The six girls stared in shock as the school went up in flames and zombies, both burning and not, ran out. Shrieks that sounded like a mix of the high pitched cries of a drowning goose and human screams emanate from zombies in the courtyard and trapped in the school. Within minutes, the school was completely ablaze and starting to fall in on itself.
“Wow, she really did that.”, Rarity said.
“I expected her to throw us to the wolves when it proved beneficial to her but this. Wow, she was a better woman than I gave her credit for.”, Pinkie said seriously.
“Come on girls. We should get movin’. Ah wanna search further inta tha city. Hopefully, this thing hasn’t invaded the whole town.”, AJ ordered.
The girls turned to go back to their bikes or get back into the air, but the sound of an explosion stopped them in their tracks. The girls spun back around to find a slightly chard Sunset stomping out of a brand new hole in the wall. The girls continued to stare in silence as Sunset marched over then stopped in front of them.
“You’re not dead.”, Rainbow finally said matter-of-factly.
“Sure am, Captain Obvious.”, Sunset said while blasting a zombie.
“I know elemental magic users are resistant to their own element, but that’s a bit much.”, Twilight said. She noticed a zombie behind Sunset and blasted it. The rest of the girls, except for Fluttershy, followed suit and began lobbing magic at the zombies that were still trying to get the crown that still rested on Sunset’s head.
Sunset shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, I used to set myself on fire to scare the ever loving crap out of ponies. Though, I’m clearly out of practice.”, Sunset said in reference to the crispy end of her hair. “Do you think this will get rid of my split ends or make them worse?”
“I’m inclined to say ‘worse’.”, Rarity said.
“That’s not the only thing that’s burnt.”, Fluttershy said and pointed to Sunset’s arm.
Sunset shrugged. “Eh, it’s not that bad.”
“Bullshit. It’s larger than the palm of your hand. If we had access to a hospital, we’d be taking you there. Let me look at it.”, Fluttershy said sternly.
“Fine”, Sunset conceited. “Can the rest of you take care of those?”
“Oki-doki-loki”, Pinkie said, then ran towards the zombies with two balls of explosion magic. These were much more powerful than the ones she was throwing at her friends and sent the zombies flying backwards if not blast a hole through them, leaving fleshy bits scattered on the ground. “Who wants some more?”, Pinkie asked with a maniacal grin.
As AJ fended off the zombies, she found that she was much stronger. AJ gut punched a zombie so hard, it flew back into the burning school. “Wow”, AJ said, then a fart blast sent two more zombies in and temporarily increased the fire. “Oh, god! Seriously, Rainbow!?”
“What? It worked.”, Rainbow said, then took flight.
AJ shook her head and just went back to punching and shooting zombies. Rarity began shaping her crystals into cones and telecanedically threw them at the zombies’ heads. This proved less effective than the shotgun, so she just went back to that. The plants still squirmed without the heads, but it seemed to not be able to control the body without it. Twilight was not as comfortable with her guns as she was with her magic so just magic blasted the zombies.
While all this was going on, Fluttershy was tending to Sunset with the first aid kit she packed. The whole time, Sunset wanted to join in the fight. “Come on, Fluttershy. How much longer?”, Sunset complained.
“It will take longer the more you squirm.” Fluttershy finished dressing Sunset’s wound through her impatient grumbling. “There, finished.”
“Finally. Everyone, get behind me. I’m gonna light shit on fire.” All the girls looked at each other then hurried behind Sunset. As soon as everyone was in position, Sunset siphoned magic from the crown and created a ring of fire around them then sent the wall of fire in all directions that weren’t at them. “Sniff, sigh, gotta love the smell of freshly cooked zombies in the morning.”
“Siff, smells like pork and cheese broccoli.”, RD commented. “I hate cheese broccoli by the way, yak. I mean you take perfectly good cheese and contaminate it with broccoli. Fluttershy doesn’t even like the doom tree.”
“It’s true.”, Fluttershy corroborated.
