Apple Bloom rushed out of the farm carrying Sweetie Belle on her back. The snarls of the undead both growing farther and closer. She looked behind her and spotted a horde of them running after her. All their decaying hooves impacting the dirt leaving nothing but dust behind them. It was as if the entire Ponyville population was after her. Apple Bloom's eyes widen and continued to gallop faster than the horde.
Just as she was reaching the outskirts of Ponyville, she wheezed and her legs were aching. Even then she still had to run. The horde has been reduced from the tens to ones and the last two undead were far away from her. The living pony's scent being harder to smell at a far distance made the undead stop pursuing. Once she finally stepped in the boundary of Ponyville, she was no longer being hunted.
Making sure she wasn't being followed, Apple Bloom collapsed on the rocky roads. Her eyes were drooping from exhaustion and wanted to sleep on the road right now but heard knew she had to hide. To keep Sweetie Belle and herself safe. She crawled on the road before shakily climbing up to four legs. She entered the first house she spotted and locked herself in there. She moved a table to the door then finally laid down. Sweetie Belle slid off of her back and landed on the floor with a soft thump.
She didn't know how long she laid there but she didn't care. She couldn't move an inch from her position even if she wanted to. Without anything to occupy her mind on, she thought back to Scootaloo. She was practically begging to be left behind just so she could save them both. She thought back to better times where none of this happened. Where there was still school and the adventures they would create together. How she wished this was all a bad dream.
When there was nothing left to remember, Apple Bloom cried on the floor. Beside her, the body of Sweetie Belle shifted making Apple Bloom's head to turn in her direction. Sweetie Belle opened her eyes to the dark and dusty house of an unknown resident. Slowly her white hoof reached out to her horn before retracting it. She closed her eyes and hissed in pain. The two were silent before the white filly started crying.
The country filly wrapped her hooves around the only pony in the room and cried too.
-----
Not even two minutes have passed when they both heard the clanking of pots deeper inside the house. The two fillies laid in silence, listening for any more noises. After a while, the yellow filly stood up and the other followed suit. Apple Bloom cautiously walked towards the noise, her eyes darting everywhere for any hidden zombies. Sweetie Belle lit up her horn, a faint light green surrounding it.
When Apple Bloom walked around the corner, she yelped as a figure tried to bash her with a frying pan. Sweetie Belle reflexively fired off a simple knock back spell and the pan flew from the figure's grasp while Apple Bloom retreated behind Sweetie Belle. They both heard the figure stumble to the wooden floor then heard it grab something else creating a "shing" sound.
"W-who's there?" The figure asked. The duo peeked around the corner and saw a trembling mare. She's holding a kitchen knife in her mouth.
"It's just us. This is Apple Bloom and I'm Sweetie Belle" Upon hearing and seeing the foals, she relaxes before tensing up and pointing the knife at them again.
"Are any of you bitten?"
Sweetie Belle raised one of her eyebrows then searched for any bite marks on her and on Apple Bloom. After confirming that there are none, she shook her head at the mare. The mare fully relaxed and spat out the knife.
"Good, what are you fillies doing here? I thought all of you left on evacuation?"
"Only some of us escaped. Even then, it wasn't enough"
The mare said nothing and walked past the duo and sat on a couch. The fillies stood still before Sweetie Belle's stomach grumbled. Apple Bloom looked at her and she blushed a bit.
"There's food in the fridge. Whatever's left of it"
The white filly walked into the kitchen to look for food while the yellow filly walked towards the mare. Maybe she had some answers as to why all of this happened?
"Hey miss? Do you know what happened here?"
"Do you think I have your answers? I didn't even know what the buck happened yesterday. What makes you think I know what's happening?" The mare calmed down before going back down on the couch. Her hooves covering her face. "I'm sorry but it's all so wrong. These things are wrong. The destruction is wrong. This day is wrong. This must be a nightmare"
Apple Bloom left the mare then returned to Sweetie Belle who is munching on a carrot. The filly held out another carrot for her. Apple Bloom accepted the carrot and munched on it. While they were eating it, the mare stood up from the couch to the front door. She locked it then went into some room.
Seconds pass and she popped out and gestured the fillies to enter. They enter a bed room with one master bed on one side and a single bed just at the opposite side. The room itself was in a good condition compared to all the other houses down the street. Almost immediately after laying on it, Apple Bloom slept with a smile on her face. The mare settled on the single bed and slept on it too, leaving Sweetie Belle next to Apple Bloom.
