As the sun rose over the harrison, zombies from all over the city congregated in the streets and began to shuffle into the woods. As they absorbed more light, their movements became faster, and they began to mutate. Some became larger with vines and muscle fibers twisting and writhing and tearing apart the skin and the outermost layer becoming bark as strong as iron, becoming an abomination capable of crushing a car; some grew taller and lanky with sharp claws made out of keratin and thorns; others’ arms became leaf like wings and feet became thorn talons; and others’ arms became weapons of varying types made of plants and human flesh, clothes being torn to sunder or falling off. The remaining unmutated zombies all held guns.
By the time the sun was almost high in the sky, thouthands of zombies began moving into the forest. Their movements were slowed as the sunlight became more sporadic, but they marched on until they reached their destination.
The girls were awoken not by Sunset’s spell but by the sound of something pounding on the crystal tent. Sunset dispelled the illusion only to find their view obscured entirely by zombies, and Sunset, in particular, got an eyeful of zombie junk. “Okay, I did not need to see that.”
Everyone scrambled to get as many supplies as they could carry, sacrificing the less important stuff to make room for things like food and water.
“We can’t fight off that many, and my dome isn’t going to last much longer.”, Rarity informed.
“Ah think Ah can tunnel us out a’ here.”, AJ said. Rainbow’s face went pale at that suggestion. “Ah now ya don’t like tight spaces, RD, but we have no other choice.”
Rainbow stiffened up and smoothed her eyes closed. “Fine, just do it.”, RD said through gritted teeth.
AJ got the okay from Sunset, and Rarity opened the floor. AJ used her earth magic to create a tunnel just big enough for the girls to fit through and crawled in, shortly followed by Sunset and the rest of the girls with Pinkie bringing up the rear. As soon as everybody was a safe distance into the tunnel, AJ collapsed the entrance, sealing them off and only leaving them with the light from their eyes.
“Rainbow, ya doing okay?”, Sunset asked. Rainbow didn’t answer, but Sunset could feel the fear from her.
“There are thousands a’ zombies up there. Ah would even say the whole city.”, AJ said.
“How do you know?”, Twilight asked.
“Ah can feel ‘em through the Earth. It’s a trick Ah’m copying from a TV show.”
“That’s cool.”
“It is. So Sunset, which way?”, AJ asked.
Sunset contemplated her options. If all the zombies were in the forest, should they go to the city? But what if that’s what the entity wants? “You know that cliff North of here?”
“Yeah, but Ah don’t think going there is a good idea.”
“Well, that’s where we’re going.”
AJ hesitated and began to question Sunset.
“AJ, I have a plan, and we need to move. I will explain when we get there.
Despite her misgivings, AJ complied and began lengthening the tunnel towards the cliff. “Ah swar, Sunset, if ya get us killed, Ah’m gonna personally throw you off that cliff.”
The journey to the cliff took a long time, and the girls only grew more tired, Rainbow’s tolerance became more strained, and their bladders grew fuller. As soon as the sound of rock dropping into water was heard and light flooded into the tunnel, temporarily blinding them, AJ began to dig up. As soon as they were out, they ran off to do their business then returned to the cliff.
“Okay, now what?”, RD asked. Just then the sounds of approaching rang through the trees.
“Rarity”, Sunset said while gesturing to the cliff.
“I see.” Rarity encased them in crystal and hovered them over the raging waters below.
The lanky zombies arrived first and tried to leap for the girls, but they couldn’t get a grip on the cage and fell into the river.
“Where does that river lead to?”, Twilight asked.
“Tha river leads to tha ocean were tha salt will likely kill the plants.”, AJ said. “Smart move, Sunset.”
“I actually didn’t know salt water would kill the plants. I just thought we would have less zombies to deal with. At least we don’t have to worry about zombie dicks anymore.”
“Hahaha, oh dear.”, AJ said while shaking her head. “Ah-” AJ was cut off by the screams of more zombies, and this included flying zombies.
“Oh come on!”, RD cried. “That’s not far.”
“Rarity, open and widen the cage.”, Sunset ordered. Rarity complied and gave each of the girls enough space to cast their spells.
