//------------------------------// // 1.3: Arrival // Story: PROJECT: PONY UNDEAD // by Flying Fantasy Horse //------------------------------// Twilight sobbed uncontrollably as she curled into a ball in the corner of the abandoned store, with the carcass of one of her best friend's sister laying across from Twilight. Her throat was sore from the sobbing, and Twilight squeezed her eyes the hardest she could. The tears drenched Twilight's face, with spasms of wimpers coming now and then. The knife that she used to kill the little filly was still in her hoof, dripping with wet blood. Twilight threw it across the room in an explosion of anger. The knife fell beside the lifeless foal, to which the lavender mare cried to even more. Oh Celestia, why? Why did this happen? Twilight thought in the midst of her sorrow. Twilight's coat had the filly's blood splattered all over it. Her mind swam with the amount of thoughts that was invading her mind. Does this make me a bad pony?Will Celestia be mad at me? As of far, Twilight was unable to get any communication from the two princesses. In the midst of the screaming outside, it appeared that the princesses were making no attempt to even acknowledge the situation. Fire and screams was all she could hear outside, and she shuddered at the very thought of being eaten. Suddenly, Twilight heard a startling noise, something of a bump. Twilight opened her eyes to see that the corpse of Sweetie Belle has risen, her one back leg limping. Sweetie Belle's mane was much darker and out-of-place, and her eyes were glowing yellow, lighting the dark room. Her teeth were broken, her mouth dripping with blood. Twilight froze in horror of the sight. The horrible creature snarled at Twilight, and started to limp towards Twilight. Her pace started to change as she started to sprint at the frightened Twilight. Twilight pushed her back to the wall as she suddenly knew what her fate was. No, no, no, no! Not like this! What used to be of Sweetie Belle rushed over to Twilight, her mouth wide open, revealing her gnashing teeth. As the foal rushed closer, Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs, realizing her knife that she used to "kill" Sweetie Belle was at the other side of the room. Sweetie Belle pounced on to Twilight, knocking the lavender mare against the wall. Twilight tried her best to keep the little monster away from her, but before she could push her off, the hungry teeth bit into Twilight's arm. Twilight awoke with a startle. Sweat poured from her forehead. Twilight took a hoof and swiped away at the sweat. Twilight looked around. The tent that she pitched up was still intact, with no sign of damage. Twilight looked out the screen window. The moon was still at the top of the sky, shining it's light down into the bushy forest that was part of Twilight's journey to Appleloosa. Twilight calmed herself down. She laid back on her small pillow, immediately feeling discomfort. She pulled her sheets to her face and cried. The horrible memory plauged her for weeks. The pandemic has been going well into three months, and the number of creatures kept rising every day. More often than she would have liked, deaths developed before her own eyes. The screams of mares and stallions alike vibrated into Twilight's ears and shattered her ear drums. Of course, it was only a mild exaggeration, but that is what it felt like to Twilight, and the pain grew increasingly worse with every other filly seperated from their families hiding from the creatures of darkness, in some cases being found by them. Twilight knew she wanted to help every pony that she could, but she had to keep her own self in line before she could help anypony, and most of the time, Twilight had to stand back and watch the horrible scene unfold before her very eyes. Her emotions always broke out at the horrifying scene countless times, and telling herself that it was okay was never enough. Twilight knew nothing was okay, and everypony else was probably thinking the same thought. Twilight twisted and turned all night, memories of death after death flashing into her mind, even though Twilight wanted to filter out those dreams. By the time the light intruded into the tent, Twilight was already awake. Twilight got out of the tent, dreary-eyed and tired. Twilight knew she had to make time before any of the creatures come startling her. Twilight didn't exactly have the energy to run from crazed ponies, so she had to go fast. She packed up the tent into her knapsack and headed her way to Appleloosa. Twilight's journey to Appleloosa was, to say the least, nerve wracking. Every moment felt like it could be her last. Snaps of twigs and flaps of birds were all enough to make her nervous and jump in fear. Twilight had a knife