//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A Sweet Farm // Story: Infection // by Nano Discussions //------------------------------// Morning sunlight beams, over Sweet Apple Acres now a makeshift base for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to stand against the hoard of undead. Walls built tall dwarfing any pre hoard fence, protecting the farm and the ponies within. The walls themselves have been reinforced with rusted metal, the metal welded over more metal. The walls, designed to be pushed back for more space. The recent sounds of gunshots and the shrieks of gallopers have placed everypony on their heels. However, Apple Bloom, the last Apple in the Acres won’t let anything stop her in training the new foals of Equestria survival. Apple Bloom has grown into a young adult, her yellow fur stained with mud and wood chips. Her rose mane, tied into a pigtail while her tail had ruggedly been cut short. She wore a green jacket that proudly held the apple family crest, the crescent moon of Luna and the shield of the Crusaders. Her cutie mark of the said shield held true of its shape even when she was a filly. She stands tall as she screams commands to the foals. Beginning their speed training, yelling with the fires of Tartarus, with soft compassion difficult for her throat. Soon after the foals started their training a thud is heard a distance behind Apple Bloom. Swivelling around, she sees a scarlet and gold pony on top of a corpse inside the base. “Now how in Equestria did you get here?” She asks confidently with a soft grin on her face as she strolls over to Rainy Day. Rainy Day groans, as she pulls herself up with a hoof to her head, then manically checks herself for bites. “Did you have to bring your friend?” Apple Bloom chuckles gesturing to the body behind Rainy Day. “Remind me to never teleport again,” Rainy Day moans with a hoof to her head as she falls into Apple Bloom’s hooves. Apple Bloom chuckles before she heartlessly drops Rainy Day onto the dirt floor. Rainy Day lays on the green grass floor with her head neatly cradled by a root from one of the nearby trees. Apple Bloom kicks at the lying mare forcing her to stand up, rubbing the back of her head. “Now you’ve got alot of explain’ to do,” Apple Bloom starts, not giving the sore mare any time to complain. Fluttershy wakes up, sprawled on a grass-filled dirt floor with the feeling of a mute pain in the nape of her neck, an odd runny feeling in her cheek and ringing penetrating her thoughts. Looking around, Fluttershy notices an old decayed wooden sign hanging sideways by a rusted chain, it reads. “Sweet Apple Acres” The wooden arc of which the sign swivels on remains. However, it is surrounded by large barricades well over the walls of the castle. though the entrance held large spikes that cradled already decaying bodies. Satisfied with her examination, Fluttershy then reaches to touch her cheek, not bothering to move as she felt too weak to bother. More soft pain is felt as her hoof takes a little longer to reach her cheek and almost instantly gets wet on contact. She retracts her leg to observe the damp material that graced her hoof. Her eyes open wide as she sees that blood has soaked her hoof and foreleg. Then the past flows back into her, she’s undead and these wounds were done before she was turned. Then she remembers her encounter with Rainy Day and how she jumped into the crowd with Fluttershy in her mouth. Slowly yet surely her hearing returns to her as she hears Applejack and Rainy Day argue, relief flowing through her at listening to an old friend’s voice. However, Applejack sounds colder, her voice strained and gruffer. “Are you honestly askin’ me to believe a tale like that?” Applejack aggressively asks Rainy Day as her voice grows closer in proximity with the soft clopping of hooves following suit. “And how many times have I believed your adventures with the original crusaders?” Rainy Day quickly follows back, her voice also growing closer. “Don’t ya dare bring the past up! Why shouldn’t ah just kill that undead fiend now!?” Applejack yells at Rainy Day, her voice vibrating through the air like she had years of experience. “Because you owe me with Granny Smith!” Rainy Day snaps back, causing the clopping to suddenly stop and a silence to stab through the air. …  “Fine... I’ll keep quiet like ya did for me. But this better not cause any trouble. Got it?!” Applejack commands only to return to silence as the clopping starts again, only to get quieter. After an uncomfortably long silence, broken only by the swaying of trees and tweeting of birds, Fluttershy tries to stand. She stumbles over her missing leg and her wings instinctively start flapping. They begin to grind on themselves, snapping into and out of their connective sockets as their non-existent muscles strain, giving Fluttershy enough leeway to stand. Standing, Fluttershy is able to witness the portrait that is of the environment Rainy Day solemnly sits in. The blue-white sun shines just rising above the Canterlot mountains creating a soft light blue glow along Rainy Day’s golden mane and scarlet fur. The apple trees paved the road in roots and