Once the flames took their course and started to die down, Sunset walked over to one of the cooked zombies. As soon as she approached, the zombie reached for her, but the damage made its already slow movements even slower. Either way, Sunset took her bat down and pulverized it’s shoulders, severing it’s shoulders.
“Nasty”, AJ said.
“I want to perform an autopsy. Can’t have the cadaver getting handsy. So, we still have some daylight. How about you guys look for survivors while I dissect this thing.”
“That sounds good, but shouldn’t a flier go with you?”, Twilight asked.
“I’ll be okay. Plus, I won’t have the crown.”, Sunset said, then tossed Twilight the crown.
Twilight caught the crown, looked at Sunset, then placed the crown of her own head. “Okay, but be careful.” Twilight turned to take off, but she caught the statue in the corner of her eye. “Oh, girls! Before we go.” Twilight quickly ran over to the mirror portal and looked it over. It was in bad shape. There was a single stalk of the plant wrapped around it, it was dirty, and the horse’s left hoof had fallen off. Twilight put her hand to the portal, but it was solid stone. “Sigh, of course it wouldn’t be open.” Twilight turned back to the girls and spread her wings. Twilight and the other fliers finally took flight, and the other three girls got on their bikes.
The fliers of the group scouted ahead of the party, giving them detailed reports of what was ahead and around the bikers. Through a combination of magic and bullets, the bikers slowly worked their way through the zombies. Due to Twilight having the crown, the zombies would crowd under and chase the fliers. Throughout the whole process, Twilight couldn’t help but wonder why the zombies wanted the crown and how the girls, including herself, seemed to be almost unfazed by it all.
Twilight flew up to Rainbow, who was looking through binoculars for any signs of humans. “Hey, Rainbow?”
Rainbow spun around, looking at Twilight through the binoculars before lowering them. “Huh, oh hey, what up?”
“I was wondering how you were doing?”
“I’m doing fine. Why?”
“Well, we are shooting through zombies that used to be your schoolmates and fellow townsfolk. For all we know, your parents may end up being among them, and you’re not having much of an emotional reaction, none of us are.”
Rainbow’s face turned speculative then serious. “Well, I try not to think about it, but you’re right, that is weird. I’m no expert on human psychology, but that sounds like psychopathy. We can add that to the question board, but for now, let’s take this as a blessing.”
“Alright, I guess this is the least concerning of the many questions.” Twilight turned away to fly off before she noticed something flapping out a window. “Rainbow! Look at that.” Twilight pointed to the flapping item, and Rainbow looked through her binoculars in its direction.
“It’s a bedsheet. You do that to alert firefighters to your location in case of an emergency. I’ll check it out.” In a flash of speed that surprised Twilight, Rainbow was off.
Once the air resetalled and Rainbow was already halfway to the bedsheet, Twilight landed on a nearby roof under the pretense of needing to rest her wings and pulled off her backpack. She pulled out the book entitled “Psychology 101”. She opened it to intex, found psychopathy, then flipped to the relevant pages. “Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits.”, Twilight read out loud. “That doesn’t quite fit.” When I was captured, I could feel the girls’ fear and compassion for me. Even when we thought Sunset was dead, the girls did feel somewhat sad, even with her previous actions making the girls not like her. It’s just in reference to those outside the group we seem to be numb to. This is very strange.
Sunset watched the girls fly and ride off as she dragged her disarmed zombie to her bike. Sunset pulled out some rope from her backpack and looked back at the zombie then her bike. “O-kay, how am I going to get you home?” Sunset looked between her bike, her rope, and the zombie again before an idea struck her. “I only really need your head intact. It doesn’t really matter if any other parts of you get damaged.” Sunset wrapped the rope around the torso of the zombie while dodging its bites, using what little remained of its arms to secure it. She then tied the rope to the package shelf bit of her bike and began to ride off. It wasn’t easy with the weight of another person dragging behind her, but she was able to pick up speed and use the momentum to keep herself upright. Bikes really were an engineering conundrum.
Upon reaching the store, Sunset untied the rope from her bike and used it to drag the zombie inside. It calmed down once out of the sunlight, and Sunset was able to get a folding table and use it as an autopsy table. After hoisting the zombie onto the table, Sunset untied its torso but then used the rope to tie down its head. She wrapped it under the table then in the zombie’s mouth like a super gag. “Good thing I’m doing this alone.”
