom work through the fact that life would never be the same for anybody, and that she’d never see any of her friends again. Only ponies were affected by the plague, so when Winona was exposed to the zomponies up close there was no worry that she would be infected. Her coat was patchy due to fleas and malnourishment, but overall Winona was the same old dog. As the dog approached the yellow filly, she reached down with her good hoof which Winona licked. She did so slowly and gently, as if she knew what was happening to Applebloom.
Applebloom spotted her big brother pacing around the barn, muttering something to himself quietly. Applejack leaned back in her chair and took a large swig of liquor. She slammed the bottle on the table but continued looking up at the ceiling. “Oh Celestia, why would you do this to me?” She sobbed. “Oh Luna, why?”
“Sorry…” whispered Applebloom, for what felt like the millionth time that night.
The infection began in more rural areas and spread slowly to more populated areas through Equestria. Zecora had warned of strange creatures in the Everfree forest which resembled zomponies. But the zebra claimed that these monsters were simply the so-called “souls of the lost” and posed to threat to anyone. But she was completely and undeniably wrong.
About a month before the plague reached Ponyville, Braeburn showed up at Sweet Apple Acres. “I don’t know what’s going on down there in Appaloosa,” he explained. “But some ponies are getting really sick, dying, then coming back to life!”
Needless to say, the Apple family was shocked. Ponies dying and then coming back to life?
“I hightailed my way out of there after the first living dead pony attacked another one, I didn’t want to be any part of that!” Braeburn explained further. “So uh, is there any chance I can stay with you ponies until this all clears up?” He asked.
Being very family-oriented, the Apples gladly agreed to allow Braeburn to stay at Sweet Apple Acres as long as he needed to. But Braeburn didn’t take the zompony attack as coolly as he had first seemed to. He was jittery and seemed to avoid being around anybody as much as he could. Any conversation held with him was short-lived, and he wouldn’t respond to any small talk.
But the way he treated Applebloom was inexcusable. A few days after he moved in, he began blaming her for all of his problems. Insults were thrown around, and from time to time the Appaloosian would threaten to hit her. Once, he did smack her. Applebloom told Big Macintosh, and the stallion took it very seriously.
“He did what?” Big Mac asked in disbelief.
Applebloom sniffled. “He hit me.” She told her older brother once again.
The red stallion pulled Applebloom into a tight hug. “I’m sorry he did that to you Applebloom. I’ll make sure nothing like that ever happens again.”
After a short lived and heated discussion with Applejack, it was decided very quickly that Braeburn could not stay any longer. “That lazy colt hasn’t been doing anything for us no-how!” Applejack exclaimed. She was in no mood to hear about anypony who was beating foals, and she didn’t want one in her home. Braeburn was run out of Sweet Apple Acres for good.
Applebloom often secretly hoped that he perished somewhere out in Equestria.
Big Macintosh trotted to the table his two sisters were seated at. Applebloom could see tear tracks tracing the outline of his snout. He appeared very stern now, but she could tell by his quivering lip that he was regretting what was about to be done. He held the old Apple family shotgun in his mouth, the one that had been locked away. Applebloom had only learned of its existence recently. The stallion leaned the gun against the table and slipped a slug inside. Applejack glanced at him and laid her head down on the table. She began blubbering loudly, but the sound was muffled by her hooves covering her mouth. The bottle of Applejack’s Daniels fell over and the small amount of liquid still inside spilled out onto the floor.
Applebloom felt her face heat up and her eyes begin to water. She didn’t want to cry because it was her fault that this was happening. “Sorry…” She whispered again. A few tears made their way out of her eyes and down her face. Her older brother looked down at her, lip quivering more than before.
“Don’t be, sis.”
She knew that she would probably never see her friends or the rest of her family ever again. That’s the way it always went with zomponies, at least in the movies. Applebloom found herself on the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, near the newly constructed electric fence. The Apples had built it after the attack on the farm to try and keep most of the zomponies away. She could see the faint blur of her school along with the rest of Ponyville. Many of the buildings had their doors and windows boarded up, and a few had even been burned to the ground. Applebloom wasn’t quite sure how that happened, but she also wasn’t sure what the zomponies were capable of. Perhaps unicorn zombies could still use a bit of magic? She didn’t know. The little filly began thinking of how things used to be. She daydreamed about all of her adventures with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
A rustling noise from beyond the fence caught her attention and snapped her out of her dream. “Hello? Anypony there?” She called. Out of a bush shuffled a familiar orange pegasus filly. “Scootaloo!” Applebloom exclaimed. “I thought you had flown away to Cloudsdale with Rainbow Dash! What are you doing here?” Scootaloo didn’t respond and stared at the ground. Applebloom noticed a large gash and what appeared to be bullet holes in the pegasus’s side. “Are you hurt?” The yellow filly galloped to the nearest gate and carefully opened it. “Scoots! You alright?” Scootaloo moaned, then finally looked up at Applebloom.
What happened next was now just a blur to the filly. Applebloom recalled screaming at the sight of her former friend’s face. It was disfigured and slightly decayed. One of her eyeballs had even been missing, and her lower jaw was disconnected from one of its sockets. She wonders how she didn’t realize that the pegasus had been infected until it was too late. Scootaloo lunged at Applebloom, who in turned tried to push the zompony away. The pegasus bit into Applebloom’s forearm with her loose jaw. Applebloom hit her again harder, and she let go. The yellow filly took the opportunity to run back into the compound and slam the door behind her just as the zompony tried to pounce on her. As soon as Scootaloo made contact with the fence, her body seized up and she let out an unearthly screech. Smoke rose from her mane and nostrils, and her remaining eye popped. Applebloom watched Scootaloo’s now twice-lifeless body hit the ground. The pain in her forearm reminded her of her inevitable fate, and she broke down. Things would never be the same for anyone.
Tears continued streaming from Applebloom’s eyes, but she made no sound. Now she was sitting on a barrel outside the barn awaiting the shot that would save her siblings from having to deal with her as a zompony. Applejack was still bawling. She pounded her hoof on the wall and was repeating “Why! Why!” over and over again. Big Macintosh shook his head as he looked down at the shotgun.
Applejack glared at her two remaining family members. “I can’t take it no more!” She shouted, then stormed off. Applebloom watched her round the corner of the barn and disappear out of sight. She sighed sadly. She didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, especially her sister’s.
Big Macintosh let out a very exasperated sigh. “Well, I suppose it’s about time to get this over with.” he drawled. “I’ll miss you, lil’ sis. But I’m happy that you meet your end with your family.”
“Yeah...” The filly replied, understandably.
“I’m glad that you won’t die in the maw of one of those monsters...” He continued.
“Yeah...” Applebloom repeated.
Big Macintosh sighed again. “I’ll... See you soon, Applebloom...” A small tear formed in his eye as he began to take aim. Applebloom continued looking at her lap and the top of the barrel. She didn’t want to see the agony in her brother’s face. Tears began to run down the stallion’s face as he tried to keep from making a sound, but he couldn’t help from swallowing loudly and blubbering a little. He pushed down on the trigger before he was shaking too wildly.
For Applebloom, now there was nothing to worry about.
