//------------------------------//
// 4: Sweet Apple Acres 
// Story: Left 4 Ponies: Get to Sweet Apple Acres! 
// by Silver Arctic Wolf 
//------------------------------//

The four ponies were exhausted after their trek through the woods, so they boarded up the door again and took a rest. Fluttershy was a less hospitable host than usual, but she and Angel were too tied up to keep everyone from helping themselves to her snacks and tea. Twilight worried the food might be infected and wouldn’t touch any, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash saw Pinkie down a whole box of crackers, so they helped themselves. After their snacks, they tried to relax, but Fluttershy’s snarling and coughing kept them on edge. It didn’t help that restless Twilight kept pacing around and fussing over Rainbow Dash and Pinkie’s injuries and what they ate. Applejack had to keep her from fussing over Fluttershy too, since she kept running to her side every time she coughed. Rainbow Dash was able to get in a quick nap, but the other three didn’t get any sleep, and after an hour they had to leave.
Applejack yawned. “Well, I reckon the ponies of Equestria can’t wait much longer for this cure. We’d best get moving.” Under her breath, she added, “The sooner we get outta here, the better for Twilight. Practically had to keep a guard on Fluttershy the whole time to keep that silly filly from getting her muzzle bitten off…”
“Heeeey! That reminds me of this one time, me and my sister Maud were at a party, and there was a piñata and-”
“Not now, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Alright… But it’s a really amazing piñata story! You don’t know what you’re missing!”
Rainbow Dash sighed. “I think we’ll live.”
“Alright, girls! Let’s get to Sweet Apple Acres so we can get that antidote!” Twilight said.
“Now you’re talking, Twilight! Let’s go and save everypony!” said Applejack.
“By the way…” Twilight made a strained face as she clapped her hooves together. “Are you sure we can’t take Fluttershy with us?”
Donning an irritated look, Applejack sighed. “Yes, I’m sure.”
Twilight chuckled nervously. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I just hate leaving her here though. Well, at least this nightmare will finally be over once we get these herbs to Zecora…”
“This is a nightmare?!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Huh. That would explain why I haven’t had any candy in over an hour.”
“I told you, Pinkie, those treats might be contaminated!” Twilight said.
“Awwww!”
Once they’d finished their chattering, the four ponies headed in the direction of Ponyville, intending to pass through and go onward to Sweet Apple Acres. The groups of zombies here and there they fought on the way were expected. What wasn’t expected, however, was seeing Sweetie Belle barring their way to the town.
Rainbow Dash put her hoof over her eyes to keep the morning sun out of her eyes and squinted to see. “What’s she doing, just standing in front of the entrance to the town like that?”
Excited, Twilight grabbed Applejack and shook her. “Do you think she’s alright? Does she look alright to you? She looks alright to me! We should go help her!”
“Erh!” Applejack shoved Twilight away. “Well, she don’t look sick, at least. But something does seem odd.”
“Come on, no point just standing around here! Let’s just go ask her!” Giggling, Pinkie hopped down the road toward Sweetie Belle.
“Pinkie, wait! It could be a trap!” Rainbow Dash slapped her hoof against her face. “Urgh! Alright, guess we’ve got no choice.”
The other three hurried after Pinkie. Soon, they stood before Sweetie Belle. The filly stood there, her legs motionless. Without a drop of emotion on her face, she turned her head slightly to appraise each of them. She looked her usual healthy color and didn’t show symptoms of illness.
“Sweetie Belle, you’re okay! Thank goodness! We’ve lost too many ponies to this disease!” Twilight wanted to rush forth and hug the filly, but the cold stare she got froze her in her tracks.
Sweetie Belle addressed them in a robotic voice: “Assessing targets…. Scanning… Contamination level at eighty percent. Contamination level at seventy-two percent. Contamination level at ninety-six percent. Contamination level at sixty-three percent.”
“What the hay is she on about?” Applejack asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s creeping me out,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Current directive: prevent spread of infection. Engaging combat mode and eliminating contamination.”
Horrified at what they saw, the four ponies backed away from the filly. Sweetie Belle’s eyes turned into glowing yellow camera shutters, and panels in her sides opened up to reveal missile launchers, which she proceeded to launch missiles from. The four ponies dashed like mad and scattered to get away from the flaming blasts.
“Eeeeeek! The zombie sickness has turned Sweetie Belle into a robot!” Pinkie screeched.
“That isn’t scientifically possible!” Twilight yelled back.
“Shoot, I don’t know what’s going on, so let’s just hightail it out of here!” Applejack cried out.
