Chapters It Only Takes A Bite: The Canterlot Trail
First Day Out Of Trottingham
I stood back from the cliff's edge as I looked at the once peaceful city of Trottingham. What was once a peaceful city was now hell on earth. Tartarus in reality, as I usually called it. I sighed as I felt the cool breeze blow against my face. I could see groups of hordes wandering the streets that I spent days maneuvering out of. Now, I was free. With only my bow and arrow on me, I had escaped.
I still wasn't safe, however. I still had to find a place to shelter for the night.
I trotted away from the cliff and went through the bushes. I went onto the trail and started trotting down the dirt road. The world around me was eerily silent, save for the occasional scream that resonated from the city or the occasional chirp of a bird.
Moan...
I yelped and quickly pulled up my bow using my magic. I could already smell the smell of decaying flesh, causing me to gag. I quickly put the arrow in ,my bow as I saw an undead stallion rise from the bushes nearby with another unnerving moan that made me want to run away instead. However, I knew better. Undead never give up until they finally get you. I pulled the string back, and released. Within a second, the stallion was now truly dead, no longer cursed to walk around for all eternity wanting to eat the living.
I went up closer to the stallion and looked at it. His lower jaw had been ripped off, leaving his tongue dangling out of his mouth in a slightly funny but gruesome fashion similar to a dog. I saw that his hind leg was bent grossly in the wrong direction with one of his bones sticking out from his skin. I sighed as I yanked the arrow out of the skull of the body, intending to reuse it for later on. After that, I quickly fled in a silent gallop. Undead were attracted to noise, and one thing I learned over the past week was that they also are attracted to each other because of the moans they make.
"All I wanted to do was draw," I muttered to myself, "I never wanted to have every minute of my life pondering if I will live again."
After a few minutes of galloping, I was sure I was now in the clear. I was now next to a railroad that bordered the small dirt trail. If I kept silent, I would hear the distant sound of a train horn. However, I knew it was my imagination playing tricks on me.
As I walked down the trail, I started to think about memories from before the outbreak.
I remembered seeing the first undead, eating somepony alive. I remembered seeing a foal's eyes get yanked out with a crowbar just because she took some food from some bandits. I remembered spending the first day of the outbreak sheltering in my home, not caring about the chaos outside that laughed at Discord himself.
Even after all of that, I still have a positive view. If I don't stay positive, I lose the will to live, and Celestia knows how bad that will be.
"Grey, what have you got yourself into?" I sighed to myself, looking at the clouds above. The outskirts of the city were eerily peaceful, up to the point where I just wanted to stop and set up a campsite. However, I knew how dangerous that was, sleeping outside completely defenseless.
I continued to walk down the trail until I eventually reached a small home. If I hadn't been paying attention, the house would've been hidden from my view by the trees surrounding it. From the looks of it, it has been abandoned long before the outbreak judging from the uneven foundation and the broken windows. Even the door was off its frame and laying against the wall. If I was desperate, I would sleep here. However, I would probably make the entire place collapse just by walking up to the door. I sighed as I continued walking down the dirt trail.
"Help me," , a voice coming from the bushes wheezed, "My stomach hurts..."
I yelped as I heard the croaking voice mutter from the bushes nearby. I pulled out an arrow from my quiver and readied my bow. I still have yet to get used to undead that were able to talk. They were rare, and this was the second one I had seen ever since the outbreak began.
As I pointed my bow towards the bush and pulled my arrow back, a bloated mare shuffled out of the bushes. Intestines filled with writhing white maggots dangled out from her ripped abdomen. I quickly released my arrow, and within a second, I heard a body fall to the ground.
"Thank you..."
I forgot about the arrow because of how fast I wanted to get away from her corpse. She had thanked me for putting her out of her misery. I felt a wave of sickness surge over me like a wave at the beach. I dropped my bow and bent over before releasing a wave of sick brown bile onto the dirt. I spent a minute gagging and retching before finally getting a grip of myself. Tears flowed out of my eyes and snot hung from my nose as I picked my bow back up. I coughed the remainder of the bile in my mouth out and continued on my way.
For an hour I traveled down the dirt road. Nothing eventful happened as I traveled, aside from the occasional undead stumbling upon me. Eventually I was able to find an actual place to call a shelter. It was a small cabin. It wasn't roomy, but it would do for the night.
As I took one last look up into the sky to look at the darkening void of blue above, I opened the door to the empty cabin and went inside. The entire room was dark. I could hear the scuttling of a few rats running outside. I shut the door and proceeded to lay down on the floor with my bow in hoof. I shut my eyes and fell into the world of dreams.
"Tomorrow is going to be another horrible damn day," I muttered to myself as I went to sleep.
