Pandemic: Undead Equestria

by Gamer Brash

Chapter Three - The Undead Awaken

Thunder Armor and Night Shade had entered the cool, dark cavern, making Thunder thankful that their combat uniforms were nice and warm. There was a constant dripping, a leak in the ceiling that nature had neglected to patch.
Night Shade required no enchantment or device here, in total blackness his eyes gave off a slight yellow glow as a natural ability. In Canterlot, he had needed the binoculars as a pony can only see so far. Thunder, however, had cast a tactical spell on himself, taught to unicorns put through S.T.F. training. It allowed him a similar form of vision that Night Shade had.

"How long before they realize the guard at the entrance is gone, sir?" Thunder asked, thinking of the Changeling's communication spells passed on by their Queen.

"They'll realize in about twenty minutes when they check in with him and realize he's out cold. They see what he sees. Which is why we needed to find them two minutes ago." Night Shade replied, with a hint of stress unusually evident in his voice.
After the incident in service to Luna, he refused to let "failure" become an option. It was a word that simply no longer existed in his vocabulary.

They descended deeper into the ancient cavern that had existed long before Celestia and Luna. There were narrow corridors, small parts where the cave opened into tiny domes, and evidence of former civilization. Moss and fungus grew along walls and pathways, emanating blue and yellow auras.
Finally, they came to a massive underground dome, a huge crack in the ceiling formed by the roaring waterfall creating a small pool that filled, then drained, into old aqueducts carved out by the long-dead inhabitants. Old, decaying housing, structured in a strange cube shapes, were once stacked one on top of another, staircases providing entrance to higher floors. Now, thousands of years later, they were collapsing and eroding, a mixture of petrified wood and carved stone.
There were also skeletons scattered about the floors and staircases, seemingly posed to perish together in violent conflict with each other.
Thunder Armor took all of this in as they descended the massive carved stone staircase, simultaneously in awe and disgust.

How could such a seemingly Utopian society end up like this? Thunder thought. As they reached the bottom, he saw the answer he had once read in a legend deemed by the S.T.F.'s standards to be "fiction."
Observing the positions of several of the ancient skeletal bodies, he realized they had died protecting themselves. Thunder realized with horror permeating his mind and soul:
The Undead.
According to legend, it was a curse that killed a group of miners deep under the surface. They had unearthed crystals, and upon touching them they were instantly killed and a few moments later, reanimated by the latent eldritch necromancy. The bodies dead, slowly decaying and a constant hunger for flesh.
The magic acted like disease, spreading into the bloodstream of any who were not completely consumed and turning them. Within less than a day, a grand civilization fell.

"I've got a really bad feeling about this, sir." said Thunder Armor.

"Shove it aside, we've got a job to do." replied Night Shade.

As they were rounding the perimeter, a group of Changelings leaped out from behind rocky outcroppings and attacked!
"AMBUSH! screamed Night Shade, drawing the Bat'leth* slung over his side and taking flight.
Thunder Armor ducked for cover behind a fallen column, to avoid the Changelings' green energy beams that became sticky green slime on impact. He drew his long sword and short sword off his belt, levitating them at either side. About fifteen of them were focused on Thunder, and the other focused on Night Shade above, with five of the other group taking flight and giving chase to him.

"I GUESS THIS MEANS OUR TWENTY MINUTES ARE UP!?" Thunder screamed over the sound of at least thirty different Changelings firing their green magic.

"LIGHT 'EM UP, SOLDIER!!!" commanded Night Shade, dodging a spell and using the momentum to send an airborne Changeling to it's demise by sinking his blade into the neck, the green insectoid blood spilling out. Shade ripped the blade out mercilessly, and let the body drop below.

Meanwhile, Thunder Armor knew exactly what Shade meant: The Incendiary potions on his bandoleer.
Canterlot's top military scientists and mages had come together in recent years to create volatile potions that explode when shattered. The combat advantage was clearly seen among the guard divisions allowed to use them, and thus production eventually was divided into making four kinds of these potions: Explosive, Incendiary, Corrosive, and Shock.
Thunder Armor waited for a break in the Changeling's spellfire, gave a couple potions a shake with levitation, then lobbed them over the column towards the Changeling squad...

With a shatter, the potions exploded and washed the area in magical purifying flame. The intense heat caused instant immolation for several of the squad below.

Night Shade soared above the heat, grinning through the sword's bit. He was in his element.