Now knowing that the zombies need sunlight to function, the wall to wall windows and broken glass doors made Sunset uncomfortable. Before starting the autopsy, Sunset telekinetically grabbed as much black and dark paint, black trash bags, and duct tape as she could find. She began painting, taping, and trash bagging layer after layer until the sunlight was no more. Sunset cast her dark seeing spell and reexamined her work with even more sensitive eyes. The light still did not shine through. Sunset then casted a small light spell and threw it into the rafters, illuminating the whole store for her new eyes.
Feeling safer now, Sunset went to the electronic section to grab a recorder then to the hardware, gardening, and kitchen section to grab anything that could substitute what she’d seen on TV and used in biology. Sunset laid out her bizarre and frankly scary collection on a shelf close to the table, put on her ppe, and began making her preliminary notes.
“Subject’s designation, number zero-zero-two. Formerly, Photo Finish. Subject was badly burned and arms were forcibly removed during capture. Legs were damaged during transport. Up until being deprived of light, subject two was resisting and attempting to bite me, even after being burned. During capture, it was observed that small arms or equivalent damage will not incapacitate a zombie. The brain needs to be completely destroyed. Burned zombies are significantly slowed down but not stopped and smell like pork and cheese broccoli. Clothes of subject zero-zero-two are seared to the skin. Subject does not appear to feel pain. Proceeding to open the skull.” Sunset placed the recorder down and picked up a knife. Sunset carefully removed the scalp then picked the recorder back up. “Blood is present but not to the extent typically associated with a head wound. Livor mortis has not set in,” Sunset went down to the zombie’s chest and placed her ear to its chest, “but heart is not beating.” Sunset went back to the head, took a chizzle and hammer, and began to open the brain cavity slowly and carefully. Sunset cast another light spell and used it as a headlamp. After several minutes, Sunset’s arms were shaking from holding them so steady, but she could now access the brain.
After shaking out her arms, Sunset picked up the recorder again. “Subject's brain cavity has been filled with plants. I’m surprised they weren’t coming out of the ears.” Sunset paused for a moment then leaned down and looked inside the ears. “Scratch that. Plants are coming out of the ears. Hearing is likely impaired.” Sunset grabbed clippers and began working her way through the plants until she found the actual brain. “Brain has been infested with so many plants and has been damaged by the pressure exuded on it by the growing plants. Plants were getting their nutrients directly from the blood supply.” Sunset grabbed a knife, extracted the brain, and began dissecting it. “The plant infestation appears to originate from the base of the brain stem as that’s where the thickest plants are.” Sunset took her light and shone it inside the brain cavity. “Infestation appears to extend down through the spinal cord.” Sunset flipped the body over and began cutting along the spine. “Infection seems to begin with what was likely a seed embedding itself in the brain stem then growing into the brain. From there, it travels along the spinal cord and throughout the rest of the body.” Sunset placed the recorder down as a tinge of sympathy pang in her heart. “I hope you weren’t in pain.”
Rainbow flew up to the bed sheet and opened up the window. “Hello, is anyone here?” Rainbow entered the apartment and pulled out her flashlight to begin searching. Just like with every other place they searched, Rainbow found nothing. Rainbow left the apartment and, pushing magic into her body and mind to increase her speed, blitzed through all the other apartments, still finding nothing, just vines. The vines didn’t even have faces in them. Rainbow leaped out the nearest window and rejoined the others, who were just finishing clearing the zombies. “How’s it going?”
“I’m honestly surprised I haven’t thrown up.”, Rarity commented. There were headless zombies scattered all around the street. The mix of blood and vines was quite nasty, but none of the girls were bothered by it.
“Did ya find anyone?”, AJ asked.
“Not even a zombie or a face in a plant.”
“Okay, where would people go if there was an emergency of this size?”, Twilight asked.
“Well, tha state guard would round everybody up in places like school gyms, stadiums, community centers.”, AJ listed off.