Rarity gave RD and Twilight crystal armor, they took flight, and the ground forces readied their spells. Rarity put up several shields to act as floodgates and keep the fliers at manageable numbers and shield the others from bullets. Fluttershy readied her healing spell while also casting several small fireballs around the platform to act as a deterrent. Pinkie created explosive balls and used her bat to launch them at the ground zombies. Rainbow used her flames in combination with wind magic to trap zombies in fire devils. AJ caused the ground beneath the zombies to collapse, sending some of the zombies into the river. Twilight combined pyromancy with her magic lazers to cause the zombies she cut up to burst into flames. Sunset had no idea if this would work, but she knew it would look cool. Sunset created a real life magic fire arrow. It pierced the zombie and caused it to burst into flames.
“That was awesome.”, RD cheered.
“Hey Rarity, ya know in Minx the fairies can cast convergence magic?”, AJ asked.
“You’ve actually paid attention?”
“Yeah yeah, tha show’s good. Anyway, what if we combine our magic?”
“Let’s do it.”
AJ and Rarity put their hands together and created a gray crystal construct. Rarity took the construct and launched it at one of the flying zombies. It hit the zombie, and the zombie turned to stone and almost fell on RD. “Hey! Watch it!”
“Sorry!”, AJ called out.
AJ and Rarity continued to use this attack, but the flying zombies began dropping the bruisers on them, forcing Rarity to move the platform. This caused the girls to miss their shots and become vulnerable to gunfire. The snipers moved to the trees to get better vantage points. The sheer number of needed shields was quickly draining Rarity. Fluttershy and Sunset began bolstering Rarity’s reserves, but that would only work for so long. On top of that, the lack of sleep and food was starting to get to them.
“Sunset! We need to retreat!”, Rarity called out.
A growl arose from Sunset’s throat, but she was forced to agree. “Everyone, fall back.”
Twilight flew to about the center of the girls and teleported them all far deeper into the forest. AJ created thick walls of stone and a roof of plant life, and with the help of everybody with remaining magic, Rarity reinforced it. Sunset and Twilight set up layers upon layers of detection and barrier spells. All the girls collapsed, and Rarity fell asleep. The rest of the girls took Rarity’s backpack off, took out and laid out some of the warm clothes, and laid Rarity on top of the clothes and backpack. The rest of the girls got some water and ate some food and then laid out the same sleeping setup for themselves and fell back asleep.
Sunset’s alarm clock spell sounded, and the girls were roused from their sleep. Sunset and Twilight checked their proximity spells and, seeing no intruders, gave AJ and Rarity the okay to open the new tent. As was routine by now, the girls scampered off to do their business then returned to the tent. After food and water, the girls sat around to discuss their situation.
“We need to kill as many zombies as we can tonight, or else we’ll just be attacked again in the morning.”, Sunset said.
“Ah agree, but what Ah’m curious about this entity. If we can somehow destroy it, we’ll just be dealing with brain dead husks again and might even find tha crown.”, AJ said.
“I suspect the entity is under the school. That’s where the plants first emerged.”, Sunset said.
“And how do ya know that?”, AJ asked with a suspicious tone.
AJ’s tone didn’t go unnoticed by Sunset. “AJ, spit it out. We need to be able to trust each other.”
AJ and Sunset glared at each other, Rainbow glared at AJ, and the rest of the girls shifted uncomfortably. “That thing was inside your head. We don’t know what it might have done to you.”
“I can assure you that my mental faculties are my own, and I know where the plants started from because someone was watching our fight and I saw their memories.”
“How can we be sure? For all we know you’re under the control of tha entity, and ya might not even be aware.”
“AJ, how can you say that?! Sunset was fighting and killing the zombies! If she was working for them, why would she do that?!”, Rainbow asked, outraged and even jumping to her feet to get into AJ’s face.
“She could just be trying to earn our trust.”, AJ defended.
“We’re talking about a plant here!”
“We’re talking about a plant controlling Sunset! This is certainly something she’s capable of and has done before!”