Leading the pursuers along, he sped towards the cavern wall. The airborne Changelings gave chase, then four realized their foolish mistake much too late.
Night Shade had flown forward, brought his hooves to the wall, and pushed off with all his might. The result was both lengths of his blade separating heads from bodies as he flew backwards, allowing his body to free fall toward the ground. The other ten that had not been so gullible gave chase, dive-bombing with green magic enveloping their heads.

This, however, proved to Night Shade that they were stupider than the four he had just killed. He rolled his body upright, and swept to the side. With the Changelings diving, he hovered to the side to watch them fall right into the fiery trap below.
Thunder Armor stepped out from behind cover to approach the swath of flames still burning. As the Changelings landed, he fired off combat spells to dispatch of any that weren't catching fire, of which were few. "IT BURRRNSSSS! AHHHHhahaha...." cried one, running from the flames. Thunder rolled his eyes as the Changeling should have done with its body, and flung his short sword at it. The small double-edged sword found itself lodged through Changeling torso.

Night Shade descended to Thunder's side.
"Good work. Now, put out the fire and check for survivors."
"Yes, sir." Thunder Armor did as he was told, extinguishing the magical flames and checking pulses. None were left alive.

As Thunder finished up checking bodies and gathered his weapons, he saw a pulsing, brown glow emanating from around a corner. Night Shade noticed this, too.
Shade looked at Thunder and nodded knowingly.
"Proceed."
"Yes, sir."

They approached the source of the sickly, glowing light. Thunder Armor saw the cavern leading downward, at a slight incline.... He also saw innumerable chrysalises, containing decaying bodies of Canterlot socialites lining the walls.

"Oh, my..." Thunder Armor managed, before dry heaving. The sight was truly hellish, with portions of neck having been torn away so that a Changeling might suck out any love the unfortunate soul might have. Their faces were locked in utmost agony.

"Get it together. We keep moving, an-"

"HHHUUUUURRRRAAGCCCHHHH!!"** a horrible, blood curdling sound let loose from deeper in, interrupting Night Shade.

Thunder Armor shot up, readying his weapons for what he dreaded in his mind.
Night Shade looked towards the direction of the sound and drew his Bat'leth once more.

"I'm thaking pointh." Shade said through the bit.

Thunder Armor nodded, and steadied his nerves.
They moved slowly and carefully, watching the area for movement. Suddenly, Thunder couldn't see. He realized that his spell expired... He cursed under his breath in the dim, pulsing brown glow. He could see the silhouette of Shade ahead of him, still moving... He cast the night vision spell once more.

As soon as he did, Night Shade let out a scream of absolute pain!

"Sir! SIR! What happened?" Thunder Armor rushed to the collapsed body of his superior... And discovered him lying in a pool of his own blood. Night Shade was twitching, as if he was having a seizure.
"Sir! Come on, stay with me!"

"Urggh..! Ackh!" Night Shade couldn't do anything but gargle and sputter. His throat had been ripped out.

Thunder swallowed hard, and looked around. He saw no sign of the attacker, and no sign of Night's Bat'leth. Which told Thunder that the weapon probably found itself sunk deep into the flesh of whatever creature attacked him. Thunder looked closely at the wound. It appeared that Night Shade had been bitten, and there was a strange sickly brown liquid swirling in the blood.
Thunder's right ear twitched at a noise...

Backing up, he looked toward the source of the sound, straight up, and dropped his weapons at the sight. He saw hundreds of Changelings hanging from chrysalises on the cavern ceiling, watching him. Their usually blueish eyes were instead glowing and pulsing with the brown light. The cocoons also shared the sick color that resembled decay.
They were the source of the strange aura...

Thunder Armor realized with horror: The Changelings had already won. It didn't take much for him to realize that they had been experimenting with necromantic energies, from his knowledge of the Undead's legend.
In all of his shock of realization, he didn't notice the body of Night Shade reanimate. Night Shade was dead, but his body slowly rose from the floor. It took its first breath of undeath, and turned toward the smell of the living.

The body of the former S.T.F. bat pony shambled over to Thunder Armor, who was still frozen in shock...
Who then shook himself out of it, and heard the strange and irregular breathing of his now Undead superior. Thunder tried to focus levitation on his nearby sword, but his fear was too great. The life was gone from Shade's eyes, replaced by a brown glow. A disgusting ooze dripped from his muzzle and through his mask, falling to the floor and reacting with the blood-soaked stone.

