“Hi.” The pink pony smiled at Starspot and Conrad. “I’m Pinkie Pie.”
Starspot and Conrad looked at each other. “Ummm, I hate to tell ya this, little missy, but Pinkie Pie’s been dead fer years.” Conrad furrowed his brow.
The pink pony giggled. “Well that’s silly. If I were dead how could I be here, huh?” She stood up, walking over to a corpse lying sprawled out on the street. The corpse seemed to be of a pegasus pony, but the wings seemed to have been torn off by the zombie ponies, or at least Starspot hoped that this was the zombie ponies’ doing.
“Gerald, don’t be rude, say hello!” The pink pony said. She twitched a bit, grabbing the pony’s head and twisting it towards Starspot and Conrad. She manipulated its mouth with her hoof.
“G’day, mates, how’s the barbie?” The Pinkie Pie impersonator said, appearing to think that the dead pony really was speaking, and a pony with an Australian accent, at that.
“Um....... hello?” Starspot blinked. This pony had to be absolutely bonkers, she was sure of it.
“What’s your name? Mine’s Pinkie Pie!” The pink pony dropped the pegasus corpse on the ground, turning her neck in a physically impossible fashion.
“Ummm.... I’m...... I’m Starspot.” She said hesitantly. Damn, She thought. Should’ve come up with a fake name.
“You look like the pictures Granny Pie showed me of that Twilight Sparkle!” The pink pony gasped. “You must be Twilight Sparkle! I knew the one I had wasn’t real!” She reached into her bag, throwing something out onto the ground.
Starspot gasped as she saw what the pony had placed on the ground. A skull of a unicorn pony lay in front of her, bits of purple hair still visible in a few spots. She fell to the ground, trembling at the sight of her family member’s skull. “H-how did you.... where did you get this?!” She demanded.
The fake Pinkie Pie giggled. “I went to the Ponyville cemetery, silly! They had a whole bunch of cool ponies there! I almost have a complete set! I just need Rainbow Dash, but I can’t fly, so I can’t get to Cloudsdale. So, I borrowed Gerald’s wings! They didn’t work though, so maybe I didn’t do it right. And now that I know that this Twilight’s a fake, I can get a new one, and then we’ll all be happy!”
Starspot stared at her, dumbfounded. “Y-you can’t be serious.... You... you..... YOU LOOTED THEIR GRAVES?!?!”
The pink pony looked at her confusedly. “Well they weren’t using these. I promise I’ll return them, so it’s more like borrowing!”
“You stole my great-grandmother’s skull?!” Starspot demanded.
“What’d you take of my granny’s, what do you have of Applejack’s?!” Conrad growled, his rifle pointed at the pink pony.
The pony giggled. “Well I had to have her hat! It was famous! And have you heard about her legendary kicks? I’d be crazy not to take the leg!”
Conrad glared at her. “I swear to Celestia I’ll do it. I will blow this bitch’s brains out.”
“Stop!” Starspot said. She hung her head, thinking a bit. She was torn. Part of her wanted to just let Conrad kill her, but another part of her had a plan. “She’s just.... confused.... and probably insane.”
“All the more reason to rid this hellish world of one more monster.” Conrad growled.
“That attitude ain’t gonna get you anywhere with anypony.” Starspot rolled her eyes. “Now, ummm... Pinkie Pie, why don’t you tell us why you want to collect the parts of these ponies.”
“Okie dokie lokie! I need the parts of the ponies because I need the Elements of Harmony in order to get rid of all the bad guys!”
“And how will those parts help?” Starspot asked.
“Because they come from the original bearers, duh!” The pony laughed.
“That’s not how the Elements of Harmony work, though!” Starspot said.
“How would you know? Oh, I know how you know! You’re Twilight Sparkle, aren’t you?!” Pinkie Pie bounced around.
“NO!” Starspot said. “I”m her great-granddaughter!” She looked up to the position of the sun. “We have to get going, Con.”
“Then let me shoot ‘er head off so we can leave!” Conrad said.