Stormc12 Presents...
It Only Takes A Bite
Road To Canterlot
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.
It Only Takes A Bite: The Canterlot Trail
I was starting to lose it.
Voices were telling me to hang myself from the room's rafters and end it all. Hundreds, if not thousands of zombies were outside shambling around the town. I felt like my own safety had been breached. The pictures I drew started out as peaceful and serene, then went into a downward spiral of insanity and gore. At some point, I ran out of paper; I started to use the walls in the bedroom as my canvas before filling the entire room up. At some point, I gave up. I slumped onto the floor and started staring at my work. The drawings I had made were the visual definition of insanity. My brain was pulling me down into the dark depths of tartarus and I didn't care.
I wanted to scream, but that would be the signal to begin my slow demise. I wanted to cry, but I had no tears. I wanted to be comforted, but nopony was around.
I was about to head outside again when I suddenly heard the sound of a train chugging along, blowing its whistle. The moans started up again, and after a long ten minutes, most of the undead had left the town.
Freedom.
"Thank you, eternal princesses..." I prayed as I got my bow and quiver before heading out of the small room. I slowly peeked down the wooden staircase. I made a small knock on the floor as I listened for any moans.
Nothing.
I carefully headed down the set of wooden stairs, and then reached the first floor. I saw nothing indicating anything got in. The only thing I saw that wasn't the way it was when I first came in was that something had knocked over one of the shelves. I slowly went over to the door and went outside.
The feeling of the cool air and the breeze made me feel like I had been reborn. Like a filly on her first day of summer, I happily trotted down the cobblestone road.
"Hey you!" A voice from above called to me. I looked up and saw a pegasus above me that had a dazzling red mane flowing in the wind, and her coat matched the colors of the sunset.
"What?" I called out.
"You heard that train, didn't ya? I can show you a route to it that is safe! We're getting the hell outta the east and heading to Canterlot!"
"Canterlot? That place is up?" I asked, shocked. This was some big news for me if the mare was correct. There actually was a place where I could be safe in this serene wasteland.
"Yeah!" The mare called out before hovering to the ground and resting her wings on her sides, "I'll show you the path to the train, just follow me."
I quickly agreed. Before heading out, she handed me an apple she had been carrying for me to eat. I thanked her as we started walking down the road.
"So what's your name?" The mare asked.
"Grey," I replied, "Yours?"
"You can just call me Sky. It isn't my real name, but if I trust you enough then I might tell you."
"Why the fake name?"
"Because the bandits. One of them murdered my friend after she didn't give her something back in Trottingham a week or so ago. He found her by asking ponies around the place for where she was. I suggest you do the same so if something similar happens, you can change to your real name."
"Well what kind of name would I use?"
"Well, you have a bow and arrow. I think Archer is good enough."
Silence filled most of the trip. I occasionally would shoot down an undead pony that was left behind by the horde from earlier. Soon, we were out of the town and at the train. Me and her climbed aboard the passenger car as the train slowly started to move down the railroad.
I rarely used the train, but when I did I would always admire the landscape quickly passing by. The waving and shaking of the train would make me want to fall asleep, yet I wanted to see the world outside the window I was next to; It was the reason I immediately called the window seat the second we got in the passenger car; Sky was bemused at what I did.
"You just stay here. I'll go tell the conductor we're heading out." Sky told me as she left the passenger car. I obliged and sat on the seat like an eager puppy.
After a minute, the train shook and slowly started to move. Trees and bushes slowly moved by as the train sped up faster and faster. Soon, everything was a blur. Unfortunately, I was unable to take in the scenery as I quickly fell asleep.
For a week, nothing interesting happened in the small but fortified town of Safe Haven. I worked as a scavenger, looking for supplies like food and whatnot. However, while I was scavenging one day, a tornado formed in the distance. It didn't do anything to me since it was so far away. Apparently, I learned that ever since the beginning of the outbreak, the area has been getting a crazy amount of tornadoes. Some ponies guess it's the lack of pegasus ponies controlling the weather, while others think that the pegasi themselves are doing it.
I didn't feel safe after seeing what the bottom of the mountain that Canterlot stood on was like. There was a huge horde attracted by the activity at the top. I didn't think that I would be able to make it.
However, one week after my arrival, I would be back on track and heading to Canterlot.
I was trotting along the dirt road that was lined by fields of wheat and corn, both of which were unattended to. The sky was starting to get dark and menacing as I kept an eye out for any potential places to loot. However, I didn't see any buildings.