The unicorn filly put a hoof near her horn to feel if the wound was still open. It wasn't but it still stung when she touched it. The events that happened today were traumatizing and exhausting leaving the two foals with nowhere to go. Now with a feeling of safety in this house and with somepony older than them, did they relax.
The three fell asleep on the beds hours before the sun fell behind the horizon.
-----
The trio woke up to the sound of hooves beating against the front door. The orange mare ran from the bedroom to the living room with the kitchen knife in her jaw. The fillies cuddled up together in their blankets. The white filly sobbing silently as the yellow filly tried to assure her.
Carefully holding out the knife with its blade pointing at the door, the mare turned the knob to let the one undead to stumble in. The zombie was unidentifiable at first glance, its muzzle already gone and exposing teeth with the remainder of its gums. It tried to take a bite out of the mare and grabbed her by the shoulders. The mare struggled and successfully pushed it away.
It lost balance and dropped on the wooden floor. The mare held out the knife above its head and hesitated before plunging the sharp knife deep into the fleshy head of the zombie.
It met a slight resistance from the skull but nonetheless was enough to penetrate it completely killing the zombie. The orange mare panted a bit before looking out the front door.
It was dark out and the light from the stars privided her with little light. Her lawn had seen better days at first glance. Flowers were torn to shreds and stomped on. On one plant, the orange mare could see a wilting sunflower with a chunk eaten off by somepony. Whoever ate it she never knew. It was unlikely any of the undead eating as she saw what they do eat. She closed the door with a silent click then walked back to the bedroom.
She saw the two fillies cuddled up next to each other then proceeded to sling a saddlebag bulging with necessities around her.
"Where are we going, miss?"
The orange mare stopped for a second. Her mind thinking over the 'we' in the filly's statement. She knew she didn't have the heart to leave behind two fillies in her house.
"It's Poppy, Apple Bloom. We are going to town hall. It's the safest building we can hide in. Then we wait for rescue in there"
The two fillies nodded in agreement and headed out to the town hall. On the road, they were greeted by two zombies. Their bodies stood rigid and their noses searched for any living thing heading their way. The trio avoided many of them as best as they could but before long, they spotted a large mass of undead in front of them. Rotting stench assaulted their nostrils and Poppy resisted the urge to gag at the smell. They traveled through an alleyway to find an alternate way over there.
The night helped conceal them from the undead but soon they knew they had to sleep in for the night. They searched for a suitable place to sleep in. Where not too many undead roamed around and has a backdoor or a window to retreat to. They found the place, a hardware store in the middle of two houses. A sign hanged from a window which said "Repairs and replacements available here"
Most of the windows and the door were intact giving them enough time to escape if any undead found them. The store had a variety of tools, some long enough and sharp to be considered as a weapon. The trio entered the store as quietly as possible as to not catch the attention of any undead.
Inside the store were two shelves in the middle of the room showcasing glue, screws, and nails. In the left side of the building was a workbench with a tool wall above it. In the far side of the building was a counter with more shelves behind it. More worthless junk. In the very back was a backdoor. It was open wide.
The trio listened for any undead inside the building. When they heard nothing, Poppy started to pick up the items from the shelf so she can slide the shelf over to the door. While she was doing that, the two fillies searched the store for anything they could use.
Sweetie Belle grabbed a broom with her magic from one corner of the store. She would very much like to keep a big difference away from her and the living corpses wandering the streets. Apple Bloom was the most fit of the three and could buck somepony without suffering from muscle strains but she knew she wouldn't do it on ponies despite being turned into mindless flesh eating ponies. She grabbed a mop and swung it around the store, causing it to tumble from her hooves into the tiled floor below.
CLANG
Everypony stopped what they were doing and stood still. When nothing happened for minutes they resumed their tasks. Apple Bloom sheepishly took the mop and laid it on a table. When Poppy was finished barricading the windows, she moved her way to the center of the store. There she saw Sweetie waving the broom into the air while Apple Bloom was fiddling with a toolbox.
Conscious on how unarmed she is, she trotted over to the tool wall and picked up a wrench. It was heavy but she was certain it could do some blunt force trauma. She swung it a few times before placing it back on the tool wall. Poppy headed to the backdoor to close it. Fearing that a zombie may waltz into the building unnoticed. She moved behind a counter and found a grisly sight.