“No.” Starspot told him. She magically wrenched the gun away from him. “She’s crazy, but she’s not stupid.”
“What the hay are you talking about?” Conrad narrowed his eyes at her.
“The Elements of Harmony are elements that create peace in dark times. It’s possible that there may be a way that they could help. And while the body parts of the original bearers may not still hold them, what if they passed it down? What if we could hold them? What if we could save the world?" Starspot smiled a bit at that, liking the sound of it. Starspot, the savior of Equestria. "We have to take her with us. I have a feeling she’s related to the original bearer of the Element of Laughter.” Starspot said.
“Well, if I’m going to have to be the Element of Truth, I’m starting now. I don’t like this at all. Who died and made you the leader anyhow?” Conrad grumbled.
Starspot looked at him for a few seconds before answering. “Everypony.” Conrad shut up at that.
“Hey, Pinkie Pie, why don’t you come with us? We’re going to.... uh.... find some more parts of these ponies! Yeah, we can’t do it with just these parts! We need more!” Starspot hoped she’d agree to this lame excuse of an excuse.
“Okie dokie lokie!” The pink pony giggled. She hopped towards them. “Bye Gerald! See you later!”
Starspot shook her head a bit, wondering if she’d made the right choice. She decided they were on too tight of a schedule to dwell on it at all. “Let’s get moving, we’re way behind schedule.” Starspot began running towards Ponyville as quickly as she could, wanting to leave the sea of corpses behind her. Conrad and the new pony followed closely.
“So, your name is Pinkie Pie?” Starspot asked while they ran.
“Yup! My Granny Pie said that she was proud that I was named after her! She was really sweet. Want to see her ribcage?”
“NO!” Conrad and Starspot said together. The two looked at each other, both obviously wondering just how long this mare would survive in the unforgiving new Equestria.
“Do y’all really think that mare’ll be able to handle herself in a fight?” Conrad said worriedly.
“I think we’re about to find out.” Starspot looked ahead, seeing about ten zombie ponies feasting on the flesh of a pony that appeared to have been poorly armed, with the only weapon nearby being a baseball bat.
Starspot pulled out her pistol, floating Conrad’s rifle back over to him. “Okay Pinkie, how are you going to take them out?”
“With a party!” Pinkie Pie grinned, pulling a radio out of her bag, hitting the play button. A polka medly started playing.
“Are you kidding me?!?!” Starspot groaned.
“Nope!” Pinkie Pie giggled, running over to the zombies that were now alerted to her presence. She began to dance wildly, her movements quick, yet graceful, her legs kicking fluidly. Her back left hoof connected with the head of a zombie pony, a loud crunch being heard as the skull crushed. The zombie pony fell to the ground, dead.
Starspot and Conrad’s jaws hung wide open.
Pinkie Pie grinned as she danced, all of the zombie ponies falling down at her hooves as she danced her destructive dance. She giggled, hopping back to the other two and turning off the radio. “That was fun!” She began hopping towards Ponyville once again.
“We’re keeping her with us.” Starspot said, her mouth still wide open.
“Eeyup.” Conrad nodded in disbelief. The two began running after this crazed pony they now had to watch out for.
---===---
The three stopped just before noon to rest. They were on a small patch of broken road, weeds pushing through the large cracks, forming a type of divisor between sections of the stone. There was a gentle breeze, which was highly beneficial, as the sun was high in the sky and there wasn't a cloud to be seen.
“Why didn’t anypony tell me it was so far away?” Conrad whined.
“You’re such a girl, Conrad.” Starspot teased.
“More of one than you.” Conrad grunted.
“I don’t know whether to be flattered or insulted.” Starspot laughed.
“Oh, oh, I know! You should be insulted!” Pinkie Pie jumped up and down. “I win! What game do you want to play next? Please say hopscotch, please say hopscotch!”
“No, we need to rest if we’re to get to Ponyville before nightfall.” Starspot said. “Plus this is not the time for hopscotch, it’s the time for survival.”