Thunder finally got a full grip on himself, and turned to run. As he did, Changelings started to drop like dead weight. They were hatching from the cocoons... And so were the missing socialites! Thunder was soon surrounded, with no way out. His eyes darted to every possible direction, searching for escape... There was none.

"Well, if I'm going down... I MIGHT AS WELL GO DOWN FIGHTING!!" Thunder Armor shouted with all his will, and grabbed for the last two incendiary bottles on his bandoleer.

He gave them a shake, and tossed them, washing the innumerable Undead with flames. The mob of rotting flesh was not fazed, though some fell in the extreme heat, it was not enough to break through.
Thunder sat, knowing his life would soon end. He closed his eyes, and recited his loyalty oath for the last time, regretting he could not warn Equestria of the coming doom.

"For Her Celestial Majesty, and her Nightly Kin,
we doth protect our own with the Magic within.
Knowing, yet not permitting
seeing, and not speaking.
Let ignorance be their guide, and knowledge be ours.
The Sovereignty of Celestia be not questioned, Luna's Wisdom not neglected.
I give my life in service to Equestria, with Friendship and Harmony for all."

At the last word, Thunder Armor became washed in agony as he became a feast of flesh for the newly Undead.

Author's Note:

*I'd imagine a Bat Pony would be armed with something like this, and it's also my theory that Pegasai use dual-bladed swords, to compensate for a lack of magic to levitate a weapon. On the subject, I'd imagine Earth Ponies and Unicorns using more standard swords and weapons. Case in point, many of the Canterlot guard in the wedding arc were using spears.
Bat-pony Weapons: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Bat'leths.jpg

**If you've ever seen The Walking Dead, which, chances are if you're reading this, you probably have, it's basically the sound that walkers make.

Comments

[Gamer Brash]

5200147
...You never did tell me how my fic made you tick.
At least, so far.

[Gamer Brash]

After almost a month, the third chapter is FINALLY finished! Please, provide feedback! I want to improve as a writer, if there's any grammatical errors or if the story direction is a little shaky, if there's any inconsistencies... point it out and I'll make adjustments!

[BL00DM00N]

So awesome! When do we get to see this mysterious main character??

[Gamer Brash]

5286216 Well, the mane characters will be the Mane6, the Princesses, the Undead, Discord, and of course, Queen Chrysalis.

[Gamer Brash]

Hey, everyone! Writing something of this size is rather difficult, so please: If there's something you feel was amateur-ish, let me know and I'll try to correct it.
I've got a lot of information to track in my daily life away from the site, so if I overlooked a key detail while writing, point it out. Constructive criticism only, please!

[Heat Signature]

I was actually thinking more like Necromorphs from dead space, the sounds they made in the movies were horrifying, plus when they do swip by their target and rip out a huge chunk of flesh it is in a blur that you don't even know they were around.

Glad to see the story is up, but to bad for these guys in it.

[Gamer Brash]

5294462
It's still being written. I haven't stopped.
I'm just really struggling with how to ruin Equestria without the Mane6 going all "Rainbow Power" on the Undead. It's quite a dilemma.

[Heat Signature]

5296354 in every zombie apocalypse story on here, magic is useless on what's dead, so they use guns in the stories. Either guns were common and most ponies owned them (usually something like shotguns and pistols, some snipers) but in a different one I read, the equestrian military had guns in secret and only would bring them out for soldiers during war (or if your rich and you have one illegally). In a dead space one they used sharp weapons and pony-Isaac Clarke made a plasma cutter with the help of Vinyl's equipment.

My point is, do what you think is good and will turn out good, they have/had their ideas, now you do.

Good luck my friend, and if you don't want Main 6 to interfear, divide them up, kill half off at first, or write the story as your OC and maybe others point of view.

[Gamer Brash]

5302270
I've been thinking that perhaps they should be weak to sharp implements and the explosive potions. In chapter three, a few did fall by the incendiary potion. It just wasn't enough to take care of the whole crowd.

[Heat Signature]

5307499 well, their flesh would be weaker as it decays but they don't feel pain. If you cut off a hoof they would limp, if you cut off two they will crawl, if you cut off all four they'll just start nipping at the air trying to bite what they are hunting, if you do none of the above and slash the brain your good to go. If you want the main six to not be a problem then make it where no one knows (at first) to kill the brain. Plus, only high level explosions can kill zombies (also the incendiary are meant to burn hot enough), if you just light them up with a match and gas then you'll only make them twice as much of a problem.

The story will be good no matter what path you travel.