“Yeah, but if the guard was here, they’d be shooting down zombies.”, RD countered.
“We should check those places anyways.”, Twilight said.
“Alright”, RD said.
The girls took off again towards the community center. Upon reaching it, the fliers immediately noticed the roof was completely caved in,many zombies were congregating around a large stalk and on the roof, some of them were dressed in military armor and had automatic assault rifles, they were aiming at them.
“Dodge!”, RD shouted.
A hailstorm of bullets cascaded up at the fliers, giving them little time to dodge. Rainbow tried to fire back but could not afford enough time to stop and aim. The ground forces tried to help, but they simply couldn’t get close enough. Even with the girls’ efforts, they could not dodge all the bullets. Bullets grazed and went straight through them, and Twilight was the first to fall. Twilight fell into the center, and was immediately swarmed by zombies. The ground forces rammed and punched the doors and windows trying to get in. AJ put so much magic into her arms, legs, and shoulders that they started to bruise and break under the power, but the vines bearing the windows and doors were tightly woven and several inches thick. Fluttershy had grabbed onto Rainbow and helped to glide her to the ground.
“Rainow! Can ya fly in?!”, AJ frantically asked. Rainbow simply shook her head as she was too injured to speak.
“I got an idea! Everyone! Stand back!”, Pinkie ordered. Rarity and AJ helped RD and Fluttershy away from the doors, and Pinkie used the break AJ caused to stick a massive explosive inside. By the time Pinkie detonated her explosive, it was as big as her head, and Pinkie was thrown back to the other girls and was knocked out, but she was able to create an opening.
AJ checked to make sure Pinkie wasn’t dead while Rarity pumped as magic she could into her skin as she ran into the center, turning her skin to crystal and creating several jagged points all across her skin. As Rarity ran into the hoard, she quickly learned she could shape these crystals into weapons or thicker armor. Rarity used her new arm blades to slice the zombies heads off, but there were more of them than Rarity had spikes. They began grabbing into Rarity’s spikes, and Rarity would create new spikes to shove them off before retracting them. “Twilight! Twilight!”, Rarity screamed as she swam through zombies to get to Twilight. Twilight groaned in response to her name. “Get out of my way!”, Rarity screamed, and shards of crystal went flying in all directions, clearing just enough space for Rarity to grab Twilight and get out of there. As Rarity ran outside, she stomped on the ground, creating a crystal wall to seal off the entrance.
Rarity brought Twilight over to the rest of the girls, where Fluttershy was sitting up completely healed. She had her glowing hands on Rainbow’s once bleeding abdomen and AJ’s now unbroken shoulder. Rarity created a crystal barrier to protect them from any more attacks then turned back to the girls. “Fluttershy?”, Rarity asked.
“Put Twilight down here. I can heal her.” Rarity placed Twilight down in front of Fluttershy, and Fluttershy moved her hands to Twilight’s shoulders. Twilight’s whole body began to glow, and her wounds began to heal. “You look pretty.”
Rarity looked down at her crystal skin, finally taking the time to properly admire it. “It is pretty, but I can’t feel anything other than the crystal.”
Twilight’s eyes began to flutter open, and she looked around. “What happened?”
“We were shot down, and you landed inside the center.”
“What kind of weapons were they using?”
“Automatic assault rifles, they’re a type of gun that can shoot out a lot of bullets very quickly.”, Rarity answered.
“Ugh, how many more types of guns are there?”
“I think you already know about all the guns we’re likely to encounter.”
“Good” Twilight sat up and reached behind her for her backpack, but it wasn’t there. “Girls, where’s my bag?”
“You weren’t wearing it when I grabbed you. I think the zombies have it.”
“My crown was in there!”
Horrified faces spread across everyone who was conscious.
“We need ta get it back.”, AJ said.
“None of us, other than Rarity, are in any position to fight through that.”, Fluttershy protested.
“What’s going on?”, Pinkie asked as she woke up.
“The zombies got Twi’s crown, and we’re in no condition to get it back.”, RD explained.
“Shit”
“Sunset, can ya hotwire and drive a car?”, AJ transmitted.