tucked into a pocket that she made out of leather for her knapsack, just in case some dead pony decided to jump her. Surprisingly, no zombies were evident in the lonely forest, and Twilight felt more at peace than she should have been. Soon, the scenery transitioned from fantastic and lush forests to cactuses and sand as far as the eye could see in a blink of an eye. Twilight had a bottle of water in her knapsack, but her water supply was running low, so it was best to keep the water as it was. She needed to forage as best as she can, because she never knew when she was going to run out of necessary resources. The high and mighty sun burned overhead, causing Twilight to sweat. As of far, Twilight couldn't find a trace of civilization. Twilight checked her map several times, the sun disorienting her sense of direction. Twilight often realized that she was walking around in circles, causing Twilight to loudly curse at nopony in frustration. Twilight thought she would never find the town of Appleloosa, before a slight glance of her eyes told her this wasn't true. The small town of Appleloosa was merely a couple strips of buildings, with a couple of other buildings and houses on their own. Twilight breathed a little easier, and made her way to the buildings. As promised, no trace of the creatures were evident inside the barren and dusty buildings. It almost appeared as if everypony left in terror, leaving everything that they have ever owned in exchange for their lives. Twilight entered one of the buildings, only to immediately cough at the amount of dust that was inside. Cobwebs owned every corner of the ceiling and floor, with spiders crawling about, building webs in hopes of catching flies, which were also evident. Rarity would've had a fit with the entire mess, Twilight thought sadly. Twilight examined some notes from a messy desk, with papers and documents filling most of the surface of the table. Many of the accounts that were on display were disturbing, telling of people morphing into horrible creatures, eating many little terrified foals, who were no more than six. The accounts of these stories were enough to make Twilight spill vomit to the ground, as the reports were unnecessarily descriptive. Twilight was captivated at the documents, that she didn't hear the click of a gun behind her. Twilight's eyes widened, as her head turned. Twilight felt massive pain as the back of the gun connected with Twilight's face, sending her to the floor. Twilight's body sprawled to the ground, the dust making her cough blood. The red liquid dripped from her mouth as she looked up to see who the gun-wielder was. The revolver that belonged in western movies was pointed at Twilight's forehead, threatening her very life. The pony was orange, with white freckles and yellow ponytails, with fell down to her shoulders from her cowboy hat. Twilight only knew who this pony was. "Applejack, is that you?" Twilight asked the mysterious pony. The mysterious mare stopped gritting her teeth and looked at the sprawled body that she was pointing a gun at. Applejack started shaking the gun, before she dropped it and collapsed in a crying fit. Twilight rised up and hugged her, trying her best to comfort her. Twilight and Applejack sat their, sobbing in embrace. Applejack sniffed and managed to muster up words. "Ah..Ah thought you's was d-d-dead..." Twilight's eyes dripped with tears running down her cheek. Applejack looked up at Twilight and smiled. Twilight smiled back down. Applejack pushed Twilight away gently, and got up, with Twilight coming up as well. They looked at each other and nodded. Twilight spent the rest of the day catching up on the details. Applejack decided in the midst of the confusion and death, that she was going to go to Appleloosa and taking the Apple family with her. However, Granny Smith was involved in a carriage accident, which eventually led to her death. Big Mac sacrificed himself to saving the rest of the family along the trip, which left only Applejack and Applebloom. Applebloom got sick, which made her turn. Applejack didn't go into detail as to what followed next. "So, what's the situation with supplies? Are you well stocked?" Twilight asked. Applejack was making a little tea with the oven that was still in working order. Applejack brought the tea to the table that Twilight was sitting and poured the hot contents into little cups. Applejack sat down and sipped on her tea. "Yep. A lot of people actually left their supplies at home in the hurry, Ah suppose. Been living on those supplies for a while now, but Ah'm starting to run out. I need to hunt a little in the Everfree so I can cook some rabbits or birds." Twilight's face grimaced. Twilight knew that in order to survive, ponies had to eat lower