Yelling at the top of their lungs as Sweetie Belle unleashed a flamethrower and continued firing missiles, the four dashed back down the road and kept on running until the sounds of explosions died down. Heaving and huffing, they collapsed on the side of the road, behind some bushes.
“Let’s just take the long way around, y’all…” Applejack said at last.
Rainbow Dash concurred. “Yeah, I’d rather fight a hundred zombie hordes than go through that… whatever the heck it was.” 
“Agreed…” Twilight said.
It was a bit of a trek going around Ponyville, and they were waylaid by even more zombies, probably denizens of Ponyville the robot Sweetie Belle had driven out, but with Twilight’s leadership, Rainbow Dash’s courage, Applejack’s tenacity, and Pinkie Pie’s optimism, it was nothing they couldn’t handle, and the destination they’d fought so hard to reach soon came into sight: up ahead was Sweet Apple Acres, though it had transformed a bit due to current circumstances. The perimeter was surrounded by a ten foot barbed wire fence, and the only way in was through a big wooden bar gate. Through the wire, ponies could be seen walking about, some carrying out important tasks and others just pacing due to anxiety.
“Thank Celestia!” Rainbow Dash crowed upon seeing their salvation.
“Whoee!” Applejack cheered as she spun her hat around. “Let’s get ourselves to Sweet Apple Acres, y’all!”
“You think they have any candy?! I’m starving!” Pinkie asked.
“If they do, we’ll have to burn it all,” was Twilight’s reply. “Can’t take any chances.”
“Ahhh!” Pinkie hung her head and donned a glum look.
They hoofed it to the gate. It was the final stretch of their journey, and there were no zombies in sight. Safety was before them, and things were looking up. Until they weren’t.
“Tank!” Rainbow Dash yelled, her voice shaking with terror.
“Tank? What in Equestria are you talking about, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked.
“Tank!” Rainbow Dash yelled again.
The group came to a halt for a moment to see what Rainbow Dash was pointing to.
“You mean your tortoise? Is he infected? Oh, Rainbow Dash, I know it hurts, but remember, Zecora is going to-”
“Um, Twilight…” Pinkie was quaking all over as she poked Twilight with her hoof.
“Pinkie, Rainbow Dash needs consoling, so I can’t-”
Applejack swallowed. “Twilight, you really need to see this.” She tilted Twilight’s head towards where the others stared.
Twilight’s eyes widened at what she saw. Charging right toward them at a lumbering speed was a mammoth-sized tortoise. The creature was a zombified Tank, grown to an enormous size by the sickness.
“Noooo!” Rainbow Dash sobbed. “Not you too, Tank! Why?! Why?!”
“Come on, Dash! We have to move!” Applejack grabbed the sobbing Rainbow Dash around her waist and hightailed it out of there, with Twilight and Pinkie racing behind her. When they made it to the gate, Applejack started banging her hooves against the bars. “Let us in!”
On the other side of the gate, Apple Bloom popped up. “Hey, Sis! You made it! Say, you see Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo out there? I’m awful worried about them…”
Applejack cast a nervous glance over her shoulder at the giant Tank charging towards them. “No time, Apple Bloom! You have to let us in!”
“Alright, alright! Geez!” The filly hopped over to the gate crank and started turning it, until Zecora came to stop her.
“Hold the gate and stay back, Apple Bloom! If they are carriers of the disease, going near them shall spell our doom!” Zecora said.
“They look fine to me,” Apple Bloom said.
Pinkie leapt at the bars and shrieked, “If you don’t let us in, we’re going to get crushed by Rainbow Dash’s tortoise!”
“Land’s sake, Zecora!” Applejack swore. “We are not infected! Let us in!”
“That is not the question I asked, Applejack. Kindly answer this one, so that we may get back on track: Without symptoms showing, you might be carriers of the disease. So tell us whether you have immunity, if you please!”
“Immunity!” Twilight exclaimed. “Of course! I should have realized! That’s why none of us got sick!”
“Zecora, we are as immune as hay!” Applejack yelled.
Zecora nodded. “Before we let you in, we must take care. There are some things that we must prepare.”
“Please hurry, Zecora!” Twilight pleaded.
“Don’t you worry, Twilight! We’ll be back in a jiffy!” Apple Bloom assured her.
“Taaaaaank!” Pinkie yelled. “Everypony, run!”
Tank was right on top of them. The four terrified ponies scattered as he charged past them, slamming his head into the gate. After shaking himself off, Tank turned back around and chased after the fleeing ponies. 
Tears in her eyes, Rainbow Dash turned around and flew right up to Tank. “Don’t you remember me, little buddy?”
“Raaaaahhhhh!” 