“Probably. Why?”
“We need pickup. We’re badly injured.”
“Where are you?”
“Canterlot Community Center”
“Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“What could those six gotten themselves into?” Sunset ridded herself of her ppe, grabbed a wire coat hanger, dispelled her dark seeing, and went out to the parking lot. It was not easy finding a car that could accommodate seven people, but Sunset was eventually able to find a minivan. Getting it open was the easy part. Once the door was unlocked, Sunset crawled in and began grabbing wires. She had never hotwired a car herself but had seen others do it. After some finagling and checking the gas, Sunset was able to start up the car and was on her way to the others.
Upon reaching the others, Sunset immediately noticed the zombies welding guns on top of the roof and aiming towards her. Rarity quickly enlarged the shield enough to cover the van. Sunset put the brakes on and leaned out the window. “Get in!” The least injured of the girls helped the others in, and Sunset sped out of there like a bat out of hell. “What the hell happened?”, Sunset asked.
“It was an ambush. They shot us down and took my bag with everything in it, including the crown.”, Twilight explained.
“What?! We need to go back and get it!”
“We’re too injured.”, Fluttershy said.
“I can burn the whole place down!”
“Ya’d get before ya could do that.”, AJ said.
“How could you let this happen?!”, Sunset accused Twilight.
“I let nothing happen! How was I supposed to know you had weapons like that?!”
“By reading the books!”
“Well! Excuse me! I was too busy being attacked by plants! Oh! And by the way, you burned the whole library down! Now, we have no books!”
“Everybody! Stop yelling!”, Fluttershy screamed. “We are all stressed and scared. We need to heal, then we can burn down the center.”
“Fine”, Sunset said through gritted teeth. They drove back in silence as Sunset steamed about the situation while the other girls slept. Upon reaching the store, Sunset woke each of them up and began corralling them inside and into the tent. Fluttershy did another round of healing on each of the injured girls before crawling into her own bag.
“You can use healing magic?”, Sunset asked.
“Yeah, I can.”, Fluttershy said as she closed her eyes.
Sunset grabbed her gun and went back to the front. There was no telling what the plants could do now that they had magic, and they had an entire wall of glass that the zombies had already shone they could break through. Sunset began moving shelving in front of the windows and doors but was not confident they would keep the undead out. She could only hope they didn’t come. Once all the glass was covered, Sunset took a seat in front of the doors and watched them for any sign of attempted break in. During that time, Sunset redesigned the dark seeing spell to automatically activate and deactivate when appropriate because casting and dispelling it over and over again was getting repetitive.
Sunset had dozed off at some point, and she was later awoken by the sound of a zombie. Sunset sprang up at the sound and spun around to find that it was Subject zero-zero-two getting off the table. “This is impossible. I took your brain out.” Two turned to face Sunset, and Two’s eyes were glowing purple. Before Sunset could fully process that, Two sprinted towards Sunset, and without thinking, Sunset lifted her gun and fired, leaving Two without a head, but that only slowed it down. Despite the lack of a head, Two continued to run towards Sunset, and she loaded three more rounds into the zombie. Two was left as just two arms, two legs and a hip, and a pile of goo, but it still wasn’t done. The plants began to reach out for each other. It was regenerating. Shit! No! Sunset began spraying every bit of zombie with flames until it was ash and bone, including the brain which was still on the shelf.
Sunset then heard a rumbling sound come from all around, and vines started to squirm in through the walls and ceiling. Sunset desperately tried to burn them all back, including setting the whole front on fire, but it wasn’t working. “Everyone! Get up!”, Sunset mentally screamed, then ran back to the tent. The rest of the girls were confusedly coming out of the tent, but the situation quickly became clear to them. Everyone grabbed their bags and guns and ran towards the back. Pinkie blasted the loading bay door open, and everyone ran outside.
Sunset mentally relayed everything that happened as they continued running. Zombies began chasing after them and trying to cut them off, all of their eyes were glowing purple. Sunset and Rarity tried to keep as many of them back as they could, but there were too many of them. They were surrounded.