It Only Takes A Bite: The Canterlot Trail

  I ran out from the school with several of my friends. We galloped down the streets of Trottingham, dodging stalls, ponies, and wagons that served as obstacles. We soon reached the woods, and we spent a minute going down a dirt trail to a fort that me and the ponies with me made. It was located next to a small pond, and was as large as a small home, thanks to our group's architect, Blueprint. At first, it started out as a small wooden shack that could only fit half of us, but once Blueprint discovered his talent, he designed a new fort. We had some of the parents help us out with the fort, and it turned out well.

  We called it Fort Nightmare.

  I was 8 years old, and I had yet to find my cutie mark. Sometime during our school year, two of our classmates decided to make up a game that the entire class would play. It was a game of pretend in which the group you were in, which consisted of ten ponies, would either serve Nightmare Moon or Princess Celestia. The game itself involved doing a "mission" every day. The missions usually involved simple tasks like "Collect ten red berries" or "Row down the stream."

  The other team would have to go and try to avoid letting us complete our mission, while we tried to do the same to them. We usually tried to find out the other group's plans by doing espionage missions. I was one of the ponies who served as our group's spy. I was told to go map out Fort Celestia without getting caught, and was given a pencil and a sheet of notebook paper. I proceeded to spend several long minutes sneaking to the base. I used the windows of Fort Celestia to map the place out.

  The map itself was extremely details. I mapped everything from the tables all the way to the shadows cast by the lanterns and sun. Needless to say, my group was impressed.

  It was then that I learned my talent was in the art of drawing.

  I still remember that day as perfectly as the day I graduated from college.

  However, after awhile, we grew more mature and started getting tired of playing the game every year. Soon, we stopped playing the game completely, and we left our forts to be taken back by nature. I occasionally visited the two forts after I bought myself an apartment in the downtown area of Trottingham. Today, those forts still stand there, acting as a living memory that reminded me of my younger days.

  I stood in the small planning room we used to use, looking down at the map I had drawn. The forest surrounding Fort Nightmare was replaced with an expanse of tall grass that dominated the hills. One thing I noticed on the map was the drawing of a pony, completely shaded black, standing on a tall hill next to a tree.

  I left the fort and stepped outside. The dirt trail, the only place where the tall wavy grasses didn't grow, was completely straight and seemed to stretch on for miles. In the far distance, I saw a large, bustling city that reminded me of Manehattan. The area I was in seemed to be a deep gargantuan crater, with the city at the very center of it. Next to the trail was a hill with a single oak tree on top of it. I also saw a pony standing there, shaded completely black, looking out towards the city. He slowly turned towards me and looked at me with his blank, expressionless face. Something about his uncanny appearance disturbed me and made me want to run away, but also made me want to get closer.

  "He overlooks the landscape, watching the ponies passing by to see the memories of their young days." A voice echoed, "Wake up."

  I yawned as I slowly awakened from my slumber, stretching out my legs towards the ceiling of the small room. I sat up and grabbed my quiver and bow before getting up. I could hear birds chirping outside, and the gentle breeze squeezing under the door into the room. It brought a strange sense of peace that I knew was too good to be true.

  I trotted outside, making sure I was truly alone by checking the surrounding area.

  "Hold still." A voice muttered from the trees. My heart skipped a beat as I saw a pegasus pony hover down from above and land on the ground. He was armed with a long claymore sword that glinted in the morning sunlight.

  "What do you want?" I asked, worried.

  "Any mares with you?" He asked in a menacing tone, smiling.

  "No." I flatly replied. He pointed the claymore up to my neck.

  "You lyin' to me?" He asked me in a low tone, glaring at my eyes. I hastily shook my head in response. He backed away and huffed in anger. "If I see a single mare with you, I'm going to fucking kill you. Do you understand?"

  "Yes." I nodded, hoping he would go away.

  To my luck, the pegasus nodded and flew back up to the sky. As I watched him fly off, I felt suddenly sick to my stomach. You don't go around and ask for mares like that unless you were intending to kidnap them and rape them, which was something I learned back when I was still in Trottingham.

  I quickly continued on my way, not wanting to encounter the stallion again.

  It took thirty minutes for something interesting to happen that wasn't walking or getting a drink from a small stream. I stumbled upon an abandoned town. The arched sign that overlooked the path said that the town was once called Firestone. The buildings were Victorian in appearance, being made out of masonry and stone. The town wasn't large, and seemed to only support up to 250 ponies.

  The street, however, was quiet. The whole entire town was quiet. Not even the birds sang as I slowly started to walk through the town. Buildings showed signs of being broken into, like damaged doors and broken windows. However, I noticed that every building wasn't barricaded.

  Still walking down the street, I saw the town hall up ahead. It was symmetrical, and had a clock tower on the top that stood above the buildings. The clock was still working, since I was able to see the second hand moving. It said that it was only two minutes until twelve o'clock. I continued walking down the road, which soon turned from dirt to cobblestone. I passed by a playground that was comepletely abandoned.

  I saw several foals, most of them undead. They were unable to move because of how much they had been eaten.  What was even more saddening was that there was party favors and a banner that read, "Happy 10th Birthday, Bluebonnet!"

  I swore I was able to hear the laughter and cries of the children as I continued on my way. A tear rolled down my eye as I slowly fled from the depressing scene.

  As I turned around a corner, I saw a billboard which had been painted over crudely. It read, "THE BELL ATTRACTS THEM!"

Ding! Dong!

  I yelped as I heard the loud noise resonate through the town. The bell signaled the start of noon as I immediately went into a panic as I realized what it meant.

  I galloped inside a nearby building, which was a general store. Adrenaline surged through my body as I slammed the wood door and started to cover the windows with the curtains in the shop. I quickly headed upstairs and ran into a bedroom before slamming the door shut. I was already able to hear the sound of a thousand moans outside the window. Panic set into me as I quickly set my things down and closed the curtains to prevent the horde from being able to spot me. I slumped up against a wall and went completely silent as I listened to the deafening sound of the moans coming from outside. I heard something tumble over downstairs as I grew increasingly worried. Had something broken into the building already? Did I leave a door open?

  I heard whispers coming from the over side of the door as I heard hoofsteps outside the room. I saw ghostly visions of undead shambling towards me from the corners of my eyes as I grew more and more anxious. I was going to die. There was no hope of survival in the first place..

  I then shook my head quickly, and angrily looked up at the ceiling and quietly said to myself, "Snap out of it, Grey! You're losing it!"

  I sat down on the floor silently as I tried to figure out how I was going to get out of this situation. I pulled the curtain back slightly, and peeked through the gap. The streets were now filled with undead, swarming towards the town hall. I muttered a curse as I sat back down on the floor.

  If I was lucky, the undead would soon disperse, hopefully to the point where the town is completely empty. However, I didn't exactly care if there was still as much infected in the streets as there was in Trottingham since I would hopefully still be able to run through. However, I would just have to wait until I was able to get back down into the streets.

  I pulled out a sheet of paper and a pencil from my jacket's pocket as I prepared to wait for the horde outside to disperse. I was either going to get out of this town, get eaten, or starve to death.