Tank picked up a boulder in his teeth and chucked it at Rainbow Dash. Applejack threw her lasso over Rainbow Dash and pulled her away just in the nick of time. “Sorry, Dash, but I don’t think Tank is in there anymore.”
As Pinkie distracted Tank by blasting him with a party cannon, Twilight cantered over to the other two. “Girls, we’re going to have to work together if we’re going to stop him!”
With a despairing mien, Rainbow Dash threw her hooves up. “But we can’t stop him! Tank is a… a tank!”
Applejack clamped a hoof over Rainbow Dash’s mouth. “You have a plan, Twilight?”
“Yes! Now, listen carefully, both of you…”
It was a simple plan, and rather crude, but, exhausted as she was, it was the best Twilight could come up with. As Tank chased a screaming Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash took an end of Applejack’s rope and flew at high speed at the behemoth. She flew circles around his legs, tying them up, then both she and Applejack gave their ends of the rope a good tug. That threw the tortoise off-balance. For the nail in the coffin, Pinkie and Twilight hopped at the tortoise and shoulder rammed him. And that did nothing at all.
“Uh oh…” Twilight gulped.
In the next moment, Tank snapped the rope around his legs and unleashed a ferocious roar.
“Twilight!” Apple Bloom’s voice rang out from the gate. She and Zecora had returned and were now garbed in hazmat suits. “We opened the gate! Hurry!”
“Everypony, get inside!” Applejack yelled as she hoofed it to the gate. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were right behind her. Pinkie, on the other hand…
“Heeeelp me!” Pinkie cried out as she ran in the opposite direction. Tank was right on her tail, giving her no choice but to keep running that way.
“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got her!” Rainbow Dash zipped through the air at high speed. When she caught up to Pinkie, she grabbed her, and flew them towards the gate. But as they passed by Tank, the tortoise swatted at Rainbow Dash, and the powerful blow sent her crashing into the ground.
Twilight bolted to her friends’ rescue. Once she got close, she used a teleportation spell to get them out of Tank’s reach. “On your feet, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said as she pulled Rainbow Dash up. With Rainbow Dash and Pinkie both up, the three of them made a mad dash for the gate, where Applejack was already waiting for them.
“Come on, come on, hurry!” Applejack broke out in a nervous sweat as she watched her friends racing towards her. As soon as Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie had hopped over the boundary, she turned to Apple Bloom and yelled, “Close it!”
Apple Bloom released the gate mechanism, and the barred gate fell back into place. And not a moment too soon, for Tank slammed headfirst into the bars. Everypony backed away and watched with bated breath as Tank slammed into the gate again and again, until finally giving up and slumping off.
“We’re safe! Safe!” Rainbow Dash fell over onto her back and laughed.
“Y’all got the herbs Zecora needed?” Apple Bloom asked.
“You bet we do! Got them right here!” Twilight lifted her saddlebags off her back and dropped them on the ground.
Zecora opened the bag and inspected the herbs inside. Upon completing her inspection, she smiled. “Upon completing my brew, all of this calamity we shall undo.”
While Zecora was fixing her potion up, Apple Bloom took Twilight and the others to one of the dozens of medical tents that had been set up around the farm. They had to be quarantined in isolation from all the other survivors since they were carriers, so it was a tad lonely. Apple Bloom couldn’t even let in Spike, who by that point was suffering from separation anxiety. Twilight at least got a chance to wave to him, from very far away. Spike waved back, a nervous smile on his lips, as Zephyr Breeze put a hoof around him. Looking smug, Zephyr Breeze waved too, and he winked at Rainbow Dash.
Once Zephyr Breeze had whisked Spike away and Apple Bloom ushered the immune carriers back into their quarantine tent, Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue. “Ugh! Of course that jerk would survive the end of the world! Out of all the ponies out there!”
“Spike looked miserable…” Twilight said.
“Of course he is! He’s stuck with Fluttershy’s brother for company and he probably can’t get away!”
After that brief encounter, they were consigned to remain inside their tent. Nevertheless, it was great to finally be able to take a nice, long rest, free of worry from getting bitten. Or it would have been, if Applejack and Rainbow Dash hadn’t started arguing.
“Whooee! Didn’t get a scratch, and I racked up a ton of them there heroic achievements things.”
“Are you kidding me?” Rainbow Dash shot Applejack a glare. “You didn’t get injured because you were hanging back while I paved a path for all of us! I’m the real hero, and all these injuries prove it!”
That got Applejack mad. “For land’s sake, you gotta turn everything into a competition, don’t ya! Well, ya ask me, you got knocked down so much on account of your carelessness, and I did way better than you out there!”