A blue earth pony stallion was in the way of the door, stopping the door from closing. What was more horrific was that half of its barrel was destroyed somehow. Somepony may have slammed the door on him making him lose a chunk of himself. Poppy snapped out of her gaze when the stallion looked at her and started growling. She yelped and backpedaled but only stopped when she saw that the zombie wasn't going anywhere. The door must have dug deep into him.
Poppy rushed to the tool wall to grab the wrench ignoring the trembling fillies. Now with weapon in hoof, she swung at the pinned pony. Every time the wrench made contact with the skull, she felt as if she was dying inside. A pony she didn't know, and she was killing him. When the zombie stayed still and most of his head was gone, Poppy crumbled like paper and sobbed.
It was a long night for the three.
-----
Apple Bloom woke up earlier than the two. Working on the farm shaped her sleep schedule so she can do her chores early. She rarely slept the day away. One incident was from finding her swimming cutie marks, then the other one was from doing homework a little too late. One was pardoned and the other was water to the face.
Apple Bloom was about to sleep again but heard snarling that made her hairs stand. Her head whipped around to the noise and was greeted by a zombie trying to grab them from the front door. Behind it, was a few others. Thumping the glass but made no attempt to knock it down. She did her best not to scream and alert other zombies to them. Instead, she poked and nudged the two others as quietly as she can.
Sweetie Belle was the first the wake up. Her green eyes widen when she saw the undead. Her first instinct was to scream but was swiftly stopped by a yellow hoof to her muzzle. Poppy quickly made a plan and ushered the fillies to the back door. Sweetie Belle grabbed the broom in her magic and kept it beside her. The door was closed but a there was an unmistakable splotch of dried blood on the lower edge of the door. Poppy shuddered with what she did last night.
She had to dump the body outside so she could close the door. As she laid the stallion on the concrete road, she started to think whether or not she would bury him. She decided against it as she didn't want to be seen by any more undead. The question lingered in her mind more than she would like to admit to herself.
Poppy led the two away from the hardware store and onto the road. The path to town hall was difficult however. There were small groups of undead here and there. If it was just Poppy, then the mare would have no trouble in reaching her destination.
The road was blocked again and they had to go through a detour. They had to go through an antique shop this time. Sweetie Belle kept her broom beside her at all times, her horn glowing brightly in case of a close quarter attack. Poppy led the trio to an open window.
While the orange mare was searching for threats outside the window, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked around the shop. The building housed many furniture that held little value to them except that it was old and still functioning. They spotted a rocking chair and a few porcelain vases on shelves.
Poppy hopped out the window as quietly as she could then turned around to the other two. She took Apple Bloom by the barrel and gently lifted her out with her. Before Sweetie could be pulled out, however, she got grabbed by something inside the store, eliciting a scream from her mouth. Sweetie grabbed anything near her with her magic and smashed it on the zombie's head. The sound of breaking porcelain made her cringe but the zombie lost its grip on her.
Poppy wasted no time and jumped back in the store to help out Sweetie Belle. She found the filly propped up against the wall with the end of her broom being the only thing separating her from life and death. Poppy pounced on the zombie with all her might and made them both fall to the floor. In all the commotion, Apple Bloom went inside and helped the white filly on her hooves.
The mare and zombie were having a struggle on the floor. The zombie was squirming below the mare before it pushed her off and came on top of her. The mare panted and used her forehooves to stop the zombie from biting her neck. This idea didn't help her as the zombie bit into her left foreleg.
The mare gasped in pain before shaking off the zombie and using the remains of the broken vase to stab it. The zombie lay dead for the second time and Poppy cradled foreleg before being called out by the two fillies. Who were oblivious to her bite.
"Come on, let's go! I can hear lots o' them coming to us"
Despite shaking, Poppy got up from the floor and headed out the window. Even if she can't save herself, she can most certainly try to save them.
-----
The trio ran from the growing horde as they evade the undead alone in the streets. In wasn't far now, probably a few blocks left. Suddenly, five undead cut them off and ran towards them. They were trapped. If they go back, they will get eaten by the horde. If they try to run past them, there's no guarantee the fillies would make it out alive. The undead were too fast.
With no way out they fled into a building. The inside of the restaurant was a bright yellow and the stools and chairs were knocked around everywhere. From the door, Poppy spotted a back door. It was wide open and couldn't see any undead coming from that way.
"Go! Through that door" The fillies wasted no time to flee but the yellow filly noticed something. Poppy had her back towards them, wielding nothing but a knife she picked up from a table. The undead were piling up the windows bashing the glass.