“Are you saying this because of a grudge?!”, RD accused.
“Rainbow, sit back down!”, Sunset forcefully ordered. Rainbow complied but not without a huff and a glare at AJ. “What will it take to convince you I’m still me?”
AJ said nothing and tried to think of a way Sunset could convince her.
“Twilight, can mind control be affected by healing magic?”, Fluttershy asked.
“Your healing, yes. You’re using a powerful spell that can heal anything physical that’s not a part of the person.”, Twilight explained.
“In other words, you can heal anything physically wrong with a person that’s not a genetic defect.”, Sunset put in a way Fluttershy would better understand.
“Do phobias fall in that category? Because if we have to crawl through tunnels again-”, Rainbow asked.
“Learned behaviors, trauma, and phobias can’t be healed by this spell.”
“Nuts”
“Okay then, let Fluttershy heal you. If she gives you a clean bill of health, I’ll be convened.”
“Alright then.” Sunset got up and walked over to Fluttershy, and Fluttershy patted her lap. Sunset laid down with her head on Fluttershy’s lap, and Fluttershy placed her hands on Sunset's head. Sunset could feel when Fluttershy started. It felt warm and relaxing. She could feel the energy flow through her head, but she wasn’t alarmed. She knew it wasn’t malicious. Sunset was even able to fall asleep.
Pinkie stood up from her seat and walked over to the now sleeping Sunset. “Huh, Fluttershy’s sleep aid, get a good night’s sleep and make sure you’re not being mind controlled with one simple product.”
“You might actually be able to sell that to some of your relatives.”, Rarity commented.
“Okay, I’m done.”, Fluttershy said.
“So, any plants in her brain?”, RD asked.
“Nope, no mind control.” Fluttershy began shaking Sunset’s shoulder. “Sunset, it’s time to wake up.”
“Mmm, five more minutes.”, Sunset murmured.
“Come on, Sunset. It’s time to kill zombies.”, Pinkie said.
“Okay, I’m up.” Sunset pushed herself up and gave herself a minute to let her brain fully boot up.
“So, are we attacking the entity directly or taking out as many zombies as we can?”, AJ asked.
“Let’s do some zombie hunting. They can’t repopulate their numbers, so killing them will prove effective.”, Sunset said.
“Great, let’s get going!”, RD cheered.
Rarity created a platform, and all the girls hopped on but huddled together in the center. Rarity took them into the sky where they could see the sprawling forest below them. It was both beautiful and strangely melancholic. None of the girls could say which one of them was feeling that way or if it was all of them as the feeling seemed to spread across the link and become intertwined with their own emotions. Rarity began their journey back into the city, but it would take a while. This left the girls with a lot of quiet time to just think. Twilight could feel each of the girls growing despair. Even Sunset seemed down.
“What do we do if we encounter your families?”, Twilight asked.
“I’ll incinerate them while you guys ball your eyes out.”, Sunset said.
“Thanks”, Pinkie said dully. “Hopefully, this thing doesn’t understand human psychology and purposefully sends our parents to attack us.”
“Don’t jinx it, Pinkie.”, Rainbow said. “That’s the last thing we need.”
The girls soon landed just inside the city. Rarity gave the girls crystal armor before they disembarked, and she lifted herself and AJ back into the sky.
“You gonna do that petrifying darts spell again?”, Sunset asked.
“Yes.”, Rarity answered.
The girls on the ground lit their flames and began burning any vines with faces, and Rarity and AJ began launching their darts. Dozens of guards soon arrived on the scene. Sunset blasted one of the bruisers, but it had little effect.
“Aw, shit. Rarity! Attack the bruisers! Rainbow, Twilight, protect them.”, Sunset ordered.
Rainbow and Twilight shot up into the air and began attacking the winged zombies, AJ and Rarity began firing at the bruisers, and the rest attacked the runners and the gunners. The wingeds’ wings burned up like paper, but as they did, they released a toxic smoke that spread across the battlefield. The girls began coughing and wheezing, and the zombies were able to rip into the girls. Rainbow used her wind magic to blow the smoke away, but the girls still had breathing problems, and the zombies got their swings in, weakening the armor. Fluttershy tried to heal everyone, but healing people while they’re moving and at range while also needing healing made any progress limited. Sunset incinerated a runner and gunner, but neither of them produced the toxic smoke.