the sky in olive leaves, making an impressive shadow along the path. Rainy Day herself was sitting down with her forehooves planted into the ground as she stared off into the sky, thoughts clearly clouding her sight. Rainy Day tilts her head into the shade, snapping from the grasp of her thoughts. After a swift flutter of eyes, Rainy Day exchanges glances with Fluttershy, with questions burrowing into her brain. “You’ve been out for a while.” Rainy Day awkwardly chuckles as she trots over after quickly standing up. “Would’ve sworn you died on me,” Rainy Day jokes as she awkwardly picks the ripest apple from a nearby tree. Fluttershy looks over to where she last heard Applejack, unable to see anypony. “Um. Where was it you wanted to take me?” Fluttershy asks, remembering that her past friend only saw her as another dead corpse. Rainy Day sighs, taking a large bite out of the apple, and gestures to the Apple family barn. The barn’s once fresh, red paint has peeled off leaving the barn to be coloured in oak and stained pink. The wood itself has rotted, still, through some Apple family persistence, it manages to stand tall and proud. “The barn is normally just used for storage,” she told Fluttersht, leading her while she kept a self-protective distance, still unsure of what had been happening. Finishing her apple, Rainy Day slithers down on her barrel, an adjacent distance from the inside of the apple forest. Her scarlet fur doing little to improve her camouflage within the blades of grass and bark. Fluttershy quietly stood distantly and watched, confused, as Rainy Day examined the opening between them and the barn, like a leopard to prey. “Um… What are you doing?” Fluttershy finally inquires after a minute of waiting. However, Fluttershy’s answer only came as a flick of an ear and Rainy Day dashing for the barn. Fluttershy pauses for a second to take in the blur that was Rainy Day until she tries to catch up with her. Fluttershy stumbles for a while, trying to run without her back leg. However, Fluttershy manages to do an uncanny shamble-like-run to reach the barn which Rainy Day was already at, enveloping the door in her aqua magic. “Quick, get in!” Rainy Day instructs, her eyes wide as she frantically scans around them. Fluttershy, complied to Rainy Day’s panicked order by falling over her non-existent back leg into the barn.  Rainy Day tried her best to stifle a giggle only to fail as she looks at the aftermath of Fluttershy’s tangled body through the opened door. Fluttershy had managed to crash through a crate of string with enough force for the string to stop her mid-faceplant. “How in Tartarus did you manage that?!” Rainy Day croaks as Fluttershy detangles herself by dislocating her wings to slither down the string. Fluttershy’s remaining cheek flushes red as she hides her face in her mane from the laughing unicorn. Rainy Day sighs, freshly relaxed after her fit, giving off a calmer demeanor much like she just had a much-needed massage. Fluttershy and Rainy Day glance around the barn afterwards as their recent actions set in. The inside of the barn is in worse shape than the outside, hardly any light oozes through the boarded windows making the only illumination the large double doors. Spiders hold supreme inside, colonizing the area with webs, while old barrels and crates limit the space. Rainy Day, retaining her distance from the door, curiously eyes Fluttershy’s limp wings as the deceased pegasus inspects the contents of a nearby crate. “This is our safest bet if we both want to keep our heads,” Rainy Day says as she inspects Fluttershy’s reaction with her gun at the ready. Fluttershy freezes for a second as Rainy Day’s words pierce through her, she then turns to Rainy Day with her mind clouded with thought. “Why did you take me with you?” Fluttershy asks as she keeps the distance Rainy Day has kept between the two of them. Rainy Day looks at how passive Fluttershy’s stance is and relaxes before closing the door behind her. Soon after the door closes, Rainy Day’s horn glows a soft aqua, mixing her horn in a swirl of blue and red. “I’m curious,” Rainy Day answers, her tone more cynical and emotionless, her face joins to match her tone. “Out of all of Equestria, you and the other…” Rainy Day stumbles over words, thinking of how to say her next sentence. “The other what?” Fluttershy asks as her curiosity is piqued with Rainy Day’s stutter. She tries to get comfortable as she prepares an onslaught of questions. Rainy Day tries to prepare herself if Fluttershy attacks, unsure of what she would do. “The other remaining elements of harmony,” Rainy Day tells Fluttershy, much like a parent to their foal, “are the only ponies that have reacted differently with this undead Plague.” “R-remaining? Th-then who…” Fluttershy asks as blood mixed tears start to run down into her fur and cheeks. “Who has died?” She continues as she stands and her wings convulse themselves into place, bone by bone. Rainy Day pulls out her gun and hurriedly backs into the barn door, her irises the size of fear-filled pinpricks as she watches Fluttershy’s eyes turn a deep blue before she screams. “Which one of my fucking friends died!?”