A low moan came from over a nearby hill. The three companions froze.
“Okay, we’re going to have to move on. This isn’t safe.” Starspot whispered. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and that was just an echo. They could be miles away right now.”
“Everyone get ready to fight if things get ugly.” Conrad whispered. He pulled out his rifle. Starspot nodded, pulling her pistol out of her bag. They slowly walked over the hill towards Ponyville. About twenty zombie ponies wandered aimlessly in front of them.
“Shit.” Starspot groaned. She checked to make sure the pistol she had loved so much was in pristine condition. “I have nine shots before I have to reload.” She sighed a bit. “And Conrad, you have how many, six?”
Conrad nodded. “That math just don’t add up.”
“Pinkie Pie, why don’t you hang back, and me and Conrad will take out as many as we can. After that, you be ready to distract them long enough for Conrad and me to reload.”
“Okie dokie, lokie!” Pinkie Pie saluted.
“Ready Con?” Starspot whispered.
“As I’ll ever be...” Conrad whispered back.
“Three... two... one... Go!” Starspot screamed the last word to try and confuse the zombie ponies. Starspot and Conrad shot in conrtrolled bursts, trying to cause maximum damage. About half of the zombie ponies fell. Pinkie Pie ran around the remaining zombies while Starspot and Conrad reloaded. A moan behind the two firing ponies stopped them cold. They looked behind and noticed that there was a rather large group of zombie ponies behind them. “Screw the plan!” Starspot screamed. “Just run!” She clumsily stuffed her pistol back into her bag so she could run faster. She ran into the now smaller crowd that was on the path in front of her. She weaved in between them faster than most could react. One zombie pony managed to sink its teeth into her bag, ripping it off of her shoulders. She winced at the close call, running out of the crowd, looking behind her as the other two living ponies followed suit, Conrad not having time to put his bag back on, leaving all but Pinkie Pie bagless. At least Conrad still has his rifle. Starspot thought. But with little ammo. The ponies ran along the road, its mischievous twists and turns causing them to trip over their own hooves every once in a while. The road seemed to cut through the nothingness, as the only plant life around the dry soil were a few cacti and a weed or two poking through the street to greet the ponies' unhappy hooves. They stopped at a sign that was bent back, the metal appearing to have been struck with some sort of blunt object.
PONYVILLE JUST AHEAD
The happiest town in all of Equestiria!
Starspot smiled a bit, thinking back to her childhood days there. She couldn't have agreed with the sign more, after all, it had the second biggest library in existence. "Come on, everypony, let's get going."
The three ponies arrived in Ponyville just before sundown. “Phew.” Starspot panted heavily, coughing a bit. “Made it. Come on, I know a safe place.” She led the two to the library Twilight Sparkle once called home, being overly wary of zombies, hoping to be able to run from these ones. “This is the safest house in town, it’s protected magically.” She opened the door, peering inside to make sure they were alone. She was met with a blast of smoke to her face.
“Spike?” Starspot coughed. “Is that you?”
A large mass rearranged itself in the center of the room. “Huh?” It spoke with a deep, powerful voice. The large purple dragon opened it’s eyes slowly. “T-Twilight?!” It stood with a loud thud, taking up most of the room.
“Calm down Spike, it’s me, Starspot.” She reached out with a hoof, gently stroking his leg to calm him. “I missed you.”
“Starspot? What are you doing here?” Spike leaned down closer to her.
She smiled at him. “We need a place to stay the night, can we stay here?”
“Of course! Anything for you, Starspot! You look just like Twilight, except for the pink in her mane that’s not there. Plus, there's the eyes. Have you seen her? She said she had to run some errands and then I fell asleep, I’ll bet she needs some help from her number one assistant!”
Starspot fell silent. “Spike, when did you fall asleep?”
“Oh, I think it was Thursday. You know us dragons, we can sleep for years, why once I-” Spike froze, seeming to realize what had happened. “I-I’ve been asleep a lot longer than a few days... haven’t I?”
