The forest was behind Fluttershy. She could finally see the sky without the branches blocking the view. The sun was high up in the sky, but it was far from noon. The horizon became visible and a small river was flowing into it. In a small valley, the river diverged and formed a small island. On this small island laid a tiny village, with a tall clock tower in its middle. Fluttershy was glad to find safety from the wilderness.
That safety turned out to be much further than anticipated. Whatever ground Fluttershy has stepped on, wasn’t very stable. She knew it was artificial, she could practically see the bricks that had grass growing between them. But she couldn’t see how thin that artificial grassy floor really was.
She heard a rumble from below, like something has just collapsed under her. Soon more rumbling has followed and part of the ground has sunk in front of her into the ground. She stopped for a moment, wondering if she should carry on with the same path. A moment too long that was, because the rumbling continued and soon, the ground sunk right under her hind hooves. She stepped forward a bit and got away without falling into the hole. She looked down and saw a big hall, with some sort of altar surrounded by arches, right under her.
But this collapsing did no good to the ceiling, Fluttershy turned out to be walking on. It quickly started sinking between the two holes, dragging the whole ceiling under the ground, swallowing Fluttershy. She landed right on one of the arches, with her right wing. The wing made a loud cracking sound, followed by a painful yelp from Fluttershy. The arch crackled under her and it soon fell to the ground, with the bricks landing all over the floor and crushing Fluttershy’s left forehoof. She reacted to the situation, with a painful groan.
“Nice going talisman of flukes!” She grumbled to no one in particular. She tried to stand up. Her other legs were fine, if a bit achy, but she could not put her weight on her left forehoof. The same with her right wing, which she couldn’t move without massive pain. The hole which she fell through, were the only source of light in the large hall. The altar has been ruined long ago.
There was a gate leading to darkness in front of her. Sounds of slow footsteps and knocking, with the occasional wheezing were coming from the shadow. Soon a hunched over cloaked figure, with a stick emerged. It was leaning heavily on said stick to support itself. It seemed to be unable to walk properly. Fluttershy approached the cloaked figure with only using three of her legs.
“Excuse me,” She reached out to the figure, “my wing and leg have been badly hurt. Could you get me some help?”
The figure looked up at her with another wheeze. Only then did Fluttershy see its decrepit image. Its skin was dry as sand, its dusty lips hanging over its few remaining teeth and most of all, its black and empty eye-sockets. Fluttershy was so startled, that she forgot about the pain in her limbs and tried to fly away. However, that only resulted in a jump, a crackling pain, a clumsy landing, followed by another crackling pain and a yelp.
She looked up at the dried up walking corpse, but it was only standing there, watching her failed attempt of an escape. It then started walking towards her, in the slowest manner she saw anyone walk in. The zombie quickly become more pathetic instead of threatening. It extended its hand for Fluttershy. She looked at the shrivelled up palm and with a bit of hesitation she put her hoof into it. The zombie pulled her up, but Fluttershy was just anxious to not break the dead fellow’s hand off. It jerked its head over its shoulder, telling Fluttershy to follow along. After a bit of consideration, she did. Maybe it knows the way out.
They walked along the underground tunnels, sunlight seeping through the cracks in the ceiling. The walls were filled with empty holes. Soon they reached a staircase. The zombie took its time to step up each and every step. Even Fluttershy with her incapacitated leg could get up with less effort. She reached the top and found herself inside a cemetery. All graves have been dug up and emptied. There was also the clock tower she saw from afar, in front of her.
The pitiful zombie finally reached the top of the stairs and escorted Fluttershy towards the clock tower. The town surrounding seemed empty, if it wasn’t for the decrepit corpses walking around, seemingly aimlessly. There was one sitting on an empty carriage with no wheels, flailing a lead rope attached to nothing. There was another with a bucket over its head. Their ghastly moans echoed through the air, chilling Fluttershy to the bone. But instead of being scared, she felt rather sorry for the walking corpses.
Finally they reached the tower. The zombie pushed half of the gate open with a lot of effort and waited for Fluttershy, then with the same amount of effort, it closed the gate back in. They stepped into a barely lit room with the staircase leading upwards, situated on the sides of the walls. In the middle there was another cloaked figure standing in front of a table and seeming very busy. The zombie called out to the figure with a short moan.
“Yes, yes, just put it into the pile over there.” The figure pointed at a pile of assorted body parts. He spoke with a thick sophisticated accent.
The zombie moaned again.
“What do you mean it’s alive?” He asked and turned around. His face was covered by a mask, only his eyes could be seen. “Aw, Jim! That’s living tissue! I can’t work with living tissue!”
The zombie moaned again.
“Patient? Are you calling me a patient? Do I look like I’m crazy to you?”
The zombie moaned again.
“I’ll tell you who’s the crazy one here! Those nerds at the academy! They’re the crazy ones for kicking me out!”
The zombie moaned again.
“Being dead is not an excuse! I tried to resurrect them didn’t I?!”
The zombie moaned again.