The wind started to pick up as clouds f dirt rolled along the dusty ground. The fields waved in the wind like the ocean, and the clouds in the distance started to slowly rotate. A funnel slowly twisted down from above as I stared at it before touching down behind a large hill covered with trees doomed to be yanked and uprooted out of the ground. Amazement kept me focused on it as it started to bend and twist like an earth worm writhing in ones grasp. After a second, I shook myself back to my senses once I saw it move over the hill, and immediately started to gallop the other direction. I saw debris from a small cabin get ripped up from somewhere behind the hill as I looked back.
I did some quick calculating in my head to figure out if the tornado was heading in my direction.
It took me only five seconds to confirm that it would reach me within a minute or less. I took off in a gallop and dived into a ditch. The ponies in Safe Haven always said this was a safe way to take cover from tornadoes, knowing that they had at least three of them before I arrived.
I heard the wind grow louder as dust and dirt blew in the gale-force winds, forcing me to close my eyes. I heard the twister pass right over me; It was amazingly loud, and I had to cover up my ears.
Soon, as fast as it came, it soon went away from me. Silent howls filled the wet air as a sheet of rain began to pour down on me, filling the ditch with water and mud. I slowly emerged from the makeshift shelter and turned towards the direction of the monstrous tornado. Like a carnivore searching for food, its long funnel searched the land below the clouds, ripping up everything unlucky enough to be caught in its path.
"Ugh..." A young voice moaned from nearby. I immediately pulled out my bow, and pointed at the source of the noise.
On the ground nearby laid a small orange foal. She was still alive, as evidenced by her breathing. I knelt down near her and she looked up at me.
"Who are you?" She asked, blinking once.
"Archer," I replied, "you had just managed to survive getting sucked up by a tornado."
"What?" She muttered. I pointed towards the distant twister in response, and she looked at it. She looked at the beast in amazement, watching it rip up a small farm house that was hidden behind the tall cornstalks.
"So, what's your name?" I asked, helping the young filly up from the ground.
"Scootaloo." She quietly replied, rubbing her arm.
"Were you out here all alone?" I asked, looking around the area.
"No, I was with somepony else, I don't know where they are." Scootaloo replied, saddened.
"Well, I can bring you back to the town I'm staying at. It's more safer there than it is out here."
"But we need to find Applejack!"
"Who?"
"Applejack! She was with me last night! You have to help me find her!"
I didn't have much hope for finding her. It took me several minutes to convince her to return to Safe Haven with me after saying I would find Applejack, whoever she was. The name was very familiar, yet I couldn't put my hoof on where I heard it from, not that it was important information to help me find her. After retuning Scootaloo to the hotel I was staying at, I immediately headed back out after getting me and her a snack to munch on.
Soon, I left the town of Safe Haven and returned to scavenging the outskirts of town. I was at a small farmhouse, which had been abandoned some time before the outbreak. I found nothing but dusty surfaces and masses of cobwebs. I stepped out of the farmhouse, not wanting to stay there any longer after encountering a wasp nest.
As I prepared to head back to town, I heard the sound of somepony yelling.
"Hello!?" They shouted from the distance, "Anypony!?"
The sound of galloping resonated across the landscape. I retreated behind the large red barn, and readied my bow as I peeked out from the corner. An orange mare ran out from the field of wheat, slowing to a trot before laying up against the barn. Her face showed signs of depression and hopelessness. Slowly, I stepped out from behind the barn and slowly walked over to her.
"Hello?" I asked.
I startled the cowpony, which in turn startled me too.
"Who are ya?" She angrily asked.
"Archer." I replied. "Who are you?"
"Applejack," The mare replied, "Ah'm from Ponyville. Been out for a week or two in the hospital."
I was amazed to see that the pony Scootaloo has been trying to find was alive. I couldn't help but smile.
"There's a filly back at town looking for you. Does the name Scootaloo sound familiar?"
"Yes!" She suddenly exclaimed, rising up. "Where is she!?"
"At the hotel in the town of Safe Haven. I've been staying there for about a week. I'll show you the way there." I replied. She quickly nodded as I began to walk towards the direction, which resulted in another uneventful walk that was only interrupted by an undead dragging itself out from the cornfield. From Applejack's face, I could tell that she had known the green undead unicorn at some point before she was killed. It took a single shot for me to put the undead down before we continued to town.
As we walked up to the large wooden gates, I noticed the door wasn't opening.
"Hey! It's me!" I called, "Open the door!"
"What's the password?" A voice called out from the other side. A bit of anger brewed in my head at the fact the gate now had a password.
"Password!" I randomly guessed. To my surprise, the gates swung open revealing the small town. A single glance at Applejack told me that she was apparently amused by what had happened.
We both walked in and passed by the mare running the gate. I muttered a curse as I passed by her, calling her a "Dumb bitch." We continued to the hotel and we went up to my room.