Starspot nodded sadly. “Spike, Twilight’s been... gone... for about twenty years.”
Spike looked down at her. “No...” He shook his head. “No, it can’t be...” Tears began running down his face. “NO!” He roared, flames licking out of his nostrils. He collapsed on the ground, crying harder than Starspot had ever seen anypony cry. Large tears splashed to the floor, soaking the three travellers.
“She’s not gone, silly!” Pinkie Pie smiled. “Starspot, she’s in your bag!”
Starspot glared at her. Spike rose his head up. “What? Was this all some sort of a prank? Haha, good one you guys, although that was really mean. I bet Rainbow Dash was in on it too, wasn’t she? She always took things way too far. Haha Twilight, you can come on out now.”
Starspot stared at the floor. “You don’t want to see this, Spike.”
“Of course I do! Why wouldn’t I want to see Twilight? I’ll bet she has some letters for me to send to Princess Celestia!”
Tears fell down Starspot’s face. “Spike, you really really don’t want to see this.”
“Yes I do! Come on Twilight, get out here.” Spike looked expectantly at Starspot’s bags.
Starspot sighed, magically unclasping her bag. She slowly pulled out the skull that Pinkie Pie had thrown on the ground earlier.
“What is.... this isn’t funny, Starspot!” Spike glared at the pony.
“Spike, I’m sorry.” Starspot was now visibly crying. “I tried to warn you.”
“THAT ISN’T TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT IS ALIVE!” Spike roared at her, flames flashed from his nostrils.
“I’m very sorry, Spike.” Starspot said quietly, backing up a bit. “That is Twilight. She died.”
“NO SHE DIDN’T! TWILIGHT WOULD NEVER DIE WITHOUT SAYING... “ Spike fell silent for a moment. “Without saying...” Tears dripped down the dragon’s face. “Goodbye...”
Starspot put her front arms around the dragon’s leg in a kind of hug.
“We’ll go to another room.” Conrad said, pulling Pinkie along with him to look around.
Starspot and Spike cried in each other’s arms for a while, (although Spike did most of the crying) and not a word was spoken between the two for hours.
“Spike... I’m sorry.” Starspot sniffed after the long silence.
“Why? Why wouldn’t she say goodbye?” Spike wondered, asking the same question he’d repeated in his mind a million times each second since he'd known.
“I don’t know, Spike.” Starspot frowned. “But I’m sure she had a good reason.”
“Yeah.” Spike frowned. He wiped the tears out of his eyes with his enormous clawed paw.
“Spike, would you like to go with us when we bury her? I think she would like you to be in attendance.” Starspot asked quietly.
“Yes.” Spike said. “She would have wanted it that way. Should I ask how exactly you found her?”
Starspot shook her head. “You don’t want to know.” She sighed a bit. “So, you don’t know what’s going on out there, do you?”
Spike shrugged. “I assume not much has changed. The sun goes up, the sun goes down, Celestia watches over us. Same as it has been.”
Starspot winced a bit. “Umm... not quite. Some strange scientists tried to come up with something to make ponies live forever... or at least for a long time. It didn’t go right, and now most of the ponies in Equestria have been zombified. Spike, almost everyone in Equestria is dead.”
Spike simply stared forward. “Sounds like an awful place out there. You three are free to stay here as long as you need. I promise that I’ll keep you safe as long as you need to be.”
“You’re very kind, Spike, but I’m afraid we’ll have to leave for Manehattan soon. I think we may still be able to save Equestria. Tell me, do you know the whereabouts of any relatives of Rarity, Rainbow Dash, or Fluttershy? From what I’ve heard, Fluttershy doesn’t seem like the..... mating type, so maybe a sister or something?” Starspot pulled out a list she had made. She had checks under Element of Laughter, Element of Honesty, and Element of Magic.
“Actually, Fluttershy had a filly. Don’t you remember Mr. Sharp?” Spike said. “And don’t you remember his filly, Angel, you two used to play together when you visited, mostly because you were forced to, but you played nonetheless.”
