Prologue: the boring life of Apple Bloom
A mysterious pony was rummaging through a long abandoned farm, obviously lost during the early days of the apocalypse, considering all of the litter that commonly adorned a bandit encampment. It was looking through a small box filled with a bunch of assorted things; an old DVD player, a few wires, a small camera, and a bunch of DVDs.
The pony picked up the DVD player and a DVD and placed them on the table. It quickly plugged the player into a wall socket, and plopped the DVD into the disc tray. it lightly pushed the tray and waited for the player to come to life. The simple DVD logo came up, and static followed quickly.
Within seconds, the static faded to reveal a battered and bruised Apple Bloom sitting on the chair the pony was sitting in. She was holding her arm, and blood trickled down from multiple gashes and cuts on her body. One of the straps on her tank top was missing, leaving that side of the cloth to hover just below her collar bone. She began coughing before looking at the camera and speaking.
"My name is Apple Bloom. My friends, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Silver Spoon, among many others, are dead. They were stabbed, shot, taken by the horde, and about a dozen other things. I am making this last video before I join them to keep our memories and the times we had together within these DVDs. If and when somepony finds them, If this terrible curse has finally ended, please share these so that we may never have to repeat this hell ever again. the other DVDs in the box over there tell what happened. Please keep them preserved no matter what happens."
Apple Bloom went into a coughing fit, and disappeared under the desk that the camera was resting on. A few seconds later, a hand appeared and pressed something off screen just before the screen went back to static.
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"Why ah we doin' this again?" I look at Scootaloo, who's aiming an air soft pistol at an apple above my head as Sweetie Belle watches from behind her. Scootaloo is wearing a black tank top, tan cargo shorts and some expensive looking sneakers while Sweetie Belle is wearing a simple lavender dress and purple high heels.
"Because it's her cutie mark anniversary." Sweetie Belle replies flatly.
"Ah know that, but why is it me that has ta stand with the apple on my head?"
"Because you thought it was a good idea to race pickup trucks down route 2 during your cutie mark anniversary."
"Oh c'mon now, ya know it was fun."
"Until you hit that dog." I shrug in response, and tense up as Scootaloo pulls down the hammer on the gun. I close my eyes as Scootaloo puts her finger on the trigger. I hear a loud bang, followed by a strong force on my head pushing me to the tree behind me.
"Dammit!" Scootaloo shouts. "I hit the camera." I open my eyes in fear and quickly pull the camera off my head, knocking down the apple. Looking at the front of it, the lens is absolutely shattered and a BB is stuck inside the motherboard.
"Aww crap, Applejack's goin' ta kill me."
"Ah don't worry," Scootaloo says, waving a hand, "I can fix it pretty easily."
"Ya better be able to, or I'm gonna have ta do a couple of weeks worth of work in a day." I chuck the camera over to Scootaloo and grab the apple off of the ground before taking a bite and promptly spitting it out.
"Why didn't ya tell me ya got a rotten apple?"
"Because Scootaloo knew it'd be funnier to watch you try to eat a rotten one."
"Well shut up." I say, finding no better response.
We begin walking towards the gate that leads out of the southern acres as Scootaloo finishes inspecting the camera.
"Seriously though this is a simple Go Pony, I should find the proper lens and whatnot within an hour. You got fifty bits?" I reach into my jeans pocket and pull out what money I have from cider sales.
"Only a twenty. I can pay ya interest if ya want."
"Nah, thirty bits is like chump change for me."
"Alright." We each walk out of the acres and say our goodbyes once I realize it's almost time for work.
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"Hey Apple Bloom!" The sound of Twilight calling my name awakens me from my stupor, and I wave to her as she walks through the library doors. "How are you doing?"
"Better. Scootaloo's cutie mark anniversary celebration was today, and she decided it was a good idea to play Fillyam Tell with me holding the apple and Applejack's camera. Broke the latter, and the former was rotten."
"Yeesh. Sounds like you're gonna be in a lot of trouble."
"Nah. Scootaloo's fixin' the camera so ah should be fine by the time my shift is over. Granted she'll notice that the camera's gone, But hopefully she'll be non the wiser when ah hand it ta her." Twilight nods her head as she hands me a pair of books.
"Donating or checkin' these in?"
"Donating. I'm still not finished with the new Daring Do. Rainbow Dash was completely absorbed by the release of this one because it gives her some more recognition. I haven't gotten to it yet, but she apparently saves more than just Daring Do for once."
"Sounds interesting. I might pick it up when you're done." Twilight smiles at this, and looks to her purse as she remembers something.
"By the way, have you seen what happened near the compound today?"