“Sunset, should we retreat?”, Rarity asked.
“No, we can heal once we take these out, but we can’t let the entity mutate the zombies again.”
Pinkie combined her fire with her explosives and was able to fire off incendiary explosives like a grenade launcher. This allowed her to stay relatively still for Fluttershy. Sunset dispelled her fire aura and switched to fire arrow so she could also stay as still as possible. This did give them a chance to catch their breath, but it also made them sitting ducks. Sunset put up a wire wall, which kept out the runners but not the bruisers or bullets. The lower caliber bullets mostly just bounced off the armor, but Rainbow could see much bigger guns being brought up to the back lines.
“You guys need to get moving soon, or you’re gonna be swiss cheese.”, RD transmitted as Twilight rounded up the wingeds. Their plan was to incinerate the wingeds inside a shield bubble, trapping the toxins inside, then throw the bubble away from them. As much as RD wanted to protect the three on the ground until the bubble was ready, she had to forcefully pump air into Twilight’s and her lungs as they were hit the worst by the smoke.
Rarity was shooting off darts as fast as he arms could move, and AJ pumped in petrification magic as quickly as she could. She couldn’t get the full amount of mana in, so the spell was incomplete. This resulted in the zombies being only partially petrified, but they were basically stopped in their tracks, and they weren’t regenerating quickly. They were no longer just aiming at the bruisers. They were now aiming at anything that posed a threat to the other girls. Their breathing was labored, but they could still breathe. As the larger guns arrived on the back lines, Rarity shot the darts at them.
“Die! You undead meat puppets!”, Rarity roared.
“Ya sound like a pack-a-day smoker.”, AJ commented.
“So do you.”
Twilight finished gathering the wingeds, and she and Rainbow incinerated them then Twilight chucked the resulting smoke as far away as she could. The two of them landed by Fluutershy as Sunset and Pinkie launched towards the zombies. Twilight collapsed, but Rainbow and Fluttershy caught her. They had to support her as Twilight laid down. Rainbow continued to force air into their lungs as Fluttershy worked.
Sunset charged at the zombies with her knives swinging and fire spitting from her mouth and through her muscles, and Pinkie sent massive explosions into the back lines. Their throats were still sore, but now they could breathe without feeling like they were swallowing lava. Pinkie noticed a crack in the armpit of one of the bruiser’s armor. She prepared a powerful explosive and compressed it until it was the size of a penny then, after dogging swing after swing from the zombie, slipped it into the crack. The zombie took this opportunity to take another swing and launched Pinkie into a building. The sound of cracking bones met Pinkie’s ears, and she slumped to the ground. The zombie with the bomb along several others began approaching Pinkie. They were too close for Pinkie’s liking, but they weren’t getting any further away. Pinkie covered her face and detonated the bomb, sending bits of incendiary zombie shrapnel everywhere, including into herself, and setting the other zombies on fire. Pinkie prevented the bits in and around her from igniting, but she still was impaled by zombie bits and had several broken bones.
Pinkie looked around the battlefield. The zombies’ numbers were down, but Fluttershy was still healing Twi and RD. Sunset was using her fire magic to rocket blast herself from zombie head to zombie head and stabbing them to make them bleed fire. Rarity and AJ were still on their hover crystal, shooting zombies. As much as Pinkie wanted to take a nap, more zombies were headed her way.
“Help.”, Pinkie weakly called out.
Sunset propelled herself in front of Pinkie and pushed the zombies back with two jets of fire. With one last explosion of fire and a few more darts, the zombies were finished. Sunset slumped down next to Pinkie. The two of them closed their eyes now that it was safe.
Fluttershy finished up healing Twilight and Rainbow and hurried over to Sunset and Pinkie. Seeing as Sunset was just exhausted and literally burned out but not injured, Fluttershy focused on Pinkie. Rarity and AJ landed next to them, and AJ channeled her mana into Fluttershy.