“Wait, that shy little pegasus that was afraid of her own shadow was related to Fluttershy? That’s...... not all that far-fetched, actually.” Starspot thought back. “Do you know where she lives?”
“Last I heard she lived in Fluttershy’s old house at the edge of the Everfree forest.” Spike thought. “And I don’t know where any relatives of Rainbow Dash or Rarity would be, but I would check Cloudsdale for Rainbow Dash’s relatives, and maybe Canterlot would be where Rarity’s would be?”
“Thank you, Spike, we’ll be out of your hair tomorrow, or maybe the next day, because if we need to convince Angel to join us, we’ll want to be back by nighttime, the zombies get more aggresive then.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Spike smiled, trying to mask the pain deep in his heart. “Why don’t you go get settled with your friends upstairs, you remember where everything is here, right?”
“Of course.” Starspot smiled, motioning for him to bend down. He did so and she kissed his scaly cheek. “Thanks, number one assistant.”
Spike smiled a bit. Starspot went up the stairs, opening the door to the bedroom. She walked in to find both Pinkie Pie and Conrad sleeping soundly on opposite sides of the room. She smiled a bit, going over to Pinkie Pie’s bags she’d set down, removing all of the contents and going down the stairs, placing the bag at Spike’s feet. “Don’t let Pinkie Pie... yeah, that’s her real name. But anyways, don’t let her get that bag. And don’t look in there, trust me.” She went back up the stairs, laying down in the middle of the room. She yawned, not realizing quite how tired she was. She stretched out, dozing off.
---===---
Starspot’s dreams that night were filled with memories of her childhood, playing with Angel and reading with her great grandma Twilight, but Twilight’s voice seemed different. Starspot looked up to her, to see that where her head was completely devoid of skin, looking just as it had when she first saw it come from Pinkie Pie’s bags. The skull stared intently at her, gradually breaking down as she heard Spike crying, just as he had done that day. “TWILIGHT! YOU CAN’T BE GONE!”
---===---
Starspot woke up in a cold sweat, looking about the familiar surroundings of the library. She sighed with relief, shaking her head to wake herself. She yawned.
“Mornin’.” Conrad was sitting in the corner, running repairs on his rifle.
“Morning.” Starspot yawned again. “So, first we’re going to Sugar Cube Corner to scavenge for food, then we’d better go to Fluttershy’s house to see if Angel is still there.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Conrad said. “An’ I’m sorry about how I was acting yesterday, but you understand, don’t y’all?”
Starspot nodded. “You were right to question my judgement, after all, I really am not any kind of leader. Plus Pinkie Pie is crazy.”
“You may not think so, but I think you are the leader. I mean, what if you’re right about this whole Elements of Harmony stuff? I woulda’ just killed her without any second thoughts. Then I think I woulda’ gotten out with less than just my rifle.” Conrad said. He placed his rifle back into his bag.
“Well, that’s nice, but I still don’t believe you. Anyways, let’s get going, we’re burning daylight.” Starspot got up and walked down the stairs.
Pinkie Pie was reading a book. The cover was green and had three balloons on it. She was smiling, her mane much more curly than it was the previous day.
Spike turned when he saw Starspot. “I thought that that would maybe help her.” He spoke with his deep, gruff voice. “It’s a photo album her grandmother had made of the various parties she’d had.” He smiled a bit. “Perked her right up.”
Starspot smiled. “You’re such a sweetie under that tough exterior.”
Spike blushed a bit.
Starspot stretched out a bit. “Pinkie Pie, you wanna stay here while me and Conrad go to Sugar Cube Corner?”
Pinkie Pie shot up. “Sugar Cube Corner?! Wowie-zowie! I wanna go!”
Starspot laughed. “Alright, then, let’ get going. Spike, when we come back we’ll knock three times, otherwise don’t open up.”