"Poppy? What are you doing? Come on" Apple Bloom asked making Sweetie stop in her tracks to look at the mare. The orange mare let out a shaky sigh. Then quickly trotted over to the fillies.
"I can't come with you to town hall"
"But why not?" Poppy revealed the bite mark to them.
"What's this?"
"I've been bitten. Do you ever wonder how the undead seem to grow bigger instead of lessen? It's this," The mare let out another shaky breath. "They bite you and in minutes you'll turn into one of them"
The two fillies looked at the orange mare with wide eyes. Sweetie Belle tried not to cry while Apple Bloom held onto her stetson and had a thousand yard stare. Poppy could hear the undead bashing the window even harder and went back to her former spot. She looked over her shoulder with sad eyes.
"When you get rescued... Please, remember me"
Apple Bloom nodded then grabbed Sweetie by the barrel to get out of there. The country filly released her hoof when she could finally run with her.
Seconds later, they reached town hall but didn't expect it to be in ruins. There was a gaping hole in the side of the building and all they could see from their position was red. They couldn't look for another place to stay as some of the undead horde broke off from the big one to run to them. The duo ran as fast as all their four legs could carry them and into the miraculously standing building. The grayed out hooves bashed on the windows, cracking them...
They ran up the stairs and onto the highest floor they can go and look out through one of the windows. They could see groups of undead pour out from the streets and headed in one single direction. With the undead hot on their trails, Sweetie Belle pushed Apple Bloom aside to smash open the window. Glass shards fell from the roof and onto the concrete below. The window was roughly pushed open to let the two fillies out. The first zombie crawled through the broken window...
The two fillies relaxed a bit when they reached the top of the building until they found two rotting hooves cling on to the roof. Sweetie reflexively pushed it off the roof when it tried to climb onto the roof. Behind them, another grabbed onto the roof but was stopped by a buck to the face by Apple Bloom. Poppy stabbed the zombie until it couldn't move anymore...
While on held off from one side, the other held the other but soon there were too many for them too count but even when they were backed up against each other they still held strong. A decaying pony pounced on the country filly but was quickly bucked off. Apple Bloom refused this to be the end she didn't want to die up here. The next few came in...
Before all hope was lost, two figures sped past them through the air slicing undead on the roof. Their rotting bodies taking a few of the undead off the roof and onto the ground. The fillies were bewildered at the sudden change of undead they were facing. Then the figures sped right past them killing more undead. With every undead dying by her hooves...
When there were no more on the roof with them they heard a commotion below them. A platoon of Royal Guards were slicing through wave after wave of undead. Ponies clad in golden armor were wielding a sword and shield and a few pegasi with spears and bows.
She could feel her ponykind slip away from her, little by little...
When everything was quiet the duo finally came downstairs. Multiple guards saw them both immediately and medics rushed in to medicate any wounds they had. Sweetie was laying on a pegasi carriage with two medics on them while Apple Bloom stayed beside her holding her sister's stetson. Then all the windows broke causing multiple zombies to grab her...
"How're you feeling?"
"I feel better, thank you"
"When we're done here we will go back to Canterlot. It's not safe for fillies like you to be here" Before the two medics could leave, Apple Bloom poked one of them. She could feel the undead biting into her and soon she blacks out from the pain...
"Hey, miss. Have you seen an orange filly with purple mane?"
"Was her name Scootaloo?" Sweetie nodded. "She safe and sound. Asked our captain to come look for you"
"Thank you again"
"No problem" Then the two fillies were left alone in the carriage.
"We should go look for Poppy! The Royal Guard is here" Sweetie exclaimed. Apple Bloom didn't respond immediately and frowned. Hours after the Royal Guard rescued the two fillies, the orange mare could feel some of her senses coming back to her...
"I think it's too late for that Sweetie"
"Why not?"
"You heard her... it's too late for her. She... sacrificed herself... for us"
The two fillies sat it silence even when they were being flown to Canterlot. There just wasn't too much to celebrate. In the span of two days, a friend and a complete stranger would give their lives for the safety of them both. The fillies didn't know how to respond to that.
Poppy gently opened her eyes and saw the restaurant before her...
Sweetie Belle was lying asleep on the pegasi carriage as Apple Bloom still looked out into the town of Ponyville and that orange mare left behind. Soon, she will lay down beside the white filly and sleep but she couldn't take her mind away from the mare.
Lifting up her grayed out hoof, she gasped and asked to nopony in particular. "W-why am I... alive?"