“How much longer will this take?”, Rarity asked, still sounding like ET.
“Well, I have to remove the shrapnel then heal her wounds, so a while.”, Fluttershy answered.
“Can you do it on the move?”
“I can heal her, but I need to be steady to remove the shrapnel. Why?”
“Because we got more zombies comin’.”, AJ answered.
“Already?”, Twilight asked. She was almost impossible to understand due to how gravelly her voice was.
“Eyup”
“Okay, I can do this back at camp.”, Fluttershy quickly said.
The girls loaded Sunset and Pinkie onto the crystal platform, and Rarity got them out of there.
Sunset shakily pushed herself up to a sitting position. Her muscles were sore, but she otherwise felt fine. Pinkie was lying next to her. She was still asleep and didn’t look too hot. She was now missing her shirt and her upper body was almost completely bandaged. Sunset remembered her nearly blowing herself up, again. “Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie, you’re gonna have, ‘she blew herself up’ on your headstone.” The rest of the tent was empty except for supplies and sleeping places, so Sunset stepped outside. The sun had long since set, and the rest of the girls were sitting around a fire with a pot cooking over it. “Yes, you guys got warm food.”
“Hey Sunset, how ya doin’?”, RD asked.
“I could ask you the same. You sound like you’re choking on gravel.” Sunset sat down with the rest of the girls and received a bowel from Fluttershy. “What’s the news?” Sunset took a sip of the soup, which wasn’t very good. “And what’s in here?”
“To answer your second question, squirrel meat and canned stuff.”, Twilight answered. She sounded a hell of a lot better, but like Rainbow, sounded like a female Scooby-Doo.
“You’re eating meat?”
“I don’t have much of a choice. And to answer your first question, we’ve gotten some cooking equipment, and AJ has been teaching us to hunt.”
“That’s good. Now, we need a new plan to deal with the zombies. I still want to take out as many as we can before going after the entity, but running around, setting vines on fire, isn’t doing the trick. Any suggestions are welcome.”
The girls sat in silence, sipping on their soup and mulling over ideas.
“Blitzkrieg”, Rarity said.
“What?”, Twilight asked.
“Blitzkrieg bombing, we attack them from the air then hightail it out of there.”
“That sounds perfect, but we’d need a spell with a wider AOE.”, Sunset said.
“We’ll destroy the city if we do that.”, Rainbow said.
“Ah’m pretty sure tha city’s beyond savin’.”, AJ said.
Rainbow looked towards the direction of the city. They couldn’t see it from where they were, but they knew where it was. “Yeah”, RD said solemnly.
Sunset grabbed a stick and began creating spell formulas. What they needed were several incendiary bombs that could spread. It would need to be Sunset’s and Pinkie’s jobs to create such a spell. Although powerful, fire didn’t much like to be told what to do. If they were working within a building or tunnel, they could focus the blast, but they were working with streets. The fire would want to go up, and considering that’s where the girls will be, they don’t want that. They need some sort of flammable liquid. Or all the flammables. “Girls, we need all the boom boom liquid.”, Sunset said.
“Sunset, are you okay, like mentally?”, RD asked.
“Of course not. Now, gasoline, propane, if it goes boom, grab it. Let’s go.”
They finished up their soups, grabbed their stuff, and jumped on one of Rarity’s platforms, leaving Fluttershy behind to watch over Pinkie. The first place they visited was Bargen-mart, armored up, and grabbed every canister of propane and every gas canister along with gas siphons. There was one zombie there on patrol, but AJ just petrified it. The girls began pumping gas from the cars and into the canisters.
“Wingeds”, Rainbow alerted. She and Twilight took to the sky and began rounding up the winged.
Sunset was focusing on pumping until she was side swiped by a runner. She was sent rolling, and some of her armor was now missing, but she wasn’t badly hurt. Sunset quickly got to her feet and pulled out her knives. The runner charged at her, and Sunset swung at it, but it dogged her swing, got behind her, and took its own swing. Sunset was once again sent flying and was missing more armor. “Okay, you’re less of a joke than I thought.” Sunset pumped her magic into her muscles and, when the runner charged at her again, was able to stab it. The thing caught on fire and Sunset was able to get back to pumping.