“Nuh uh! That’s ridiculous!”
“Did so, Rainbow Dash!”
“Hey! What about me!” Pinkie hopped in between the two. “If we’re talking about injuries, I took the most damage, and-”
“No, Pinkie!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash said at once. They both shoved Pinkie out of their faces.
“Ahh…”
“I’m still the one who got knocked down the most!” Rainbow Dash countered. “Maybe if there was an award for getting Twilight to waste the most first aid kits on you, then you’d get that.”
“Though you two’d be tied for running off by yourselves when me and Twi told you to stick together,” Applejack said.
“What! I was only going after Pinkie!”
“Yeah, well-”
“I didn’t need you coming after me! I had everything under control!”
“What?! You were getting swarmed every time!”
“I had everything under control, but you two-”
“Nag, nag, nag!”
“Don’t you interrupt me, Rainbow Dash!”
“Girls!” Twilight cried out. “Would you please stop fighting? We made it through this ordeal because of our bonds of friendship. Everypony had to do her part, and nopony was better than any other.”
Thus chastised, the three hung their heads.
“I reckon you’re right, Twilight,” Applejack said. “We were being mighty petty.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Rainbow Dash sighed. Under her breath, she said, “But I was still the best.”
“I heard that, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack said.
When the fighting started back up, Twilight let out a moan. “I give up…”
“Hey, y’all! Zecora’s finished her first batch of the potion!” Silence only descended once Apple Bloom and Zecora, still in hazmat suits, returned with this good news.
“That’s wonderful!” Twilight cooed. “We can finally get Rarity and Fluttershy back to normal!”
“And Tank! And Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash chimed in.
“Yes, but I fear with this amount, things could get rough, and it might not be enough,” Zecora said. “Across Equestria, this infection has spread far and wide; to cure everyone could take some time.”
“Well, in that case, we should definitely use it on Fluttershy and Rarity first,” Twilight said.
“What?! Fluttershy?! Rarity?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “What about Tank?! He’s right out there, uh… somewhere.”
Angry, Twilight pushed her snout against Rainbow Dash’s. “You heard her, didn’t you? We might not have enough potion for everypony yet. So of course we’re saving Rarity and Fluttershy first!”
“Yeah, I heard, Twilight! I don’t have hay in my ears, unlike somepony here! That’s why I said we should save Tank first! For such an egghead, you sure are being dumb!”
“Now, you two, don’t fight,” Applejack said. “Though I reckon Rainbow Dash is right this time, Twilight. Tank is a big threat, and he is right out those gates somewhere. You’re thinking too much with your heart instead of your head, Sugar Cube.”
“Oh, like she’s any different!” Twilight countered. She was still locked in a glaring match with Rainbow Dash. “She just wants to save Tank because he’s her pet!”
“Yeah, but still-”
Rainbow Dash donned a gloating grin. “You heard Applejack. I’m right, you’re wrong!”
“Now, hold on-”
“You’re siding with Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie said to Applejack. “Then I’m siding with Twilight! I do owe her for all these neat bandages, after all!”
“What in the-? Pinkie, that ain’t no reason to-”
“La la la! Rescue Fluttershy and Rarity first! La la la!”
Zecora cleared her throat and everyone quieted down. “Over this first batch, there is no need to fight; I’ve brewed at least enough to bring all your friends back into the light.”
Twilight exhaled. “Alright, alright. Tank first. Then Fluttershy. Then Rarity.”
“No, Scootaloo after Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Wha-?” Twilight shook her head in disbelief at Rainbow Dash’s stubbornness. “You know what? We’ll cure them in whatever order we find them in, alright?!”
“Fine!” Rainbow Dash shot back.
Applejack yawned. “Sounds good to me, y’all. But I reckon we should rest up while we can before setting out.”
Though Rainbow Dash and Twilight were impatient to heal their friends, they were both exhausted and thus ceded to Applejack’s suggestion. 
Before setting down on their mats to get some sleep, Pinkie Pie asked, “Hey, you think Sweetie Belle will ever let us back into Ponyville?”
“I sure hope so! All of my books are there!” Twilight said.
“Really, Twilight? That’s what you’re worried about?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“Apple Bloom said Discord probably did that to Sweetie Belle to keep her from getting sick, and to protect the town,” Applejack said. “I reckon Discord can change her back, no problem… Though I imagine Discord might be infected too, since we haven’t seen him...”
“Yeah, I’m sure it will all work out!” Pinkie said.
552 zombies were harmed in the making of this story, but none were seriously injured, and they were all eventually turned back to normal by Zecora’s potion.