“I don’t need medication! But those stuck-up nerds will need a lot of medication after I show them my work! I’ll show them! They’ll see!”
The zombie moaned again.
“Crazy? Crazy?!” The crazy cloaked man was yelling at this point. “I’m not crazy!” He cried out in rage and went on a loud tirade of gibberish.
The zombie called Jim looked at Fluttershy and twirled its hand at the side of its head. Then he looked up at a shadowy figure on top of the room and made a pulling motion with his hand. The figure grabbed the rope next to it and pulled it once, then resumed standing in one place. The sound of the bell shook the walls of the tower and Fluttershy’s eardrums. The cloaked ranting man froze in one place. The bell stopped after a while. Fluttershy’s ears rang loudly.
“Jim.” The cloaked man talked in a calm tone. “What did I tell you about ringing the bell when it’s not time?”
The zombie moaned again.
“What do you mean it’s time to calm down? Spare me that attitude you wretch. If you mess up the timing, we’ll be confused about the time.”
The zombie moaned again.
“You don’t know the time? How am I supposed to know it then?”
The zombie moaned again.
“Now, what did I just tell you about your attitude? You don’t talk to me like that, especially when we have patients around.” He realized Fluttershy was standing there all along. “Oh! A patient! Haven’t had those in a while. I’m count Nefas, your doctor for today. Come sit on the table.” He said and pushed a stitched together corpse off the table.
“I’m... Fluttershy...” She said quietly and timidly stepped up to the table, with her limp. She took a look at the table. “Are you sure this is hygienic?” She asked Nefas, while slowly stepping up on the table and looking at a very bad looking stain on it.
“Of course it is!” Nefas shouted confidently. “Now let’s see...” He said calmly and started inspecting Fluttershy’s wing. His hands crawled with small beetles. “Yes, yes a displaced carpal joint... A linear crack on the humerus, and a bruised shoulder joint.” He moved onto Fluttershy’s leg. “Transverse fracture on the tibia and the cannon bone and... What’s this?” He asked in surprise.
There was a tiny red spot on Fluttershy’s hoof. Nefas poked it, then made a clawing gesture towards it. Fluttershy yelped in pain, as a tiny white worm slipped out from the red spot. Nefas then grabbed it with a levitation spell and put it inside a jar.
“Oh, would you look at that.” He said in a disturbingly enthusiastic tone. “A pregnant rot-fly! It burrows inside the skin and grows so large it bursts the skin, injecting the host with its offspring, who will eat it alive from the inside.” The more he talked, the more disturbing his enthusiasm got. “Good thing you broke you leg, darling. You would have ended up inside my workshop, if it wasn’t for this check up!”
Fluttershy was surprised by these news. “There aren’t any more of them, are there?” She asked in concern.
“No, these beauties release an antigen, which prevents other rot-flies from rooting. You will no longer have a problem with them after this. They create their own antidote against themselves.” He held the jar very close to his face and joyfully observed the little worm swim around in it. “Not a very efficient survival tactic, if I do say so myself”
Fluttershy was relieved. “Nice going talisman of flukes.” She said quietly. “Um, could you help me with my broken wing and leg?” She asked Nefas, who was enamoured with the tiny parasite.
“Oh! Right. Of course!” He grabbed her broken limbs and lightly rubbed his hand over them.
Fluttershy could move her wing and leg again, without any problem. “Thank you, doctor Nefas!” She thanked him and shook off a beetle, that crawled onto her leg from Nefas’ hand.
“Doctor Nefas?” Nefas said in surprise. “Nobody ever called me that.” He seemed flattered.
“Aren’t you a doctor?” Fluttershy asked in surprise.
“Well, technically I am... Just...” He paused. “The medical world is just not ready for necromancy.”
Jim moaned.
“No, it’s not because I’m crazy! We’ve been through this!”
The zombie moaned again.
Nefas looked at Fluttershy. “Can you believe that wretch? So disrespectful! Oh, why did I have to insert a spoilt brat’s soul into that corpse?”
Fluttershy was getting concerned again. “Um, maybe I should leave.” She said.
“Yes, yes, of course! Jim, escort... um... what is your name dear?”
“...I’m Fluttershy...”
“Oh, right! And what are your health-related grievances?”
“...You just treated me.”
“Oh did I? You think I’d remember a talking horse.” Nefas chuckled. “Jim, please escort Fluttershy out of here.”
Jim, the zombie and Fluttershy walked towards the door. Jim stopped for a moment and did another pulling motion towards the shadowy figure on top of the tower, which rang the bell again.
“Jim, you rascal!” Nefas shouted. The zombie wheezed like it was attempting to laugh, opened the door and dragged himself away.
Fluttershy, after rubbing her ringing ear, stepped outside the gate. Nothing has changed in the little zombie-filled settlement. The corpses were still walking around aimlessly, one was still sitting on the carriage with no wheels and shaking that rope and Jim was heading back to the cemetery.
“What a strange town this is.” She said to no one in particular and headed for the shortest way out.