The fliers finished up the wingeds, and the girls grabbed their loot and hopped onto the platform. Rarity got them into the sky as more runners entered the parking lot. The girls returned to camp and unloaded their loot.
“I don’t think that will be enough to blow up the city.”, Pinkie commented. She sat in front of the fire, still without her shirt, next to Fluttershy and with a bowl in hand.
“Glad to see you’re awake.”, Rarity said. “But seriously darling, you’ve got to stop nearly blowing yourself up.”
“I will nearly blow myself up as much as I want!”, Pinkie joked. “Fluttershy filled me in on your plan, and I’m in, but I’ll need more than that.”
“Agreed, that’s why we’re heading back in after we rest up and I go to the bathroom.”, Sunset said, then ran into the trees.
AJ began piling their loot away from camp and then encased it in a protective dome as much for its safety as their own.
“I can heal your thoughts some more, if you would like?”, Fluttershy said. Both Twilight and RD nodded and sat down in front of Flutteshy. Fluttershy placed her hands near their throats and began healing them.
Pinkie poured herself another bowl of marginally better than bland soup and downed it. Getting healed makes one ridiculously hungry and the soup was lukewarm at this point. Sunset soon returned, and the girls prepared to leave again. Pinkie staggered to her feet and went to grab her stuff but was stopped by Fluttershy. “Oh, no you don’t. You can barely lift yourself, let alone gallons of gas.”
“But-”
“No ‘but’s, Pinkie. You’re staying.”, Sunset ordered.
Pinkie sat back on the ground, crossed her arms, and pouted. The other girls hopped on another platform and flew off into the city. For the rest of the night, the girls would go back and forth between the city and camp, bringing back more and more flammable material. Each time they came back, they had more cuts and bruises. Fluttershy would heal them to stop the bleeding, but the bruises would only go away once the body had reabsorbed the blood even though healing magic would speed up the process.
Pinkie watched the girls come and go each time. She wished she could control the direction of her explosion to keep herself from being sidelined by her own magic. Maybe I can. Pinkie staggered to her feet and began walking into the trees.
“Pinkie, where are you going?”
“I’m going to not blow myself up. I’ll be back in a while.
Fluttershy wasn’t sure what she meant but figured she needed to go to the bathroom so let her go. After several minutes, she was wondering what was taking Pinkie so long. That was until she heard an explosion from the direction Pinkie went. Fluttershy sprung to her feet and ran to find Pinkie. She soon found a partially destroyed boulder and Pinkie on her butt. “That happened?”, Fluttershy asked alarmedly.
“Uh, I was training, but I underestimated the blow back.”, Pinkie said while rubbing her hind quarters.
“What kind of training could have resulted in that?”, Fluttershy asked while pointing to the boulder.
“I was trying to focus my explosions, make them more directed. I sorta did that. You might want to get out of here. I don’t want to accidentally hit you.”
“Okay, be safe.” Fluttershy walked back to the tent, and Pinkie slowly got back on her feet.
Pinkie locked back on to the rock. Pinkie formed the image of a funnel in her mind and imagined it directing her blast, widened her stance, and bam. An explosion rocketed out from her hand and regulated the rest of the boulder, and this time, she was ready for the kickback and didn’t end up on her ass. She wasn’t sure if she could do that at a distance, but it was better than nothing. She continued practicing, increasing her speed and trying it at a distance to questionable success, until Sunset came marching through the brush with an annoyed look on her face and black eye.
“Pinkie! I told you to rest!”
“No, you told me that I was staying, and Fluttershy said I wasn’t lifting gallons of gas.”, Pinkie snarked. Sunset let out an annoyed growl but otherwise said nothing. “Why are you even so worried about me anyway?”
“Because, despite myself, I love you guys.”, Sunset admitted.
“Wow, you mean it?”
“Yes, now, come on. We brought back spices for the soup, and you and I need to make some bomb.