"No I didn't. Did one of those magical psychos escape again?"
"I dunno, but somebody got a video of this really sick looking pony trying to eat one of the weather ponies." I give a grimace as Twilight pulls out her phone and shows me the video.
It's an amateur video that cuts right into the middle of one of the weather ponies wrestling with a pony that looks like a walking corpse. The sickly looking pony manages to take a bite out of the other's neck. The weather pony falls to the ground as a few of the braver members of the crowd shoves the walking corpse up to a wall and call the police. the video ends a few seconds later when the cameraman drops his phone and the video cuts off.
"wow." I say afterwards. "ah wish somethin' like that would happen around here. It's insanely boring around here."
"Well a boring life has it's advantages." Twilight gives a sheepish smile as I grab the books and put the into the donations bin.
"Yeah, but a risky life is more fun. You gotta have some fun before ya die. ya know?" Twilight puts her phone away before responding.
"Trust me. Dealing the the magic users in that compound is 'exciting' enough for one lifetime to me." My eyes light up with with as an idea forms in my head when Twilight mentions the compound.
"Say... do ya think ya can get me in ta the compound?"
"Don't you even think about it Apple Bloom. There are some things in there nopony should see. What do you think will happen if Sweetie Belle got caught?" I sigh as I see her point. If Sweetie Belle got caught using magic, She'd be thrown into the compound where all those other crazies live. It'd probably break Rarity's heart to see her going in there.
"alright, I see ya point."
Twilight nods, before promptly walking out of the library.
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I flop onto my bed and unlock my phone. The notification of breaking news gets my attention first, and I tap it. The picture that comes under the headline doesn't surprise me much, as it's a picture from the video Twilight had showed me earlier. The headline however, does surprise me.
Breaking News: The Dead Walk.
As of five A.M. today, something unusual happened near the compound where the magician threats are held; a terminally ill pony, by the name of Dumb-Bell attacked an unnamed citizen today. Both were confirmed dead at the scene when the police arrived. However, a few hours after the event, both were seen walking around the town. This time, the victim and Dumb-Bell both went on a bite spree, infecting roughly 0.01% of Ponyville's population. Many ponies that were interviewed, including the witnesses of the earlier fight, referred to them as zombies. We are not sure if this is correct, but we advise you to stay away from anybody who even has a fever and to contact your local C.D.C..
I hear the front door close downstairs and, figuring it's Applejack, grab the camera before opening my bedroom door and making my way to the stairs. As I get halfway down the stairs, Applejack's worried voice fills my ears, and I go down the stairs at a slower pace so I don't alert her of my presence.
When I finally see Applejack, I notice her sitting on the floor in a puddle of blood. Winona is worriedly licking her leg as Applejack tries to look around for a bandage, repeating the same words over and over again.
"No, no, no, no. This can't be happening. No." Applejack buries her face in her hands, and begins sobbing. I cautiously walk over to her and lay a hand on her shoulder, but she quickly bats it away and looks into my eyes. Hers are filled with fear, sorrow, and tears. She rests her head on her hands and starts to sob again.
"What's wrong sis?" I awkwardly put my hand on my arm, not too sure what to do.
"Ya heard about those freaky corpses walkin', right?"
"Yeah, what about 'em?" She cautiously pushes Winona away from her leg and brushes away the blood covering the wound, revealing a bite mark. My eyes go wide as shock fills my body, and I begin to walk back and forth with my hands in my hair. Applejack looks back to Winona and pulls her towards her side.
"Ah'm sure ya saw the news articles, and you know what's gonna happen ta me." She begins stroking Winona's back, but she quickly walks away from Applejack's arm and goes back to licking up her wound. I stop walking and curl up into a ball at the foot of the stairs.
"Yeah ah saw the news bulletin, and Twilight showed me a video of the first person who got attacked." I feel her eyes motion towards me as she gives me a small smile.
"Then ya know ya can't stay here, right?" I nod my head, as tears begin to blur my vision. How could this have happened to her? Why does she of all ponies have to be one of the first to go?
"Ah don't got anywhere else to go Applejack." I look up to her for as long as I can, before the sight of her just accepting defeat brings even more tears to my eyes, and I bury my head in my shoulders as I start openly sobbing. Why does she have to go? Why can't there just be some kind of antidote or cure? The thoughts fly through my mind as Applejack's voice pierces the sound of my sobs.
"Ah'll throw you out if ah hafta. Ah may be a dead mare, but that won't stop me from keeping the entire apple family safe. Even if it is from me." I nod, and try to accept her fate as I walk back up to my room, camera still in hand.