animals. It was terrifying, but it had to be done. Actually hunting for your own survival was something that Twilight considered, but never actually thought of doing. "Are you suggesting that we actually, um, kill animals?" Applejack frowned. "Well, what were ya expecting? We die here with no food? We have to kill in order to survive. I know it doesn't make us any better than those things, but that's just how it goes. You gotta learn that, Twilight." Twilight didn't feel much better with that in mind, but Twilight had no choice but to accept it. Twilight has gotten tougher than when she was before, but somethings just didn't sit very well with the mare, especially the thought of killing innocent animals. "Besides, ever since those dead ponies came by, the plants have been dying out. Haven't found a nice fruit or plant during the trip, so Ah suppose that those things are killing the plants as we speak." Twilight thought for a moment; it wasn't too far off that the dead ponies were killing the plants. In fact, Twilight noticed the same effect too. Could it be that the undead was also killing the plants somehow? Twilight shuddered at the thought. The two decided to go immediately, so the Everfree forest wouldn't be high with activity during the night. Unlike Twilight, Applejack fared much better at pointing directions from a map. Twilight and Applejack walked the entire way, with occasional breaks now and then, and with a few hours of travelling, they arrived at the Everfree Forest. Twilight didn't like the Everfree forest, especially with the added zombie threat. But Applejack insisted the less time they waste, the better the chances of finding more food. Twilight didn't like that reasoning, but there was no stopping Applejack anyways. Along the way, Applejack taught Twilight how to wrangle the animals, and how to make traps. Twilight learned a lot of these methods in her texts, but she never used them. Today was her test, as she learned how to properly skin a rabbit. Fluttershy would have been horrified that Twilight was learning how to skin helpless rabbits, but Twilight would've never wanted to skin Angel, is he was still alive, that is. By the end of the day, Twilight completely learned the skill of skinning and hunting, thanks to the help of Applejack. They have skinned well about twenty rabbits that day. Twilight almost forgot about her previous worries and just skinned rabbits like she has been doing it for years. Applejack was a gentle, but firm teacher. Whenever Twilight made a mistake, Applejack gave a smart remark, then told her what she was doing wrong. Twilight liked that teaching style. It made her feel good inside. The sun started to lower down, as the light was shimmering down. Twilight put the skins and meat into her knapsack and sheaved her knife into her leather pocket. Twilight and Applejack walked together, congratulating each other during the day's hunt. Twilight was mid-way into complimenting her companion before she saw something that caught her eye. What Twilight saw was a straw hut with smoke coming from a little chimney at the top. Applejack caught Twilight's eye and followed her look. The two both knew who the hut belonged to, the only zebra crazy enough to reside in the Everfree forest; Zecora. "There's smoke coming out of the chimney. Do you think we should look inside?" Twilight asked. Applejack thought for a moment, then nodded. "We should. Zecora is a nice zebra; Ah believe she may be able to lend us a few supplies." Twilight nodded at the statement. Of course, the hut didn't exactly look very welcoming, but Zecora was a strange zebra at best anyways. The two advanced to the door, which was a little open. Twilight and Applejack looked at each other and nodded. Gripping her shiny knife tightly, Twilight opened the door slightly, then opened it entirely. The home was littered with many different masks and items from an ancient culture. The air felt warm and smelled funny. The two ponies examined many of the items in awe of their designs and patterns. Applejack looked at a rug with many different patterns, while Twilight looked at a goblet with a ton of different gems embedded into the gold base. Twilight was captivated at the goblet that neither Applejack or Twilight noticed the clopping coming behind them. Suddenly, Twilight's neck was pulled behind her. Twilight let out a squeal of terror, with Applejack immediately taking notice. Twilight tried desperately to get the hoof off of her, before a shiny knife was pressed against her neck. Applejack stood by, glaring at the zebra that was holding Twilight hostage. Twilight's heart started to beat faster, as the zebra started to snicker. "It appears we have unexpected guests; It doesn't matter, you are my dinner at best!"