Spike nodded. Starspot walked out of the door, gauging the situation. “There appear to be no zombies out here. This is kind of weird, we haven’t seen one since we got to town.” She felt very uneasy, unsure of whether she should be relieved or worried that they had yet to see a single zombie pony in town.
“We’ll have to keep watch.” Conrad noted.
They all walked to Sugar Cube Corner together, looking around the town as they travelled. The town didn't seem to have sustained much damage, looking much like it had when Starspot had last been here. The buildings were mostly made of stone, and had thatched straw houses. While the town was fairly small compared to Fillydelphia, it was by no means tiny.There were close to a hundred houses dotted around town, most of them placed in the central hub around the large town hall. One building stood out above them all, however. Sugar Cube Corner was a large shop, being one of the only in town with three stories. It was decorated to look like a gingerbread house, with numerous delicacies modeled on the building. Starspot's favorite part was the cupcake that was on the top of it all, with three candles on top. Her mouth watered a little at the sight of the candy dwelling.
She opened the door, praying to Celestia that no zombies were in there. There didn't appear to be any, at least on the first floor. The first floor was a near copy of the outside, with peppermint sticks serving as pillars and lollipops and other candies gracing the walls in every available open spot. The front desk had a glass case built in that usually had a cake or a pie in it, but was now eerily vacant.
“Okay, now Conrad, you check the refrigerator down here, I’ll go check upstairs, and Pinkie Pie, just don’t steal any bones, please.” Starspot said. She headed up the stairs, looking around the room that she presumed to have been Pinkie Pie’s room. There didn’t seem to be much in the room, just a rug, a bed, and a record player. The door seemed to have been knocked off of its hinges and there was a dark red stain on the floor. Starspot looked at the record in the player. “The Parasprite Polka?” She shrugged, looking over the record player. It seemed to be fairly small for travel. She smiled. “A wonderful present for Pinkie! A welcome-back-to-sanity gift.” She laughed a bit at her own joke. She heard a low rumble from her stomach. “I really hope those guys managed to find some food.” She groaned a bit. She went down the stairs. “You guys find anything?”
“Loads, most of it inedible.” Conrad said glumly. “There’s a few cupcakes that are still palatable, and maybe some of these cookies, but other than that, nothing.”
Starspot sighed. The three shared the cupcakes and cookies. “I really hope Angel has some food. I could go for a nice daffodil sandwich right about now. Speaking of which, let’s get going, we want to give ourselves plenty of time.”
Starspot opened the door, walking out into the bright sunlight. It appeared to be about ten in the morning. Starspot sighed a bit, not looking forward to the long trip to Fluttershy's house. Her house was on the very outskirts of town, just outside of the Everfree forest. There was a path leading to it, but along the path were no houses, giving it the same feeling as the street to Ponyville. A bridge cutting through oblivion.The path lead over a spot where there once was a gorgeous stream that was always gently flowing, but it had seemed to have dried up since Starspot had left. The cabin itself looked very different from any other home that Starspot had seen before. There were holes all over where the animals once lived, and birdhouses adorned every spare place. The cabin had a grass roof, making it look much like just a part of a hill, save for the door and windows.
The door was hanging open. Starspot readied herself for a fight. “This could be bad.” She whispered. She snuck in, hearing zombie groans. “Dammit.” She groaned. Her heart sank deep into her stomach. “There goes the plan of getting her to join us.” She looked around the cabin. A couch lay tipped over on the floor, pillows strewn about carelessly. The inside looked much like the outside, with holes and birdhouses everywhere. Starspot had always wondered why there were birdhouses indoors, but they had never been empty, so she assumed there were some species of bird that simply preferred the indoor atmosphere. She looked to the middle of the room. There were a few cages hanging from the ceiling. The cages were very large, looking like they were made to accommodate ponies. She looked inside one, gasping.
End of Chapter Two
A special thank you to everypony that has stuck with the story thus far. For the rest of you, well, you won’t be getting this message. I just hope that if one day you’re surrounded by zombie ponies, you’ll think of me and have a party. Who knows? It could save your life.